California Border Police

Some might think the subject of illegal immigration wouldn't have much to do with Humboldt County. We do have illegal immigrants up here, though. I remember speaking to one of the owners of a mexican restaurant in Eureka. She moved to this country, legally, from Mexico around thirty years ago. She was referring to a popular restaurant/ watering hole in town and told me nearly all the employees there were illegals. Somehow she could tell. I also had the experience of having a check done on my social security number at a county agency a few years ago only to find some mexican, in his early twenties, was also using the same social security number as I have.

I don't follow the Libertarian Party line that supports "open borders". I can't help but agree that "peaceful people should be able to emigrate and immigrate freely...". Sounds good, but no open borders. I won't go further into that now as I wanted to comment on the proposal by Assemblyman Ray Haynes to create a separate state run border patrol agency.

Haynes rightfully claims that illegal immigration costs this state billions of dollars and since the federal Border Patrol isn't securing the border, maybe California should. He thinks it will actually save the state money. That assumes, first, that a state run agency will be more effective than the Fed Border Patrol. I don't see how that would be a safe assumption to make.

I suppose if it actually worked, it might be worth the cost. But, I wonder if we can afford yet another police agency? Already police and firefighting agencies (in fact many government employees) are costing more than the taxpayers can afford. They have retirement benefits unheard of in the private sector that allow, in police and firefighter cases, a person to retire with close to full pay after thirty some years. That doesn't count medical benefits, either. So, when one of the local cops retires, it ain't over yet. You might be still paying most of what you were paying when he was actually working- depends on how the state invested his money: If the investments don't hold up, you pay whatever he's supposed to get. Anyway, that isn't good for anyone but the cops, and even some of them have reservations about the system, I've been told.

Do we want hundreds or thousands more cops with the related pension problems? I have serious problems with that. I also don't like the same old, same old...of government not doing what it's supposed to be doing and then coming up with another agency and another budget to fill for something we're already paying for. Happens all the time.

But something should be done to control our borders. I just wonder if there is anything that can be done that will work?