Today’s commentary is predicated on a Washington Times report that was published yesterday, 14, September 2011 and reported on how President Obama is criticizing Congressional Republicans for blocking passage of the DREAM act!
How many more times will the administration attempt to ram this legislative betrayal down the throats of our beleaguered citizens?
When a young man refuses to take “no” for an answer when he is on a date, he may be accused of date rape- certainly We the People have made it crystal clear that we oppose this legislation. What part of “NO” does the President not get?
What is absolutely mind boggling is that the DREAM Act would create opportunities for millions of illegal aliens to acquire lawful immigrant status and be granted financial assistance to attend college at a time that every politician, including the President, himself, hammers away at the need to create more jobs for millions of unemployed American workers. The DREAM act has disingenuously been sold as a bill to help young aliens would, in fact, provide lawful status and a pathway to United States citizenship to aliens who had not attained their 35th birthday. While I concede that as someone on the wrong side of 60 that 35 sound young to me, it is, in fact the age most consider to be “middle age!”
The issue of providing lawful status to millions of illegal aliens who have no reliable or authoritative documentation to prove who they are creates a serious national security crisis for our nation at a time that we are still waging a war against terrorists. Furthermore, because the DREAM Act would require that the aliens who would participate in this program would have to establish when they entered the United States would not have an easy way of providing that evidence and the adjudications officers who would have to process those millions of applications would likely be ordered to accept any sort of documentation that these aliens provide. The water becomes even muddier when illegal aliens who create no record of their entry when they run our borders, use multiple false names.
Providing illegal aliens with lawful status under names that may be utterly fictitious would also create a national security nightmare for our nation and our citizens.
Several years ago I wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Times that Senator Sessions quoted from the floor of the United States Senate on several separate occasions when “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” was being debated. One of my concerns about “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” was that terrorists would be easily able to game that program and acquire lawful status in false names that would enable them to circumvent terror watch lists and “No Fly” lists. I suggested that a more honest name for that legislative disaster would be the “Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act!”
This potential risk to national security also applies to the DREAM Act.
Here is a link to Washington Times article: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/jun/22/immigration-bill-a-no-go/
I participated in a number of televised debates about the DREAM Act over the past several years. Here is a link to one of those debates in which I participated on MSNBC November 2010:
I also wrote a commentary about my concerns about the DREAM Act that appeared on my website- here is the link to that commentary: http://michaelcutler.net/2010/09/13/the-nightmare-act/ There are also a few points that I raised during the debates concerning how it is wrong-headed to provide illegal aliens with opportunities to serve in our military.
Before we go any further I want to make an important point- I know that there are a number of aliens who served with great valor and integrity in our military and I certainly honor their service, however, the idea of providing illegal aliens with access to our training and our military services also gives me great “cause for pause!”
It is illegal for an illegal alien to possess firearms and/or ammunition. Furthermore, there is a growing concern about the increasing numbers of gang members who have enlisted in the military. I have attached a troubling news report that appeared on a website that focuses on our military. The article was published last year and addressed the extreme dangers that our military and our nation faces because members of violent gangs such as MS-13 have been well trained in the use of weapons and military tactics.
Here is a link to that article:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/justicelawlegislation/a/gangs.htm
Here is an excerpt from that article:
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Why Do Gang Members Join the Military?
The FBI believes that gang members may enlist in the military to escape their current environment or gang lifestyle. Some gang members may also enlist to receive weapons, combat, and convoy support training; to obtain access to weapons and explosives; or as an alternative to incarceration. Upon discharge, they may employ their military training against law enforcement officials and rival gang members. Such military training could ultimately result in more organized, sophisticated, and deadly gangs, as well as an increase in deadly assaults on law enforcement officers.
In May 2005 an Army recruit and suspected Crip member was assigned to the US Army Finance Battalion where he engaged in drug distribution. He was eventually discharged from the Army for misconduct.
According to open source reporting and multiple law enforcement reporting, soldiers-including gang members-are currently being taught urban warfare for combat in Iraq, including how to encounter hostile gunfire.
The Defense Criminal Investigative Service reported in 2006 that gang members, particularly MS-13 members, are increasing their presence on or near US military installations.
Even though the policy violates Military recruiting regulations, US criminal courts have allowed gang members to enter the service as an alternative to incarceration. Several instances wherein gang members have been recruited into the armed services while facing criminal charges or on probation or parole have been documented. In many instances, a gang member facing criminal charges may be provided the option to join the military or serve a jail sentence. Furthermore, some army recruiters have been known to conceal recruits’ gang affiliation to help boost their enlistment numbers.
