Brian Litwin: A Little Mexican History and Why Border Walls Don't Work Brian Litwin - Times-Call
go to original March 31, 2016

Our story starts in 1844 when President James Polk ran on a Democratic platform that supported manifest destiny, the belief that Americans were predestined to occupy the entire North American continent. Initially, President Polk offered to buy land from Mexico for $30 million but was rejected. In an attempt to provoke a war with Mexico, President Polk sent troops toward the Rio Grande river, which at the time was still disputed land, Mexico responded in kind. Supposedly, a Mexican soldier fired across the river (Mexico disputes this claim) and President Polk had his excuse to declare war on Mexico on May 13, 1846.

Two years later the war was over and a victorious United States now claimed the current states as spoils of the war: California, Nevada, Utah, parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming. At the time, 2nd Lt. Ulysses S. Grant called the war "one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory." This is also why many Mexicans say that we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us.

Many Republicans have claimed that nothing can be done about immigration until our border with Mexico is secured. Some claim that this needs to be done for our safety, to prevent drugs from illegally entering the country, and to protect jobs. Let's tackle safety first, according to a study done by the University of Massachusetts, Pew Research and Northwestern University in 2014, they concluded "Foreign-born individuals exhibit remarkably low levels of involvement in crime across their life course." Also, "There's essentially no correlation between immigrants and violent crime."

Do undocumented immigrants bring drugs across the border? Yes. However, the underlying cause for drugs crossing the border is rarely scrutinized, which of course is America's insatiable appetite for illicit drugs. Capitalism 101, where there is a demand, there will be a supply.

Read the rest at Times-Call

Related: U.S. Senator Cornyn: No Border Wall Needed Between Texas and Mexico (Breitbart)

Related: Donald Trump Has It Backwards: U.S. Drug Culture Corrupts Immigrants (Pacific Standard)

Related: Pew Poll: Support for Border Wall with Mexico Drops to 38/58 (Hot Air)

Related: America's Largest Border Patrol Union Just Endorsed Donald Trump (VICE)

Related: How One Man Is Hoping to End the U.S. Border Protection Agency’s ‘Culture of Impunity’ (Think Progress)

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