Non-Mexicans Arrested at US border nearly doubled

[DFWdem]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050712/us_nm/security_immigration_dc;_ylt=AudRLYJ3C5S_ueYLiZSbxWoWIr0F;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

The number of people from countries other than Mexico arrested trying to cross the U.S. southern border has almost doubled this year, the head of the U.S. border patrol told the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.

In all, the border patrol has detained 919,000 illegal immigrants so far this year, of whom 119,000 were non-Mexicans. The largest single number -- over 12,000 -- came from Brazil.

But Mexico accepts only Mexicans, so any non-Mexicans are checked against government watch lists as a potential security or criminal threat.If their names do not appear, they are normally released on their own recognizance and told to appear at a deportation hearing often months in the future. Some 85 percent fail to show up for the hearing and are never seen again.

Aguilar said that last year the border patrol detained 644 people from "countries of concern" and had stopped some 500 this year. They were subjected to intense interrogation and investigation.



919,000 detained so far this year? Through 6 1/2 months? Good thing people attempting to come here illegally don't wish this country any harm, otherwise the lax border security might be an issue of concern for national security.

[DFWdem]

1. collective yawn? n/t

[MadHound]

2. If CAFTA goes through, which is almost assured

Expect this number to multiply exponentially in the next few years. CAFTA is much more damaging than NAFTA(and that is bad enough), with its primary purpose being to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer, or better yet in the eyes of corporate America, dead.

NAFTA has a direct causal link to the vast increase in illegal immigrants from Mexico, for NAFTA absolutely destroyed the Mexican food industry. Expect CAFTA to do the same thing, on a much larger scale.

[DFWdem]

3. Yes, although

Theoretically NAFTA was supposed to have the opposite effect. We were told raw materials would be sent to Mexico to be assembeled into a finished product and sent back to the US and countries abroad for sale. The result would be an increase in manufacturing jobs for Mexico, thus slowly transforming their economy from agrarian to industrial. This would mean fewer people coming to America to work since the jobs would be in Mexico. Another example of something that sounds good in theory, but in practice falls victim to the law of unintended (or intended?) consequences.