Reader comments
Draw of the U.S.: 'Vital' cash flow to Mexico is slowing

I lost count of how many counts of identity theft were mentioned in this one article. Too bad you didn't interview the victims of those crimes and tell their horror story connected with these crimes. A life time of problems straightening out their social security records and IRS mess. We havent' even talked about those that might be seeking medical care and putting the very health of the victim in jeopardy because the criminal gets diagnosed with some illness that an unconscious ER visiting victim might get treated for by mistake. Plus the numbers that were used to commit fraud have probably 200 people each using them at any one time. Try to buy a car, house or get a better job with that kind of credit history. How many lawyers would you need to defend yourself with the IRS?

Shame on Mexico and its corrupt government/soceity for allowing the creation of such cricumstances, forcing its citizens to chose between grinding poverty or breaking the law in the U.S.!

Get over it. The difference is we have what we need and we don't have to break the law to provide for our families. But if we did you and I would most likely do the same. It truly is our problem. We depend on immigrant workers and until we fix our problems and make it easier for them to come out of the shadows we get what we created. So lets not whine about some poor unfortunate soul that can't buy a new SUV because his credit was damaged by a guy flipping burgers to support his family. If this makes you or anyone else mad contact your Senators and Congressman and tell them to fix the problem and legitimize the workers we have here. Or would you rather round them up and ship them all back?

K.D.,
Did you read the article? There wasn't a single mention of identity theft. The thrust of the article was remittances. You saw what you wanted to see from this article: evil immigrants stealing identities. Your bias is sick.

This story points out that it is all about money for the illegals living here. They don't care about the American Dream or allegiance to the USA. They are here because wages are better and they can get freebies from our welfare system. When will we wake up and give them the boot?

What this article demonstrates is how illegal immigration - or excessive immigration, period - distorts and perverts the free market and destroys communities and families.

If illegal immigration were ended Mexico would have to develop its own economy instead of seeing all these families left behind relying on remittances from illegals.

It is incredible to me that we have to actually argue for the protetion of our nation's sovereignty. Of course advocates of amnesty ignore any injuries sustained by Americans, those don't count. Nevermind that identity theft ruins a person's credit which hurts job opportunities, ability to buy health insurance, ability to buy a home, ability to get a loan in an emergency, and thereby limits a person's chances of moving from one social class to the next. Nevermind all that. And don't worry about the closure of hospitals along the border communities, the crushing strain on social services, the downward pressure on wages for low skilled workers, the drug smuggling, and the potential for terrorism from other nations. All that matters, is that Mexico, with its inept governing class urging immigrants to remain loyal to Mexico, be able to export its population to the United States. After all, we get cheap lettuce, don't we? Isn't that better than having a nation in fifty years? We get cheap landscaping too. Isn't not having to mow your lawn or clean your house better than your grand children living in a nation better than the one you inherited? Isn't it better to swell the bottom line of a corporation than worry about what will happen when the aggressive wings of the Spanish speaking and English speaking "Americans" begin vying for power down the road? Isn't it better for politicians, who are doing such a great job, to have a voting block they can count on? What an improvement the social engineers are laying the groundwork for! It's more important that a few people feel good about themselves today, regardless of what they'll feel about those opinions tomorrow, when effect has been shaped by cause. Don't Tread on Me.

Whatever happened to doing things the right way? I really have trouble feeling sorry for these people when they have so little regard for our country and the person whose ID they steal in order to get what they want. There's a balance that needs to be struck here.

So many of these articles emphasize the "need" our country has for these illegal workers, but what about all the money they send to Mexico? That can't be good for our economy. Those are our dollars not spent in our country.

If these people really want a better life, they should start by approaching our country legally.

Amen to 1776 and others. We need to improve our America, they need to stay home and improve their Mexico. I can't get an illegal to move pipe or do farm labor....they are all in construction and hotel/vacation industry. They won't work for low wages...just like Americans. If they do they steal from you and leave in the middle of the night.

We need them -- they come because we offer jobs that need to be done.

They need us -- that is why they come.

Now the TWO corrupt governments need to work out a solution so we get what we want -- security, cessation of illegal activity, new labor, tax payers not leeches, etc. and they get what they want -- safe and proper border crossing to a contracted job.

Sending them all back will solve nothing.

Don't expect them to relish the American dream when they are in the shadows. The essence of the American dream is what they are all about -- "We Can Do Better."

Answer: set up employment centers throughout Mexico that are open 24/7. Require a background check for criminal activity. Have computers with job postings. Match the worker to the job. Charge $2,000 (the current going rate for coyote transports) for a 3 year work permit. Issue a Social Security card on the spot and send them on their way. We get what we want and they get what they want.

The free market is the solution.