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From a personal perspective, in the late 1970’s I worked closely with members of the NYPD and an agency then known as ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) to track down and arrest illegal aliens, mostly from the Caribbean who had lied about their identities in order to join the United States Marine Corps to acquire the sort of military training I noted above. A number of them went AWOL and then with weapons that they stole from their bases, they carried out extremely violent bank robberies in which a number of people were wounded or killed.
Consider the issue of Los Zetas, arguably the most violent of the Mexican drug cartels. These violent thugs were initially members of the Mexican law enforcement agencies and military and were trained by our military officers to enlist their aid in dismantling the drug cartels in Mexico. They were offered far more money by the cartels and decided to switch sides. Eventually they tired of working for the cartels as their enforcers and took control of the turf that had been controlled by the cartels that had employed them.
We have seen where this sort of effort is likely to lead and it is not a good place!
Additionally, it is important to consider a couple of the statements that, according to the news Washington Times report President Obama made when he addressed the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s gala at the Washington Convention Center:
“I wish I could wave my magic wand,” Mr. Obama said. “Until Nancy Pelosi is speaker again… At the end of the day, I can’t do this all by myself. We’re going to have to get Congress to act. I know Nancy Pelosi’s ready to act. It’s time to stop playing politics.”
It would appear that Obama does have a “magic wand” it is the pen with which he writes policy and executive orders to stop ICE agents from enforcing the immigration laws and terminating deportation hearings that have been initiated for some 300,000 illegal aliens!
Consider the final sentence in that news report that offered yet another quote from the President:
“In this country there is no ‘us’ or ‘them,’ there is only us – one nation, under God, indivisible, and immigrants are part of that American family,” Mr. Obama said.
In point of fact, there actually is an “us” or “them!” The difference is not about race, ethnicity or religion- but it is about citizenship!
Of course lawful immigrants are part of the “American family” but lawful immigrants are not the issue- this is about providing illegal aliens with benefits that the laws never intended for them to have!
The difference between an immigrant and an illegal alien is equivalent to the difference between a houseguest and a burglar!
That infuriating statement is the equivalent of telling that a homeowner must adopt the burglar who broke into his house and also provide lodging for that burglar’s family!
With so many Americans of all races, religions and ethnicities struggling to pay their bills, especially given the findings of the most recent census that 15.1% of all Americans now live below the poverty line, it has never been more important to make certain that our nation’s immigration laws are enforced to protect one of the most endangered species to be found in our country today- America’s Middle Class!
A final thought- prior to the Second World War, the enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws was the responsibility of the United States Department of Labor out of a concern that an influx of foreign workers would have a harmful impact on the jobs, wages and working conditions of the American worker.
To this day the United States Labor Department is responsible for issuing labor certificates to attest to the fact that foreign workers are not taking jobs that Americans would take. Of course the level of fraud is stratospheric and the result is that so many American workers across all ethnic lines and in jobs that range from the lowest paying to those that involve college education and advanced degrees are being displaced in the labor market- by foreign workers who work for lower wages and worse working conditions.
By making that statement about “immigrants” when he is really speaking about illegal aliens is outrageous!
Each year our nation admits more than 1.1 million lawful immigrants. These immigrants are entitled to work in the United States and they are on the pathway to United States citizenship.
Now the administration is seeking to add millions of more foreign workers into an already overflowing labor pool. This is betrayal is nothing short of a prescription for a disaster for all Americans.
Perhaps the cruelest irony of all is that America’s minorities are now suffering the highest levels of unemployment!
If Mr. Obama was really concerned about American Latinos, and American Blacks, he would seek to enforce the immigration laws and rather than try to provide opportunities for college education for illegal aliens, he would seek to provide American children, of every race, religion and ethnicity with greater opportunities to acquire college educations and then have jobs that they can go to when they graduate that make use of those degrees!
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 get involved!
I believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world. However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!
If our government’s failures to secure our nation’s borders and effectively enforce our immigration laws 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! Democracy is not a spectator sport! Lead, follow or get out of the way!
Additionally, on Friday afternoons from 4:00 PM until 5:00 PM, Eastern Daylight Savings Time I fill in for Tom Garcia on his show, “The American Hour” on the USA Talk Radio Network’s excellent show, “The American Hour”
I hope you will be joining me, on Fridays!
Here is the link for this program: www.USARadioNetwork.com/tom.htm
Obama targets Republicans for blocking Dream Act
Gang Activity in the U.S. Military
