Oh, no, you didn’t

Nevada’s Republican Caucuses went forDonald Trump and Ted Cruz. With the pesky John Kasich barely hanging on, those are the candidates who are left standing after almost a year of grueling debates to winnow 17 down to three.

Many Nevada Republicans support Trump and Cruz’s call for a Mexican border wall and mass deportations of illegal immigrants.

I have to admit, I am a Marxist. I am a big fan of Groucho Marx. Groucho took his cigar out of his mouth and said: Government is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, then misapplying the wrong solution. One of my favorite maxims. (Remember when you could even smoke a cigar on television? Ernie Kovaks was another famous television smoker of Cuban cigars. At least Cubanos are coming back!)

Trump is trumpeting out of one of the orifices he mentions from time to time when he yells, “They’re streaming over the border.” Mexican immigration to the U.S. has been declining for at least a decade, and since 2009 is actually negative, with hundreds of thousands more Mexicans returning to Mexico than coming to America every year. Most Latin American countries, including Mexico, are currently experiencing economic growth. Despite their Catholic faith, the birthrate among Latino women has been declining, which has also created needs for more workers to return, enticed by higher wages.

Deporting 12 million illegal undocumented immigrants, even over an 8 year presidency, is simply impossible. The most deportations annually were in the “Deporter in Chief” era of President Obama’s first term, which never exceeded 240,000 annually. These deportations were “interior removals” mostly of people caught by police and then discovered to be illegal. Searching for individual family members who are living here peacefully and productively to deport is not only horrifically un-American, but impossible. You would have to triple the size of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from 5,000 to 15,000, but it gets worse. Even a modicum of due process, which mandates a hearing, requires 12 agents for every deportation. Trump and Cruz’s plans would require 1,375,000 deportations annually. It is doubtful in our current political environment that any president could even return to the 240,000 record set by Obama.

What many Republicans strangely do not understand is that local law enforcement will oppose Trump and Cruz. Most local police, even today, are reluctant to cooperate fully with ICE due to concerns over racial profiling and the lack of trust it fosters in minority communities. Mass deportations would result in major headaches for law enforcement officers on the street and would result in more crime and disrespect for the law in affected communities afraid to cooperate with the police for fear of ICE alerts.

And what about that fucking wall? The Great Trump Wall would, if even possible to be erected in many areas, require 10 percent of all the cement produced in America. Trump says he will make Mexico pay for it. Well, the bill keeps going up. Donald said at first 4 billion, then 10 or 12. Actually, most experts place the cost at $25 billion, but make that 50 or 75 after the usual construction overruns. A high tech wall would cost far more. Trump’s Wall could soon equal the entire federal infrastructure budget, crowding out badly needed air traffic control upgrades, bridge and road repair. It would also require massive use of eminent domain, especially in Texas, where properties often go right up to the Rio Grande. America will not be great again for attempting to build Trump’s Wall, but will be a laughingstock instead.