These articles have a slant that I'm not too comfortable with. The focus of "poor me" for the law-breaking immigrants is terrible. I'd rather see more of the point of view of the victims of identity theft. They are the law-abiding citizens that lose their freedoms because of those breaking the law. They can't get out because they have to pay enormous fees and spend a lot of time fixing the problems. They can't afford the fees and don't have the spare time to talk to (or sit on hold with) agency after agency.

The best thing the U.S. can do is annex the entire country and make it a better place to live. The Mexican government is clearly not interested in its citizens or making life better for them. If possible they'd all immigrate here anyway, let's just take over the country now and leave them where they are.

Either we have laws that need to be obeyed or we become lawless.

Those who support illegal immigration want to change the laws that protect the US and to do so they currently flaunt the law and say we can't deport them all so lets give them amnesty.

As far as Tyler B. saying that it's okay for them to steal another's identity because we are so rich, tell that to my daughter who is getting by while trying to fight the credit reporting agencies while raising three kids. Perhaps he should give out his social security number to someone that needs it.

As far as Anonymous stating that we should annex Mexico, we don't have to. The Bush administration and socialists of this country are trying to make an American Union with Mexico, Canada, and the US.

That would effectively erase our borders and create one big country much like the European Union.

We need to know who is in the country and to do that we need to have border integrity. While we are a nation of immigrants we are not a nation of illegal immigrants.

Politically, we will not see any good action come out of Congress because they are more concerned about keeping their jobs in stead of dealing with problems. We are politically corrupt and evidently we like it.

Don't complain about exporting American jobs to China and then turn around and say we need to import labor from Mexico.(jobs Americans won't do) Trade is good, but American workers trying to compete with the poverty wages that exist over most of the world is impossible. Wages are a product of supply and demand. If the unskilled labor market is flooded with foreign workers, cheap labor employers will be able to maintain the present depressed wages. Even Sr. Montoya complained about not being able to find work paying above $5.75/hr. "More than 80 percent of Mexican and Central American immigrants reported it's harder now to get a job in the United States that pays well than it was a year ago." Using immigration to control wages is going to be destructive in the long run.

I too, would like to see more stories on identity theft victims. Surely there are more sympathetic victims out there other than the welfare mom with a lazy boyfriend who is waiting to get into section 8 housing... It seems like the Deseret news purposely sought out the least sympathetic victim imaginable for "balance", and then got right back to spinning sob stories about these poor Mexicans who want a better life.

Why, oh why, didn't President Polk annex the whole hopeless mess of Mexico in 1848, as was suggested to him? It would have left both nations so much better off.

If the open-borders crowd thinks that the sovereignty of the United States, which illegal immigrants ignore, is an irrelevant detail, then why the deference to the sovereignty of the failed Mexican state? Imagine the economic powerhouse Mexico could be if it didn't have its ramshackle, inefficient, inevitably corrupt system.

There are Irish neighborhoods in the East that are starting to feel the absence of many of their people, who are heading back to booming Ireland to prosper. I'd love to see the same thing happen in Mexico -- but it won't until some intelligent people take charge of the place.

This article is a biased liberal open borders sob story. We cannot solve the entire world�s problems by allowing any country to export their poverty problems to the US.

The solution is simple. Build a wall. Actually verify that all employees are legal. Enact huge penalties on companies that hire illegal aliens. Then we only allow migrants with skills we actually need and in numbers that are manageable for our country to absorb.

Mexico will then be forced to solve its own internal problems.

To Tyler B:

Yes, I would like to round them all up and charge the Mexican for the cost of shipping them all back.

Mr. Montoya, for one, should be arrested and deported. He clearly admits breaking the law multiple times and "buying" a SSN. And he's waiting for "amnesty". Also, I agree with the previous comment that a desire to make more money does not entitle anyone to citizenship. There are millions of people around the world who would also jump at the chance to improve their situation, and maybe even to become American citizens. By allowing so much illegal immigration, we favor lawbreakers over other deserving, would-be immigrants.

It seems that the LDS church not only countenances illegal immigration, but often supports it. What happened to obedience to the laws of the land? Admitting my bias, I admire the church as an organization and have many members as friends. I just don't understand why they're on the side of lawbreakers, no matter how desperate they are to improve their finances. My last comment is that not all of these folks work to feed their families or to care for sick relatives. I see many (whom I presume to be immigrants) in very expensive vehicles. Nothing wrong with that, but these articles get downright sappy in desribing the plight of illegal immigrants.

Every single illegal alien should be sent home to their own country. Immigration should be done in order and legally. The US is being invaded, year after year, by illegals crossing our borders, and committing crimes. This must stop. I am so sick of liberal media writing sob stories for the illegals. It is the obligation and duty to Mexico and other countries' governments to improve the living conditions for their people, rather than send them here to become a burden for US citizens. Let's see more stories on the rapes, drunk driving murders, thefts, identity thefts committed by illegals against US citizens. Those are the real stories.