Drone aircraft will be used to nab illegal immigrants on California-Mexico border

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: LA Times

Predator drones, the unmanned aircraft used by the U.S. military in the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones, will soon be employed to track illegal immigrants on the Mexico-California border.

The drone, which will be unveiled later today, will be operated out of the Antelope Valley by the military contractor General Atomics. The drones will fly above the border region with advancing electronic tracking equipment looking for illegal immigrants crossing into California.



Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/12/drone-aircraft-will-be-used-to-nab-illegal-immigrants-on-californiamexico-border.html

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I feel safe now

[JuniperLea]

1. We could probably take care of all those people and more...

With the money spent on this.

[WriteDown]

2. Makes sense...

Low cost. Easy to operate. Probably a better solution than a fence.

[Kali]

4. neither is a solution, bandaids at best

greed and bad policy is the main cause, hence policy change is the only likely "solution"

[WriteDown]

8. Greed by?

And what are your solutions. This seems like an effective way to monitor a large area.

[Kali]

11. migrants wouldn't even be out there if policy was different

maybe a few drug smugglers, but then that is a result of shitty policy too

[WriteDown]

13. So......

outline your preferred "policy."

[winyanstaz]

15. I have a preferred policy for you...

Mega fine the crap out of people that hire them or give them housing. Send the bill to take care of them to Mexico and force Mexico to upgrade the living conditions there so those people don't have to go begging for work..in our country where we have no work for our own right now.
Stop tearing children and babes out of the arms of their parents and treat the people humanly..but firmly that they cannot stay if they are illegals. Send the bill to take them back to Mexico.
Make a way for the people that work in our fields to become citizens legally and easier.
And last but not least..Let the parents of anchor babies know they must chose to either go back with the other parent to Mexico with the babe as well, or the illegal must leave the babe and other parent here. period.
If they know the rules will not allow them to stay..they will be more careful I believe.

[WriteDown]

16. The only problem with that policy...

is how do you fine companies that can claim ignorance. It is not easy to verify identity. National ID cards may be an option though. Most of your ideas have merit though.

[winyanstaz]

20. All it takes is to check of their driver's license is real or not.

We do not need national id cards.
If a driver's licence and social security numbers can be checked then all the necessary paper work was already provided to the state.
We just need a way employers can check if the driver's license and social security numbers match up with the government records.

[WriteDown]

23. We also need to make sure that any government database...

contains photos so that people who have documents are presenting their own documents and not something taken from some guys mailbox.

[winyanstaz]

24. yes..exactly..

[AlphaCentauri]

17. is anchor baby a term to describe kids of people that enters with a tourist visa?

[winyanstaz]

19. It discribes a baby born to an illegal and a citizen of America...

and is often used in order to keep the illegal in the country.

[AlphaCentauri]

29. So people with temporary visas can't have anchor babies?

[winyanstaz]

36. No one suggested anyone couldnt have a baby...

But if they are not legal to stay here..the parents must realize that the illegal one must go back until legal. That is the law..it just needs to be inforced in a humane manner.

[Lance_Boyle]

39. no citizen parent is required for an 'anchor baby'

If the baby is born in the US, the baby is a citizen regardless of parents' immigration status.

[winyanstaz]

45. you are correct...I left that part out..sorry...

[Mithreal]

6. Double plus good.

They would never arm them or think of using them to invade the privacy of citizens.

God I love the MIC and fascism.

[WriteDown]

7. I hear they're planning on arming commercial jets too

and installing surveillance dishes on them. Stay safe!

[AlphaCentauri]

10. Soon we are going to appear on a map site urinating under a tree /eom

[winyanstaz]

25. soon they will be using unmanned drones to keep citizens in line too..

[JuniperLea]

44. Exactly...

True to form we're being told a story that many can support, either through their bigotry, or their greed, or because they are genuinely in need of a job (any job). That covers a wide and varied demographic. Fear and greed make "them" win again.

[KamaAina]

46. Especially not considering they'll be based *north* of LA.

"based in the Antelope Valley" = up by Palmdale and Lancaster.

So they'll have to fly over LA AND Orange County AND San Diego to get to the border. :scared:

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

3. They should let people pay to operate the drones via internet.

Put in some safety-nets so the e-pilot can't damage/lose the aircraft and charge $20/hr.
Not too often do employees pay to do the work.

Ultimately we could add warthogs, banshees, scorpions and ghosts to hunt for illegal aliens too... turning the southern border into an interactive HALO match.
Only one rule... NO CAMPING! lol.

