When I used to live in Greater Vancouver, I was on 48 Avenue, 0 Avenue being the border. This was convenient, as I shopped weekly in the US, because gas and milk were so much cheaper.
Although it is an "unprotected" border, people wanting to get into Canada did not just walk over the two ditches. Instead, contractors dug huge tunnels well under the ditches, and brought in a lot of illegal immigrants, mostly Asians. Now, I am not sure why they wanted to get into Canada, rather than just stay in the US, after getting in (something to do with visas?) but it happened often enough to be a problem.
I think it would be extremely easy to dig a tunnel under the Rio Grande, or in other places in New Mexico, Arizona and California. So really, a fence or a wall is simply not going to stop people who are desperate to get across the border, which many Hispanics are!
As for the Saudi fence - flat doesn't just mean easier to build, it means someone in the watch tower can see for miles anyone coming. And it would take a really LONG tunnel to go from out of eye sight on one side of the desert, to out of eyesight on the other side of the desert. I've been to the Texas-Mexico border, and there is some rough territory.
I'm not sure what the solution is to the problem. Maybe after border checks, like we went through?
When we were driving back from Mexico to San Antonia, besides being stopped at the border for 2 hours to check our passports, we were also stopped at a Texas check stop in the middle of the road about 10 minutes from the border. There were very scary dogs, and even scarier looking automatic guns - and all these Texas guards were carrying. We had our Canadian passports, but we were driving a Texas rental car. This Texas guard did not look impressed with us. Maybe he didn't recognize a Canadian accent?
I felt I had two options - one was to speak French, and the other was to tell our story. I told him about our son playing for the San Antonio Rampage, and how we had come to visit him and see some hockey games. Still nothing - the man had a stone face. Then I told him that the Rampage was owned by the Spurs and played in the same arena. And how we got a family discount in the Spurs store.
He cracked a smile and let us go! Thank the Lord for American sports teams that even a tough Texas border guard can relate to!
Although it is an "unprotected" border, people wanting to get into Canada did not just walk over the two ditches. Instead, contractors dug huge tunnels well under the ditches, and brought in a lot of illegal immigrants, mostly Asians. Now, I am not sure why they wanted to get into Canada, rather than just stay in the US, after getting in (something to do with visas?) but it happened often enough to be a problem.
I think it would be extremely easy to dig a tunnel under the Rio Grande, or in other places in New Mexico, Arizona and California. So really, a fence or a wall is simply not going to stop people who are desperate to get across the border, which many Hispanics are!
As for the Saudi fence - flat doesn't just mean easier to build, it means someone in the watch tower can see for miles anyone coming. And it would take a really LONG tunnel to go from out of eye sight on one side of the desert, to out of eyesight on the other side of the desert. I've been to the Texas-Mexico border, and there is some rough territory.
I'm not sure what the solution is to the problem. Maybe after border checks, like we went through?
When we were driving back from Mexico to San Antonia, besides being stopped at the border for 2 hours to check our passports, we were also stopped at a Texas check stop in the middle of the road about 10 minutes from the border. There were very scary dogs, and even scarier looking automatic guns - and all these Texas guards were carrying. We had our Canadian passports, but we were driving a Texas rental car. This Texas guard did not look impressed with us. Maybe he didn't recognize a Canadian accent?
I felt I had two options - one was to speak French, and the other was to tell our story. I told him about our son playing for the San Antonio Rampage, and how we had come to visit him and see some hockey games. Still nothing - the man had a stone face. Then I told him that the Rampage was owned by the Spurs and played in the same arena. And how we got a family discount in the Spurs store.
He cracked a smile and let us go! Thank the Lord for American sports teams that even a tough Texas border guard can relate to!
