Border Issue Gets Patchwork Solution
The immigration reform issues are back in the spotlight, with Republicans in the House pushing for new legislation that would force a crackdown on illegal entry into the country. The group is lobbying for more fencing, improved sensors at the border and the use of other tools, like airborne drones with more Border Control agents patrolling. The Republicans state that they are acting based on a call from Americans who want more of a crackdown on illegal immigration. However, others see it in a different light, noting that there are many businesses and consumers in the country right now that rely on the labor pool generated from illegal entrant populations in the country, especially on the Central Coast of California where some say that field workers amount for up to 70 percent illegal workers.

War on Drugs?
Some believe that the focus on immigration will turn to another war on drugs. Each year, the country spends millions of tax dollars to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the country, with more than a billion dollars spent over the last decades alone. Most believe that this war on drugs has not netted any real benefits in that the population is no less using them. Some believe that the war on immigration would have a similar effect of costing a lot of money and yielding limited results. Since the terrorist attack on 9/11, the country has spend $5 billion to improve border security. The Border Patrol improved control over the border by just 873 miles of the 2000 mile long border with Mexico, where most of the illegal immigrants enter from. Securing the rest of that border, the other 56 percent could become even more costly and may not yield a true benefit to the country, some believe.

They Will Find A Way
What will make people stop coming into the country? Some believe that there is no stopping the process, that those who want to find a better way to live and who are suffering through poverty will find a way to enter a country where finding work is readily available. The Department of Homeland Security was asked by Republican Senators last year how much it would cost to find and deport all 11 million illegal immigrants in the country right now and they could not do so. A private think tank, on the other hand, stated that six years ago it would have cost more than $200 billion spent over five years to do so, that cost is far too costly, many feel, and thus may be why the Department of Homeland Security is unwilling to state it, fearing it would become another war on drugs turned immigration. The solution to the drug war, some say is to simply make drugs legal and control them and that may in fact improve the situation with immigration, too. Another problem is that there does not seem to be a true way to completely secure the border especially when there is such a big difference in the quality of life between these two neighboring countries.