I may seem to be bring up this issue over and over again, but I can't help it! Anytime I pay attention to Canadian news, there is a lot of concern about its relation with her southern neighbor. Well, the U.S. has both a northern neighbor and a southern neighbor. And Canadians often seem to forget that Americans have their hands tied with what goes on in Mexico. Examples:
"The level of trust and cooperation between American and Mexican authorities is quite different from that encountered on the U.S.-Canadian border. This disjunction is partly a reflection of the difference in institutional effectiveness on either side of the line and partly a result of Mexican national identity defined by opposition to the United States......"
According to Journalist Robert Kaplan, the author of this article: "He recounts traveling between East and West Germany while the wall was still up, the Iran-Iraqi border with Kurdish rebels, the “Green Line” that separates the antagonistic Greek and Turkish communities on Cyprus, and crossing the “Line of Demarcation” between Pakistan and India...... “But never in my life,” he says, “have I experienced such a sudden transition as when I crossed from Nogales, Sonora, to Nogales, Arizona, on November 1, 1995” (Kaplan 1998: 138-140)." (SOURCE: Center for Immigration Studies)
I also got this from wikipedia:
The United States is a lucrative market for illegal drugs. The United Nations estimates that nearly 90% of cocaine sold in the United States originates in South America and is smuggled through Mexico.[6] Mexico is the largest foreign supplier of marijuana and the second largest source of heroin for the U.S. market. The majority of methamphetamine sold in the United States is made in Mexico, and Mexican-run methamphetamine labs that operate north of the border account for much of the remainder.
and
According to the Bureau of Transportation statistics [2] there are over 200,000,000 legal border crossings from Mexico each year, ~80% by automobile.
The number of illegal immigrants emigrating [leaving] the U.S. is estimated at about 240,000 per year (~2% of illegal population) [3]
Four experts who contributed to the 45-page study explained their findings that illegal aliens in the U.S. total at least 20 million, but perhaps as many as 38 million or more -- which far exceeds 8 to 12 million estimated by Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Studies new report, "Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States, January 2006" (released August 31, 2007, see http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics . The new study disputing the government figures was funded by Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) (www.capsweb.org) and published by The Social Contract Press (www.thesocialcontract.com).
Comparison for the Canadian border:
Commonly referred to as the world's longest undefended border, the International Boundary is actually defended, but by law enforcement and not military personnel. The relatively low level of security measures stands in contrast to that of the United States – Mexico border (one-third as long as the Canada–U.S. border), which is actively patrolled by U.S. customs and immigration personnel to prevent illegal migration and drug trafficking.
And those of us who work in the health and education fields in the United States have often had to work with undocumented immigrants as well.
I love Canada very much, but honestly, I feel like if I didn't have relatives there, I would hardly notice it's there. Not when that border does not have a huge fence and does not send half a million people illegally each year.
By the way, many of these Mexicans who enter the U.S. illegally also go on to Canada. So Canada, Mexico concerns you, too. Take notice, please!
And if you have any, bring me some stats that compare what goes on at the Canadian border.
"The level of trust and cooperation between American and Mexican authorities is quite different from that encountered on the U.S.-Canadian border. This disjunction is partly a reflection of the difference in institutional effectiveness on either side of the line and partly a result of Mexican national identity defined by opposition to the United States......"
According to Journalist Robert Kaplan, the author of this article: "He recounts traveling between East and West Germany while the wall was still up, the Iran-Iraqi border with Kurdish rebels, the “Green Line” that separates the antagonistic Greek and Turkish communities on Cyprus, and crossing the “Line of Demarcation” between Pakistan and India...... “But never in my life,” he says, “have I experienced such a sudden transition as when I crossed from Nogales, Sonora, to Nogales, Arizona, on November 1, 1995” (Kaplan 1998: 138-140)." (SOURCE: Center for Immigration Studies)
I also got this from wikipedia:
The United States is a lucrative market for illegal drugs. The United Nations estimates that nearly 90% of cocaine sold in the United States originates in South America and is smuggled through Mexico.[6] Mexico is the largest foreign supplier of marijuana and the second largest source of heroin for the U.S. market. The majority of methamphetamine sold in the United States is made in Mexico, and Mexican-run methamphetamine labs that operate north of the border account for much of the remainder.
and
According to the Bureau of Transportation statistics [2] there are over 200,000,000 legal border crossings from Mexico each year, ~80% by automobile.
The number of illegal immigrants emigrating [leaving] the U.S. is estimated at about 240,000 per year (~2% of illegal population) [3]
About 80 to 85 percent of the migration from Mexico in recent years has been
undocumented.Four experts who contributed to the 45-page study explained their findings that illegal aliens in the U.S. total at least 20 million, but perhaps as many as 38 million or more -- which far exceeds 8 to 12 million estimated by Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Studies new report, "Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States, January 2006" (released August 31, 2007, see http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics . The new study disputing the government figures was funded by Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) (www.capsweb.org) and published by The Social Contract Press (www.thesocialcontract.com).
Comparison for the Canadian border:
Commonly referred to as the world's longest undefended border, the International Boundary is actually defended, but by law enforcement and not military personnel. The relatively low level of security measures stands in contrast to that of the United States – Mexico border (one-third as long as the Canada–U.S. border), which is actively patrolled by U.S. customs and immigration personnel to prevent illegal migration and drug trafficking.
And those of us who work in the health and education fields in the United States have often had to work with undocumented immigrants as well.
I love Canada very much, but honestly, I feel like if I didn't have relatives there, I would hardly notice it's there. Not when that border does not have a huge fence and does not send half a million people illegally each year.
By the way, many of these Mexicans who enter the U.S. illegally also go on to Canada. So Canada, Mexico concerns you, too. Take notice, please!
And if you have any, bring me some stats that compare what goes on at the Canadian border.