John McCain claims Immigration bill to transform border into ‘Berlin Wall’

Arizona Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said Tuesday that the Senate should include an amendment for increased border security in its new bipartisan immigration reform bill, making comparisons to the Berlin Wall.

In video featured by Talking Points Memo, McCain said that the amendment, proposed by Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and John Hoeven (R-ND) would make the border between Mexico and the U.S. into “most militarized border since the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

photo donkeyhotey donkeyhotey.wordpress.com

McCain said of the amendment, which passed Monday, to CNN, “I think that, first of all, the legislation concerning beefed up border security removes any validity to the argument that border security is not sufficient. I mean, this is not only sufficient, it is well over sufficient. We’ll be the most militarized border since the fall of the Berlin Wall so that’s why I think this amendment was very important.”

Critics of the bill point McCain and others to the study which shows that the  immigration from Mexico to the U.S. have fallen steeply in recent years reaching a net of zero just over one year ago.

The Pew Hispanic Center reported that the net migration flow from Mexico to the United States has stopped and may have reversed, according to a new analysis of government data from both countries.

“The standstill appears to be the result of many factors, including the weakened U.S. job and housing construction markets, heightened border enforcement, a rise in deportations, the growing dangers associated with illegal border crossings, the long-term decline in Mexico’s birth rates and broader economic conditions in Mexico.”

In fact, rates of undocumented immigration from Mexico to the U.S. have fallen steeply in recent years reaching a net of zero just over one year ago. Currently the rate of unemployment in Mexico is at 4.9 percent for May of 2013, whereas the U.S. unemployment rate is currently at for May was 7.6 percent.