# And So It Begins - The Asshatery Of The Border Patrol **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 8, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379 "2005-04-08T12:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/21 "2005-04-10T19:30:18Z")
I’m not against securing our borders but the bunch of yahoos that make up the “Minutemen” will do more harm than good. Just saw a pic in today’s paper, speaking of ridiculous t-shirts. One of these bubbas at the ready, at his post sports a shirt reading: “Some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them” Surprised it wasn’t written in Spanish. Then again maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/22 "2005-04-10T20:43:00Z")
Are these Minutemen also going to volunteer to pick the fruit and mow the lawns the immigrants used to do, if they are successful? ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/23 "2005-04-10T21:08:04Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/24 "2005-04-10T21:08:54Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Are these Minutemen also going to volunteer to pick the fruit and mow the lawns the immigrants used to do, if they are successful? What did Davy Crockett say when he saw eight thousand Minutemen marching on the Alamo? “How are we supposed to pour concrete with these idiots!?” ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/25 "2005-04-11T08:03:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Yeah, I’m sure that the Mexican man heartily agreed to wear their stupid T-shirt. I doubt that he felt the least bit afraid and intimidated at his situation. They probably all went out and had a beer together afterwards. I, too, wish that I can magically make things happen simply by sarcastically slurring, “I’m sure that blahbitty blah…”. I’m sure that a million dollars will appear on my bed right now… … Now! … I’m sure that… NOW!! Huh. Doesn’t seem to be working for me. How do you do it? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/26 "2005-04-11T12:23:06Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Are these Minutemen also going to volunteer to pick the fruit and mow the lawns the immigrants used to do, if they are successful? Is this a whoosh? Immigrants can still do all those things - if they come in LEGALLY! Get it? LEGALLY! L-E-G-A-L-L-Y! If they can’t come in LEGALLY - then they can’t come in. Period, end of fucking story. My parents had to jump through hoops to get into the USA LEGALLY! Why the fuck do people think it’s some sort of god given right to be in the United States? It is a privilege and it will most likely be granted if the applicant isn’t a criminal and comes in LEGALLY. I feel I need to buy a nurf baseball bat with the word LEGALLY printed on it and start whacking those people who don’t understand the concept. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/27 "2005-04-12T12:33:13Z")
It’s not like I don’t get the concept, Bob. But in my experience illegals do a great deal of the grunt work in the southwest (in my childhood home yard and housecleaning work) at a fraction of the cost that legal immigrants charge. If all fruit was picked by documented immigrants it would cost more and I think we’d be seeing higher prices. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/28 "2005-04-12T13:36:30Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > If all fruit was picked by documented immigrants it would cost more and I think we’d be seeing higher prices. This was hashed out in a [BBQ Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=294991&page=1&highlight=labor+shipping+cost) thread a while ago… You can say that the prices will be higher, but you can’t say how much higher. And given that the labor costs involved in harvesting the fruit are only a fraction (albeit a large one) of the cost it takes to bring that piece of fruit to the supermarket shelf (land, chemicals, ag equipment, irrigation, planting, pest control, _harvesting_, storing, shipping, retailing, and of course profit at various steps along the way…) AND that the price difference between legal and illegal labor isn’t as big as many people think, it’s probable that the costs wouldn’t rise all that much. Here’s a [study](http://www.cis.org/articles/1996/back296.htm) that estimates eliminating illegal labor would only result in a 6% cost increase for ftuis and vegies: Our estimate is that a 15 percent rise in the real wage (30 percent in the short term) translates into a rise of about 6 percent in the real cost of fresh fruits and vegetables (12 percent in the short term), as reflected in an upward shift of the U.S. supply curve for these agricultural products. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/29 "2005-04-12T17:56:01Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > This was hashed out in a [BBQ Pit](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=294991&page=1&highlight=labor+shipping+cost) thread a while ago… Thanks for linking this thread…there’s a lot reading material there for those that don’t understand the economy of illegal immigration. Other stuff related to the OP that I found: [Vicente Fox crying foul over “the extemists”.](http://bluegoldfish.blogs.com/surface/2005/03/mexican_chutzpa.html) [From October, 2001…“Other than Mexican”](http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24987) May I also note there is a HUGE difference between “anti-immigration” and “anti-_illegal_ immigration”. El Presidente would like you be convinced that they are one in the same. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379/30 "2005-04-12T19:08:54Z")
**Amp** : you are correct; my bad. > [@Frostillicus](#): > > Yeah, I’m sure that the Mexican man heartily agreed to wear their stupid T-shirt. I doubt that he felt the least bit afraid and intimidated at his situation. They probably all went out and had a beer together afterwards. Haven’t seen the video, have ya? The guy was on the other side of a fence; they were passing him water and money, and the guy was smiling. Concluding that deep down he was terrorized takes quite a bit of assuming; concluding that that was the intent takes even more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-so-it-begins-the-asshatery-of-the-border-patrol/298379.md?page=1)