[Mithreal]

21. I am guessing you saw this. Heard it first on Mike Malloy's show.

http://defensetech.org/2009/08/21/inside-a-predator-strike-cyberdyne-beware/

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

26. No, but I'll watch it when I get home. Thanks! n/t

[zalinda]

5. This is amazing

What these people should do is find some church that is willing to sponsor them, and they would be fine. Here is Syracuse, there are churches that are bringing in immigrants, setting them up in apartments, clothing them, getting them on assistance, and in one case that I know of personally, buying them a house. I have to wonder, why don't these churches do that for the poor her in the states? I know I should "love thy neighbor", but it's confusing to me why they are bringing in more people who will end up poor?

zalinda

[AlphaCentauri]

9. "love thy neighbor", Mexico is the neighbor isn't it?

[JonQ]

31. Not a very good one

[AlphaCentauri]

32. better than having Iran or Afghanistan next door

[JonQ]

33. Yeah

and I suppose an angry junkyard pitbull is more cuddly than an angry junkyard pitbull with rabies.

Doesn't mean it is desirable.

[Mithreal]

37. Our country may have benefitted from having a Muslim neighbor

I get your point and almost completely agree.

Poor people are poor people, don't care where they come from, same needs.

And if you think those 2 countries create "terrorists", I'll let ya in on a little secret. If the American military bombed my town or killed my family members, I would earn a nasty label too.

Just saying.

[Dogtown]

38. Perhaps a better neighbor than we are.

[JonQ]

42. Not really

I think they've benefited far more from having us as a neighbor than we have.

Along with oil and tourism remittances are a major part of their economy.

[Dogtown]

43. "That's just, like, your opinion, Man..."

Seriously, if you don't get my post, you might be an Ugly American.

[notesdev]

12. Probably not immigrants they're looking for

If they're doing this I'd wager they have intel that says something other than immigrants may try to cross that border.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

27. Good point. Likely looking for drugs/guns... not so much illegals. n/t

[JonQ]

14. A good start

but without comprehensive reform on the homefront (ie, going after illegals here and those who employ them) this will not have a major impact.

[truth2power]

18. And "nab" is a euphemism for? n/t

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

28. Nocturnally Aerial Bomb?

[Selena Harris]

22. Follow the $$$

< History[br />(GA) was founded July 18, 1955 in San Diego, California as the General Atomic division of General Dynamics for the purpose of harnessing the power of nuclear technologies for the benefit of the United States of America.


The initial projects were the TRIGA nuclear reactor and Project Orion.

GA was sold in 1967 to Gulf Oil and renamed Gulf General Atomic. In 1973, GA was again renamed as General Atomic Company when Royal Dutch Shell Group's Scallop Nuclear Inc. became a 50-50 partner in the company. When Gulf Oil bought out its partner, effective January 1, 1982, Gulf subsequently renamed the company GA Technologies Inc. In mid-1984, Chevron took ownership of GA following its merger with Gulf Oil.

In 1986, the was sold to a company owned by Neal Blue and Linden Blue when it assumed its current name.

In 1987, former U.S. Navy Rear Admiral, Thomas J. Cassidy Jr. joined General Atomics, and in a period of three years, successfully established General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. as a leader in the field of unmanned aircraft.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) was spun off in 1994 as a General Atomics affiliated company.<1>



Government influence
General Atomics was the single biggest corporate underwriter of Congressional trips between January 2000 and June 2005, according to a nine-month study of congressional travel disclosure forms. The company spent more than $660,000 on 86 trips taken by members of Congress, their aides and families. Most of that was spent on overseas travel related to the unmanned Predator spy plane made by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems.

The company said it had sponsored travel for members of Congress and their staffs "to promote enhanced understanding of General Atomics' technology research and product development." The company also noted that excursions were reviewed by "the appropriate Congressional ethics committees prior to travel."

In April 2002, for example, the company paid for Letitia White, who was then a top aide to Representative Jerry Lewis, and her husband to travel to Italy. White left Lewis' office nine months later, to become a lobbyist at Copeland Lowery. The next day, she began representing General Atomics. Lewis, her former boss, was at the time chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.<10>

Other controversy
In 2001, the company was sued for allegedly overcharging the U.S. government for projects between 1992 and 2001.


WikipediaHmmh, San Diego...Jerry Lewis and Duke Cunningham country,right?

[Mithreal]

30. Need some of these to watch the Canuck and Russky borders too.

Some of those mexicans are taking the long way.

[LynnTheDem]

34. OMG!!! Ya mean we FOUND EM??? We found Saddam's DRONES???!!

Dear America,

Do ya REALLY think the world doesn't see the sick irony?

[Gregorian]

35. Oh boy. Just one step away from drones above our cities. Hooray!

[slackmaster]

40. We already have human-piloted police helicopters above our cities

I'd welcome a change to a more cost-effective way to track fleeing criminal suspects.

[panzerfaust]

41. Should they not be armed?

Then they can simply kill this brown wave of terror filtering northward to steal the American Dream.

The border patrol could later just go pick up the bodies and bury them in mass graves - or simply burn them in place as a warning.



"Change you can believe in"

[beyond cynical]

47. Cool...