Enjoy Australia's tough-as-nails campaign to squash illegal immigration

Australia may be sitting out in the middle of the ocean, but that doesn't mean they don't have to deal with illegal immigration. They might not have a corrupt, train wreck of a country like Mexico nestled against their southern border but, in some ways, they have a bigger problem. Much of their large continent is unpopulated, and both its interior and coastline are difficult to patrol.

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Numerically, their illegal immigrant problem is relatively tiny. Compared to the 12 million illegals in the United States, Australia's 100,000 illegal workers (as of 2010) might seem like a dream scenario. Still, the Australian government isn't having it. The country has avenues for legal immigration as well as a way to offer asylum to those who genuinely need it - so they've launched a campaign to inform those who would sneak in via boat that they aren't welcome. The campaign launched earlier this year, but today it's been getting attention here in the states thanks to Twitchy Here's the message from General Angus Campbell of the Australian army:

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Funny. I didn't hear the words "pathway to citizenship" or "amnesty" once! He never said a thing about letting people "out of the shadows!" I wonder if the Australian version of the USDA is working with foreign governments to make sure illegals get food stamps? The corresponding poster: Gosh. Seems pretty stark. I wonder how it compares to illegal immigration advertising here in the U.S.? Oh, that's right. Here, we're actually advertising in Mexico so that self-deported illegals will know we'd love nothing more than to see them come back. As Breibart reported:

As part of a legal settlement that will allow some illegal immigrants who deported themselves from Southern California to return to the United States, the federal government has agreed to advertise the settlement on various Mexican and Spanish-language media outlets. The ACLU filed a class-action lawsuit last year on behalf of eleven illegal immigrants who deported themselves. The settlement reached on Wednesday will only cover "longtime California residents with relatives who are U.S. citizens and... young migrants whose parents brought them into the country illegally" who deported themselves between 2009 and 2013. An ACLU official has indicated that there were nearly 250,000 people who were "deported voluntarily from Southern California between 2009 and 2013" and estimated to the Los Angeles Times that the "number of repatriations could reach into the hundreds or thousands."

So, yeah. The Australian approach is a little bit different.

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