Border wall: Letters to the editor, March 27, 2019

Wall symbol of bigger problem

I am amazed by people that do not have any idea what the wall is all about, it's purpose and the ramifications of letting illegal immigrants enter the United States unchecked.

The wall is simply a deterrent; it's main purpose is to stop people from simply walking into the United States, and it's secondary purpose is to redirect people to points of entry. Anyone, if determined can get over / under any structure — your home fence will not stop a crook nor will a border wall stop them. Drones, cameras, sensors and adding more agents only serve one purpose and that is to try and catch people after they have entered into the United States, not before; only the wall does that.

The government is dropping off hundreds of illegal immigrants at bus depots every week as they do not have any space to house them. What will they do? Are they going to work in the fields where every year automation (machines) are replacing people. Are they going to drive the big rigs? The autonomous trucks are ready for the highways, we are just waiting for laws to change. Estimates are well over 100,000 jobs are gone. Look what is happening in all of the service industries, artificial intelligence and machine learning has advanced automation to the point that machines are now able to program and build themselves; this is what we should be talking about; if you do not have a skill or are not able or willing to get retraining, guess where your going to be in five years.

At one time we thought we could absorb millions of people a year; we now have 1 million legal immigrants that enter the country every year and we guess at 500,000 to 1 million undocumented people enter the United States yearly.

To me, the solution is obvious: we must restrict immigration to only the highly qualified people who can make an impact on the U.S. economy. Create welfare centers in each of the impoverished countries in the Western Hemisphere; the cost approximately ,would be $50 billion to $100 billion a year, which we will have to fund.

We as a nation must realize that 50 percent of our population is going to be out of work in 10 years, so we must set up an entirely new system to be able to support these people with housing, food and all the essentials for human dignity and life.

Don't take my word for it — do your own research, think about both the near and not so near future.

Green New Deal good for Fresno

Happy to read The Bee’s article on the Green New Deal. It’s an important issue, particularly for Fresno, and the discussion of it in the media has been muddled by political spin.

It is not a piece of legislation, which is why it lacks detail; it is more of a pledge to seriously address the two major negative aspects of the world economy — environmental pollution and a lack of dignified, middle-class work. These two issues are locally our biggest weak points.

A Green New Deal would almost certainly mean funding for the following kinds of projects: Soil conservation for farms/ranches; conversion of diesel/gas engines to electric; thinning forests; restoring forests, floodplains, and rivers; urban green space and tree planting; energy efficiency for buildings/appliances; and solar panel installations.

All these projects would increase the demand for skilled workers and trades people who would make well above minimum wage (the median wage in Fresno Co. is around $15/hr).

The Green New Deal could turn Fresno into one of the best places to live in the world by cleaning up our air, strengthening and beautifying our farms, ranches, neighborhoods, and ecosystems, and establishing a real middle class. Pretty good vision, I think.