Personally I don’t mind legal immigrants and I kind of understand the mindset of the illegal immigrants. I blame us, the US citizen and the US government, for them wanting to come here. Take a trip to Mexico and see how they live, then look at what we offer them and you may begin to understand what drives them to our country in such huge numbers. That’s right

Intentional or not we offer everything that they can’t get at home free for the taking. All they have to do is cross hundreds of miles of desert, if not more, and their standard of living will increase orders of magnitude if they survive and find employment. We offer free healthcare, free education, a job (because nobody wants the jobs, that they take, for the money that they will work for), and a free ride home if caught. It’s what programmers call an infinite loop. We, America, bait them, use them, educate them, and heal them. Then we spend billions of dollars a year on a huge quasi-military organization, called the U.S. Border Patrol, who by the way are hard-working upstanding Americans that I am proud of, to round them up and send them home, at no cost (free to illegal immigrants, not us). It’s a great deal if they live through the trip.

If you want to get a feel, albeit a minimal feel, for what they have to go through to get here, take a trip to Big Bend and take a hike in the desert. Even a short hike on one of the maintained trails in the middle of July should give you a sense for what they go through to get here. In my opinion, they are extremely desperate to come here. When I hike in the desert I make sure that I have ample water and food. I hike solo most of the time so it’s critical that I plan each hike carefully. I plan such that when I return I have water to spare. My vehicle is no more than a few miles from me and there are liters of water in the vehicle if I or someone else needs it. If I over nite I have my creature comforts with me. In the desert that means a way to stay hydrated and warm. They don’t have these things when they come across. They have some water and a few possessions. I’m not taking up for them. I’m telling you that they want to be here a lot worse than some of the people who live here do. They want it because we offer them so much more than they have in their home country and we subsidize their existence here including their return if caught. Until the entitlements get reduced the flood will continue. I am skeptical that the US government really wants the flood to stop. There is a tremendous amount of infrastructure in place that is propped up by the flood of illegal immigrants and stopping the flood could bring it all down. Be careful what you wish for.

I’m no bleeding heart liberal. I believe that everyone should work for what they have and that entitlements are screwing this country up but I also know that the illegal immigrants, for the most part, are here because we (the US government) want them here. They do work that nobody else wants to do. The kinds of jobs that the illegal immigrants fill aren’t pursued by the average American. If we didn’t make it possible and lucrative they wouldn’t be here. If not for the cost of entitlements nobody would notice or care. It’s that simple.

I have taken some photographs that might help a person to see what I mean by how bad they want to be here. The desert is very unforgiving. If you plan poorly or have the misfortune to cross paths with the wrong person or wild animal, you could very likely die. In the case of dehydration, death can occur within hours. Illegal immigrants go through a lot just to get a job in this country. Again, I’m not making excuses for them. My goal is to contrast how much we offer with how badly they want it.

The desert, away from the national park roads and trails, is even more unforgiving than the photos that follow show.

Mule Ears Trail in Big Bend

The River Road in Big Bend not far from the Rio Grande

The Old Maverick Road in Big Bend looking toward Mexico