I doubt the migrants themselves have the kind of money or influence to change their country much, if they did, they probably wouldn’t be in a position where they would want to migrate

This plan would save lives, and could actuallly be considered the act of a humanitarian. Think about it! After the first couple of deaths, the Mexican people will finally know (for sure) that the U.S. is serious about the security of its borders (like every other decent nation is allowed to be, without being considered racist).
If we give a proper final warning (in Spanish), the decision is in their hands. This will prevent any further attempts, thus saving thousands of lives!

How many Illegal Aliens die trying to cross the U.S. border each year? How many die from heat exhaustion or stroke? How many die from dehydration? Starvation? Drowning?

This would save thousands of Mexican lives!

You answered your own question Josh.  Thousands die from heat exhaustion, starvation and dehydration every year trying to enter the U.S.  None of this stops anyone from trying. Adding to this the threat of being shot? That’s just one more risk that I’m pretty sure will not be a major deterrent, especially when you consider just how many illegals are actually caught compared to how many get in.

I’m not sure if you’re being serious, but the argument that the threat of being shot will stop illegal immigrants is like saying that the death penalty deters murderers.  This has been shown to not be the case. 

Crime is not deterred by the threat of punishment.  I don’t have any stats with me to back this up, but I think common sense would support me in that we have more prisons and people in prison now than ever.  Assuming that most of the people in prison are guilty, wouldn’t that mean that we have seen a significant drop in the crime rate across the country?  I do not believe we have, and we have in fact seen a general trend toward increased crime, right?  Oh wait, I know, the punishments are not tough enough…yeah, that must be it.

JR:  After the first couple of deaths, the Mexican people will finally know (for sure) that the U.S. is serious about the security of its borders (like every other decent nation is allowed to be, without being considered racist).

Most decent nations don’t shoot to kill people trying to cross their borders.

BB: Crime is not deterred by the threat of punishment.  I don’t have any stats with me to back this up, but I think common sense would support me in that we have more prisons and people in prison now than ever.  Assuming that most of the people in prison are guilty, wouldn’t that mean that we have seen a significant drop in the crime rate across the country?  I do not believe we have, and we have in fact seen a general trend toward increased crime, right?

Crime is not *prevented* (in a binary fashion) by threat of punishment, but it may be deterred in some (many) cases.  Do people not shoplift (more than occurs) out of a sense of decency and fair play, or because of fear of being caught?

Where punishment (such as the death penalty) is an utter failure as a deterrent is when the threat is low.  What are the chances, in any given murder, of the perp being executed?  So passingly small that the death penalty is simply no deterrent (except as a future one for the few individuals who are executed).

And, actually, at least in the US, crime rates have dropped quite a bit in the last decade.  They also dropped in the last year—though the impact of massive incarceration policies in the US on this drop is less certain (and from a cost basis is probably unsupportable).

Dave, I again yield to your superior ability to actually take a few minutes to look up some facts.  I have a really bad habit of making general claims without backing them up, but at least in this case, I said I had nothing to base it on. 

In any event though, I stand by my assertion that in the case of illegal immigration, the added threat of being shot by border patrol would seem to do little to actually deter those who are attempting to come across illegally, since as JR pointed out, they already face great dangers, including death by making the attempt in the first place.

I also have a really bad habit of writing really, really long sentences that border on run-ons.

Oh, I agree, it’s not a deterrent, both because death is already a risk, and because (as the porous nature of the borders indicates), the incremental risk of being shot is not that large.

No, shoot the illegal aliens, and let the Sioux have first dibs on Mr Reynolds.

The US government is not taking action, so the American citizens must. We can’t load the illegals in our minivans and drive them back into Mexico, therefor the only option is to kill them.

These people can’t stay here. 95% of them are violent criminals that are no more then animals. They don’t deserve life.

I think there are trolls sneaking over the bordre, too.  Ahem.

I think there are trolls sneaking over the bordre, too.  Ahem.

Don’t know about OVER the border.  We may need to start posting Border Patrol UNDER the Rio Grande bridges…

I think we should fill the bridge culverts with flaming acid (all you D&D geeks know what I’m talking about). It’s the only way to be sure (that or nuking them from orbit, but that has so much residual damage).