A Country Without Secure Borders Cannot Stand

This morning I was contacted by a staffer for Greg Ball, a member of the New York State. Sen. Greg Ball was elected to the New York State Senate this past November and was appointed to chair the New York State’s Homeland Security Committee. I have worked with him for the past several years on issues concerning immigration when he was a member of the New York State Assembly.

Consequently he decided to have his staffer contact me this morning about the news report that was published yesterday, January 28th, in a British newspaper, the Mail Online, about how a Tunisian national by the name of Sai Jaziri was found being smuggled in the trunk of a car crossing the border that is supposed to separate the United States from Mexico. Greg wanted me to provide him with my perspectives on this case for a press release to be issued by his office later today.

Needless to say, I was happy to provide my perspectives to him and I have decided to provide you with that British newspaper’s article and my perspectives on this important news report.

Here are my thoughts:

Not long ago Janet Napolitano stated that running our nation’s borders is not a crime! This statement would have been frustrating if anyone would make such an absurd statement, but when the Secretary of Homeland Security cold make such an outlandish statement you could almost want to replace America’s motto of “E Pluribus Unum” which translates to “From many one” to “Abandon all hope- all ye who enter here!”

Napolitano and a laundry list of political and governmental administration have attempted to trivialize the risks that our nation’s open borders pose to the safety of our nation.

To provide a bit of clarity, any alien who has been previously deported from our country commits a felony when he (she) runs our borders in an effort to reenter the United States without authority. The real issue is not if it is a crime when an alien evades the inspections process but to consider why there is an inspections process in the first place.

The immigration laws of our nation specify various reasons why an alien should be excluded from entering our country. Among the reasons are aliens who have dangerous communicable diseases, suffer from serious mental illness and pose a threat of violence, aliens who are convicted felons, are war criminals, have committed human rights violations, are human traffickers or drug smugglers, are involved in espionage or terrorism. There are a number of other categories of aliens whose presence is supposed to be prevented by our officials of DHS, an agency I have come to refer to as the Department of Homeland Surrender. This is why border security is so critical to the safety and security of our nation and our citizens.

In considering the case of Said Jaziri, the Tunisian national who was found being smuggled into the United States along the US/Mexican border, you realize that he has already run up quite a history in Canada and France, having been deported from both of those countries that have reputations for being extremely liberal where immigration is concerned.

The news report that appeared in the Friday edition of the Daily Mail, a British newspaper, also noted that Jaziri had been prosecuted in France for his having lied on his application for political asylum in France, a tactic often utilized by terrorists. They have operated in our country- terrorists such as Mir Amal Kansi, a citizen of Pakistan who lied on his application for political asylum in the United States but was nevertheless granted political asylum,. He showed his appreciation to our government when, on January 25, 1993, he stood outside CIA Headquarters in Maclean, Virginia with an AK-47 and opened fire upon vehicles being driven by CIA officers who were reporting for work that winter morning. Before his rampage was over, two CIA officers were dead and three others were wounded.

Kansi is not the first terrorist to commit fraud in his applications for an immigration benefit or for a visa. In fact, the 9/11 Commission noted that of 94 terrorists who were identified as operating in our country in the decade prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001 roughly two thirds of them (59) were found to have made use of visa fraud and/or immigration benefit fraud in order to enter our country and embed themselves in communities across our nation.

Here is a recent example of such a fraud that was successfully carried out by an illegal alien in our country.

On March 30, 2010 the United States issued a press release, entitled, “Eritrean Man Pleads Guilty to Alien Smuggling” that can be found a this link:

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/March/10-crm-343.html

Furthermore, in pushing for various forms of amnesty for illegal aliens our nation’s “leaders” have all but declared that running our borders should be a prerequisite for naturalization. This is a betrayal to our citizens and our nation, not only because it makes a mockery of the many millions of lawful immigrants who, since the founding of our nation entered our country in accordance with law to help build this great nation, but because such a huge amnesty program would be riddled with fraud that would enable aliens whose intentions are malevolent to game the system.

There have been a succession of reports that followed investigations by the Office of the Inspector General and the General Accountability Office into the lack of integrity in the immigration benefits program and the visa process.

Clearly Mr. Jaziri did nothing unique in attempting to game France’s immigration system. However, France actually did something about it- according to the news report, the French government successfully prosecuted him for committing fraud in their country and then expelled him whereupon he apparently showed up in Canada, only to evoke the ire of the Canadian government which resulted in his being expelled from Canada.

The route he allegedly took in his effort to enter the United States was long and circuitous. His efforts were arduous but, for reasons only he fully and truly knows, he felt it was making the difficult and illegal trek to the United States. The efforts he has expended should make it clear that he may well have been a “man on a mission.”

The only question is, what was that mission?

While he was caught near the border, it is to be presumed that he ultimately intended to head for a city somewhere well beyond the border of our country- potentially putting all of our citizens at risk.

Furthermore, in the wake of the horrific shootings in Arizona a couple of weeks ago- our leaders have renewed their focus and concerns about “hate speech.” A concern all decent people should share. The news report about Jaziri noted some of his outrageous examples of hate speech making it clear that his presence in our country would represent a serious threat to the well being of our nation and our citizens.

As I have often noted, a country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!

If our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!

We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.

My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.

The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.

If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same. We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”

The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.

The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!

The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians. I implore you to resolve this year to get involved!

If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue-simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Controversial Muslim cleric caught being smuggled into U.S. over Mexico border By Daily Mail