Your average Mexican hating republican would be quick to say that the border needs to be gated because the massive amount of drug violence that is going on. But the funny thing is that studies show that there really isn't much of a crossing for violence to our land.
For anyone with common sense this shouldn't have been a surprise. Hell, even AMC shows realize that there's some levels of respect when it comes to the border. In the show the cartels don't mess with DEA and American law enforcement because they don't want to risk potential backlash. So why is it an AMC show can get it right and many state governments can't?
US border violence: Myth or reality?
BBC News, El Paso, Texas
With Arizona's controversial immigration law due to come into effect this week, the national debate over border security is poised to reignite
Fears over Mexican drug cartel violence near the border are fuelling the debate over immigration and border control, but is the idea that the killings are spreading into the US just a myth?
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Inside Mexico's most dangerous city
Once upon a time, Spanish settlers named the crossing El Paso Del Norte - the pass to the north.
The border city of El Paso, Texas, lies along the Rio Grande, in the chasm between two inhospitable mountains.
Each day, thousands of people in cars, buses and on foot cross the short bridge that connects El Paso with its Mexican sister city, Juarez, one of the world's most dangerous places.
In the past two years, more than 5,000 people have been murdered in Juarez as drug-related crime has soared.
Politicians, including Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, tend to portray border towns as being pushed to crisis point.
"We see this crime on a daily basis. The federal government must respond more effectively, step up their enforcement and protection of the border before more American blood is shed," Mr Abbott told Fox News.
"It is more dangerous to walk the streets of Juarez, a few blocks from El Paso, than it is to walk the streets of Baghdad. There is a very serious problem that is beginning to bulge at our borders and put American lives at risk."
In mid-July, President Barack Obama ordered 1,200 National Guard troops to patrol the border, just days after a car bomb exploded in northern Juarez, very near El Paso.
Texas Governor Rick Perry called that deployment "grossly insufficient". Many politicians are calling for even more troops.
But the mayor of El Paso, John Cook, isn't one of them.
Second safest city
"The reality is we really don't need the help on this side of the border. We probably have every kind of federal law enforcement agency that you can think of. We're an extremely safe community," Mr Cook says.
Despite Juarez's murder toll, in El Paso, local authorities have recorded just two murders this year. In 2009 there were 11.
"Logically it would seem that if you have violence on one side of the border then you're going to have spillover on the other side," says Mr Cook. "But the reality is that we don't."
According to FBI crime statistics, El Paso is the second safest city in America. Crime rates there have dropped 36% over the past 10 years.
Other cities close to the border, including San Diego in California and Phoenix in Arizona, have similarly experienced declines in violent crime.
Over the same period, federal agencies have beefed up their presence along the border, and a 2,000-mile fence is slowly being constructed.
1. Honolulu, Hawaii
2. El Paso, Texas
3. New York City, New York
4. San Jose, California
5. Austin, Texas
6. San Diego, California
7. Seattle, Washington
8. Portland, Oregon
9. Denver, Colorado
10. Los Angeles, California
Highest Crime Rate Ranking
1. Detroit, MI
2. Memphis, TN
3. Baltimore, MD
4. Washington, DC
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Philadelphia, PA
7. Indianapolis, IN
8. Columbus, OH
9. Milwaukee, WI
10. Dallas, TX
So what I'm trying to say here is that the murderous drug smugglers are a myth invented by the right to advance a racist anti-immigrant agenda. Does that sound fair enough? It seems to be that large cities can afford to provide the public transit and housing services that allow migrants to successfully settle and work. Since they're bigger, they can also more readily absorb the population increase.
This has pushed gun smuggling to Mexico and drug smuggling to America to ancillary towns close enough to the majors to be economically relevant, but far enough away to avoid unwanted attention. These smaller hosts are less able to provide bedrock social services, and the community suffers under the strains, causing tensions to rise.
These guys don't seem to think it's a myth.
Borderland from California is a place. on Vimeo.
Maybe instead of suggesting we militarize the border that perhaps we should sponsor a United Nations peacekeeping mission into Mexico. Juarez city officials have already been pleading for the U.N. to intervene since the Mexican government can't.
But considering the lack of concern for the well being of migrants I thought the mentality here would be easy to follow. As long as it's just Mexicans killing one another and not any whites, then there is no reason to oppose the war on drugs.
There has been battles fought in Juarez where the entire battle plan revolved around attacking from directions that avoided shooting across the border because no one wants the US pissed. It's no doubt that Juarez is terrible, but the whole point of this article is that the violence hasn't spilled over.
But the only reason I see for them to militarize the border is so when the random shootings start happening in America border towns and not Mexican ones, the government can say that they did something.
It's been some time, but the thing you should worry about most is kidnappings. There's police on every corner in the touristy parts of town, but it's purely a show of force to make white Americans and other tourist feel comfortable. Besides that, the police are almost always corrupt and work with the cartels.
It's just a good thing that cartels, government and everyone else involved wont do any "Random shootings" north of the border. No one wants it actually militarized.. well, except for the racist. Besides that, none of these shootings are random.
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