Immigration policy: Does the President have a clue?

We are, we're told, in a war.

On that point, I happen to agree. But the fact we're in a war causes me even greater concern over the President's immigration policies, proposals and ideas.

The law, it seems to me, is clear and unambiguous: If you come into this country illegally, you are an illegal alien.

The problem with such a law rests with enforcement at every level.

When a prospective illegal alien (and let’s be clear here, those here illegally are “Illegal Aliens,” NOT “undocumented immigrants,” or “undocumented aliens.” The fact that we have even begun to PC the titles of illegal aliens is a symptom of this greater disease.) looks over the terrain… ponders the possible outcomes once they’ve arrived in this country… What do they see?

They see a border that puts Swiss Cheese to shame. They see communities nationwide that willingly, by legislative fiat, ANNOUNCE they will aid their efforts to violate Federal law by restricting police and other public servants from even inquiring about one’s citizenship status, let alone the duty to report illegals to INS (Or whatever they’re calling it this week)

They see, for example, the State of Washington illegally spending millions of dollars on free medical care. They see their children, if they happen to have been born inside the borders, winning the citizenship lottery by instantly becoming US citizens. They see their illegal alien children crowding out citizens from our own four-year colleges… LEGALLY. They see they have the ability and in some cases, people pressing a demand for the right to actually vote in our elections. (Yeah, I know… It’s illegal for illegals to vote in our elections. But the left doesn’t want us to clamp down on vote fraud… so they fight every effort to require citizenship and identification checks to vote… so, illegals can (and do) vote anyway)

They see a free education for their children (Thousands of whom cross the border every morning and afternoon to openly attend public schools in, among other places, San Diego, California… a state where the best estimate is that one in six K-12 students are enrolled illegally in public schools.)

The mystery to me is this: what penalty do these people pay? Why SHOULDN’T illegals flock up here in droves?

Vincente’ Fox, President of Mexico, facilitates the traffic of illegal aliens into this country. He and his government facilitate the process. They’ve even produced an informational DVD spelling out the methods, routes and benefits available to those who make the trip. Why, it’s almost a recruiting tool!

The fact is that the dollars sent back to Mexico are the second largest source of revenue to the Mexicans, second only to oil… a gap shrinking fast, even accounting for the skyrocketing cost of oil.

Fox has done, and will do, nothing to slow the cross-border traffic. He, in fact, has the unmitigated gall to demand that we, in the midst of a war, LOOSEN our border controls, when we should, in fact, be doing everything we can to tighten them… ratchet them down… making it as difficult as possible.

President Bush has a “guest worker” plan that amounts to yet another amnesty for illegal aliens… which will have the same positive effect of all the other amnesties.

More and more Americans are becoming concerned that the President’s failure to address border issues, known to be a calculated political move, is leaving a huge gap in our security, both military and economic.

While the President can easily and rapidly address the issue of border security through deployment of the National Guard, he has refused to do so. His budget adds a mere 210 agents to the Border Patrol when 20,000 are not enough. He refuses to take the necessary steps to end the “incentive programs” perpetuated by many states and municipalities around the country. He refuses to take the necessary action against those who would hire illegal aliens, sending yet another message… both to employers and their illegal alien employees.

So, citizens of this country are going to do what they’ve always done when their government fails them… and, in this instance, make no mistake: this is a failure of our government.

These citizens are setting up an organization called the “Minuteman Project.” This Project, using upwards of 1000 volunteers, will monitor the border and report the movement of illegals so the Border Patrol can come and pick them up.

That, of course, does nothing to address the attraction for illegal aliens. But it does provide an assist to at least marginally increase the number of bus tickets issued by INS to get illegals back over the border.

Because President Fox doesn’t like, or want, increased scrutiny of the border, he brought it up to President Bush, who condemned it, claiming that he wants enforcement “of the law in a rational way.”

Given everything written here… how are our immigration laws being enforced… rationally or otherwise? I, for one, would settle for ANY enforcement of our immigration laws, rational or otherwise. Because the enforcement we have now is far away from “rational.” Current enforcement is light years away from logical.

It is a matter of time until this nation suffers another huge terrorist attack. What will the President do if the route of such an attack is traced back through the border? Will it take a massive attack… a major loss of life to get his attention?

On this one, Mr. Bush is wrong. And it’s a sorry state of affairs that citizens of this Nation feel compelled to take this action.


THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Bush decries border project
By James G. Lakely

WACO, Texas — President Bush yesterday said he opposes a civilian project to monitor illegal aliens crossing the border, characterizing them as "vigilantes."

He said he would pressure Congress to further loosen immigration law.

More than 1,000 people — including 30 pilots and their private planes — have volunteered for the Minuteman Project, beginning next month along the Arizona-Mexico border. Civilians will monitor the movement of illegal aliens for the month of April and report them to the Border Patrol.

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