The Unspoken Border Issues, Part I

By: David F. Kendall  //  Editorial & Opinion

(Story by David F. Kendall) There are many problems with unlimited and unregulated illegal immigration, from the availability of jobs, utilization of scarce resources, tax burden, spread of previously controlled or eliminated diseases, to terrorist threats. They have been discussed ad nauseam by the punditry. These are all legitimate issues, some more dangerous and likely than others. However, there are two issues with mass illegal immigration (or uncontrolled, unassimilated legal immigration, e.g. amnesty) that have rarely, if ever, been discussed.

Bertolt Brecht opined that it might be easy to, “dissolve the people and elect another.” There have been some intrepid commentators who have advanced the idea that the oligarchs at Mount Olympus, D.C., have decided that they are tired of their dreadful constituents and deigning to win the votes of the plebeians, so the rulers are merely replacing us with people more easily controlled. This touches on the core issue, but partially misses the fundamental, underlying point. Immigrants don’t have to do anything in particular (e.g. vote) to change the country. All they have to do is live here. All they have to do is come here, and live just like they did in their home country, by the millions.

Discussion of the fall of Rome has been going on basically since Rome fell. Suggested causes range from barbarians at the gates to the unmitigated opulence and decadence of the upper class. However, Rome always had barbarians at the gates, and that usually ended with a bunch of killed and/or subjugated barbarians. As for decadence, Caligula spent nearly all of the wealth of the empire on lavish parties, and the Western Roman Empire lasted for over 400 more years after his death. The truth of the matter is that by the time that Odoacer removed the crown from the child Emperor, Romulus Augustus, Rome had ceased to be really Rome throughout the Empire, save the city itself. Barbarians spoke Germanic languages rather than Greek or Latin and traded rather than using the denarius. All it took was large-scale and uncontrolled immigration.

This phenomenon used to be widely known by Texans, who even now are witnessing it in reverse. Mexico had no use for its land to the North, so they let Americans settle there, “doing the jobs that Mexicans wouldn’t do.” So many Americans came, that by the time Mexico wanted to try to enforce its laws, it was too late.

This isn’t theoretical, either. All it takes is a quick trip down to the likes of Laredo, TX, or other similar border towns, and the primary language is no longer English, and if not for the ubiquitous presence of Wal-mart, you’d swear you were across the border.

I’ll discuss the second troubling issue that isn’t being widely spoken about in the next column. (Image: Flickr | CBP Photography)