Mostly quiet on the southern front
[Hat tip: commenter “DNW”]
Trump may have lost his EO battle with the courts for now, and the sanctuary city conflict is probably going to heat up. But he’s been winning a quieter battle (so far) on the southern border, without even needing to build a wall:
Migration experts, Border Patrol agents and advocates offer plenty of reasons for the sharp decline in people crossing over, from President Trump’s aggressive stance on securing the border and media coverage of recent immigration raids to heightened security on Mexico’s southern border. A rise in smuggling fees could also be a factor.
“We don’t really have a normal anymore,” said Castro, who has worked for Customs and Border Protection for nearly 20 years. She insists agents are not doing anything differently; the Trump administration’s executive orders are simply enforcing laws already on the books.
“Are you going to risk a 1,000-mile journey and pay $8,000 to be smuggled if you’re not sure you’ll get to stay?” Castro said, offering a reason she thinks fewer asylum seekers are crossing over. “I wouldn’t.”
Decrease rewarda for a behavior and up the risks, and you’ll get less of the behavior.
Decrease rewards for a behavior and up the risks, and you’ll get less of the behavior.
This is why the oft-heard “argument” from the left — you can’t deport 11 million “undocumented immigrants” — is so stupid. There’s no need to deport “11 million” or even a particularly large number of illegal aliens.
Simply make it more difficult to enter the US and get work while also making the risk of deportation plausible (as opposed to the joke it currently is), and a large fraction of illegal immigrants will just leave.
Amazing, isn’t it?
Enforce the law, or even demonstrate a willingness to do so, and the clouds miraculously part.
Waahappened?
“Decrease rewards for a behavior and up the risks, and you’ll get less of the behavior.”
neo, you’re in good company.
Ronald Reagan observed,
“If you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.”
Jack Kemp also . . .
“If you want to create more of something subsidize it.”
What is rewarded is repeated, or so I’ve heard.
It is high time that we acknowledge the fact that the female in the relationship has total control. Pretending otherwise is just that.
I have written often the last 16 months that Trump wouldn’t have to build the wall- all he had to do was enforce the laws on the books, and the problem of illegal immigrants would largely fix itself.
Also, without DOJ top cover, the state and local governments can enforce other laws against illegals with less fear of Federal persecution.
I love the fact that President Donald J. Trump has found a way to bring market pressure to bear on the illegal alien segment: “…rise in smuggling fees…”
Well, before claiming credit for any “success”, would like to see other numbers to corroborate this.
We should see farmers having difficulty finding labor for harvest, developers/builders for their construction, etc., with corresponding labor rates going up.
Doubt the vast majority are sustained by criminality and/or government benefits. So, this should reflect elsewhere in the economy, and rather noticeably where there is a concentration of illegal immigrants engaging the economy.
.
Frankly, it seems the scare tactics of the msm, with their hyperbolic case and (so far) false stories about ICE randomly netting “anyone for anything” (vs targeting the more hard core criminals among them) deserves much more credit than the “demonstrate(d) willingness to (enforce the law)”.
But, it mobilizes the SJWs, no doubt.