Perfect Timing

Just as we begin talking about border enforcement in my Immigration Law class, I read this article detailing Rudy Giuliani's stance on the matter.

Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani pushed the idea of a "virtual" rather than a real fence along much of the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, an issue that's controversial in the Rio Grande Valley where many people oppose construction of a physical fence to stop illegal immigration.

And what is the best part of his approach?

Giuliani said his approach could end illegal immigration within three years.

Laughable to say the least. No fence will ever do the trick. Sure it will make things harder for people to come over from Mexico, but then again, if there is a continued economic imbalance between the US and Central America, then the inevitability of illegal immigration is overwhelming. Of course, what people often forget is that around 25-40% of the current undocumented population is actually made up of people who came here legally, through a visa of some sort. How exactly would a border fence of any type address those millions?

Increasingly though, it seems as if the Republicans are in a freefall on how best to one up one another on illegal immigration, just as they were doing on Guantanamo a short while ago. Similarly, the Democrats are trying to outdo each other with withdrawal from Iraq. One wonders how all of this will play out in a general election. Can the two party nominees race to the center in November with such records of pushing further and further outwards? It seems like the extremeness of the positions is unlike previous elections, but only time will tell how far to the right and to the left the candidates can go. Luckily there is only a few weeks for this to continue. Anymore and a viable third party candidate could emerge.