Immigration crack-downs do not happen in a vacuum...

[j_cheney]

I'm going to tell the story of a company I worked for in El Paso, Texas amidst an immigration crackdown.  In 1993, the Border Patrol began an operation they called "Hold the Line" where they had an agent every 1000 feet (reportedly) along the border between Juarez and El Paso

Comments

[cmcmck]

There's this thing called the law of unintended consequences and it's something politicians so often don't seem to get!

[j_cheney]

That's the problem. "I'm doing this thing that will wow my constituents" and screw over everyone else...

[ann1962]

Nicely put. The same thing happens in small towns after crackdowns. Stores and restaurants close. It truly is killing small towns,at least in the midwest and I assume elsewhere as well. I used to have a pen pal in Postville when I was a kid so I found this really interesting when it happened. Unintended consequences indeed.

[j_cheney]

Yeah. It's devastating for some.

[asakiyume]

Absolutely. Thanks for sharing this.

[j_cheney]

You're welcome.

[julesjones]

Same nonsense this side of the Pond with Brexit. There are an astonishing number of people who think that Brexit means that we get to stop people and goods coming into the UK from the rest of Europe, while British goods and people will continue to go the other way unhindered. I think many of them have not even thought about the effect on the tourist industry in the UK, other thanpossibly "Oh good, I'll be able to get a table without having to queue."

[j_cheney]

Yeah. The consequences are often invisible until they hit you.