My commentary today is predicated upon two excellent news reports. produced by Fox News. The first of the two reports is a 9 minute video that was produced by Sean Hannity and the second is a document that was written by a Fox News reporter, Jana Winter.
Both reports deal with the madness to be found on the border that is supposed to separate the United States from Mexico and makes it clear that notwithstanding the statements of President Obama and his Secretary of the Department of Homeland Surrender, Janet Napolitano- our border is anything but secure! This does not only place the citizens of our nation and others who live along the southern border at risk, but endangers the lives of everyone who lives anywhere in the United States!
I urge you to watch the video from start to finish and carefully read Jana Winter’s report and then I want you to remember that on Tuesday, May 10th, President Obama went to El Paso, Texas to once again, push for “Comprehensive Immigration Reform.”
Here is a link to a You Tube video of a portion of what Obama had to say:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAOEInEzpec
The title for this segment was:
‘Alligators in the Moat’: Obama Mocks Concerns About Border Security
Incredibly he said that the fence was “basically complete!”
Now I ask that you check out the AP report that was published by the Boston Globe on March 16, 2011 that noted that the GAO had reported that the fence would not be completed any sooner than 2021 and likely not be completed until 2026!
Here is the link to that news report:
To put this madness into proper perspective- when our nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it took our nation, working in close cooperation with our allies, to defeat the enemies of the Axis nations all of 44 months. In order to accomplish this, our nation built fleets of airplanes that had previously not existed. Our nation built fleets of ships of all sorts that had previously not existed. Our nation created radar installations, all sorts of weapons systems and even nuclear weapons with unproven technology and in just 44 months it was over!
Our nation was attacked by international terrorists in 1993- nearly 2 decades ago. This September, our nation will be observing the tenth anniversary of the attacks of 9/11. These attacks were only possible because the visa issuing process and the immigration benefits program were fatally flawed and, remain fatally flawed today. Additionally, there have been a seemingly endless succession of Congressional hearings into the lack of security along our nation’s borders.
In response to concerns about the potential for terrorist attacks, the expectation of privacy and freedom under the Fourth Amendment have been whittled away yet our borders remain as porous as sieves- acting as little more than speed bumps to illegal aliens and smugglers.
When we seek to board airliners we must remove our shoes because Richard Reid, the “Shoe Bomber” managed to hide explosives in his shoes shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and nearly brought down an airliner as it flew towards the United States. However, as a British citizen, he was not required to apply for an d receive a visa prior to seeking to travel to the United States and prior to seeking to enter the United States under the extremely dangerous Visa Waiver Program. That program is not only continuing but it has been expanded to include the citizens of 36 countries!
Yet, just days ago, the President of the United States stood before the cameras in a town that is just on the other side of one of the most violent cities in the entire world, Ciudad Juarez and says the border fence is nearly completed?! And then he mocks and ridicules the citizens he was elected to represent and, in fact protect (let us not forget that as Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces and as the head of the Executive Branch under which all of our nation’s federal agents of such agencies as the FBI, DHS (including ICE and Border Patrol), ATF and DEA are to be found- yet he jokes about how some people want him to create a moat around the United States and stock it with alligators?
Perhaps his motto should be, “Don’t confuse me with the facts!”
These reports were just put “out there” but the information about the nexus between national security and our nation’s failures to secure the borders and create an immigration system that has real integrity has been appearing for years and all that the majority of the politicians who are out there seem to be willing to do is to create the illusion that they are protecting our nation from these extreme risks.
WSB-TV, the Atlanta-based affiliate of ABC-TV has aired a number of hard hitting news reports about the risks our porous southern border poses to our nation. Brad Stone, the Special Projects producer who was behind these excellent news reports. Here are links to two such reports that aired last year:
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438021/index.html
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/23686786/detail.html
Politicians from both sides of the aisle are responsible for the immigration crisis that has created a national security crisis and that has enabled transnational criminals including members of the extremely violent Mexican drug cartels and transnational gangs such as MS-13 to not only enter our country but easily embed themselves in cities throughout out nation from coast to coast and border to border. These gangs are not only from Latin America but include aliens from the four corners of our planet from Russia, Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. These criminals most often place the lives of the immigrants who came from the same countries the criminals came from but increasingly these gangs imperil the lives of all who live within the borders of the United States- the borders that Obama and Napolitano are quick to tell us are now more secure than ever!
Several months ago, Janet Napolitano engaged in creating a false argument that many people fell for. She crafted an argument that was obviously designed to minimize the significance of the immigration laws by saying that it was only an administrative violation to run our borders. She attempted to make it seem that running our borders was no more serious than a motorist who exceeds the speed limit or fails to come to a complete stop at a stop sign.
In point of fact, an alien who runs our nation’s border for the first time is committing a misdemeanor. However, an alien who has been formally deported from the United States is committing a felony under the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act INA).
For the purposes of this subsection, the term “removal” includes
any agreement in which an alien stipulates to removal during (or
not during) a criminal trial under either Federal or State law.
(c) Reentry of alien deported prior to completion of term of
imprisonment
So much for the notion that it is no big deal to enter our country by running our nation’s borders as Obama, Napolitano and the other open borders advocates would have you believe!
As you can see, under certain circumstances, an alien who has been deported (removed) from the United States may face a maximum of 20 years in prison for unlawful re-entry. I am particularly pleased with that section of law because back in the early 1980’s I approached then New York State Senator Al D’Amato and, backed up by more than 30 of my colleagues at the New York District of the INS, and convinced him to create the enhanced penalties for unlawful re-entry of aliens who had been deported and had been convicted of committing felonies.
What is even more important about the issue of the enforcement of the immigration laws that Janet Napolitano is quick to make light of, is the intention of those laws- to keep aliens out of the United States whose presence would be harmful or pose a threat to our nation and to our citizens as well as others who are in our country. These laws are also intended to create the legal framework to enable our country to remove aliens whose presence is harmful or poses a threat.
Here is a link to Title 8, United States Code, Section 212, the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that enumerates the various categories of aliens who are statutorily ineligible to enter the United States:
http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-1956.html
It is also important to remember another serious national security issue to aliens who run our nation’s borders- by evading the inspections process, there is no way of our government to know that these aliens are in our country. No record is made of their entry into our country.
It is incomprehensible that the Secretary of Homeland Security would minimize these critically important laws. It is unfathomable that she and the President of the United States would falsely claim that the borders are secure. Of course they are not the only “leaders” who have made misleading- indeed, false statements about the borders of the United States or to make use of deceptive language to attempt to assuage the fears and concerns of the citizens of our country. However, the fact that this administration has seen fit to file a lawsuit in an effort to block the governor of the state of Arizona from enforcing its own immigration laws that essentially parallel the federal laws that clearly the federal government is determined to ignore is a first! This is one of the most blatant example of chutzpah demonstrated by the federal government that I am aware of! There are a few other contenders for greatest demonstration of chutzpah by the federal government- but this is way up on the list!
Governor Brewer of Arizona had a commercial produced to explain why she and the political leaders of her state decided to act when the federal government refused to do its job.
Here is a link to that video that was entitled, “Mr. President, No One in Arizona is Laughing:”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLgZ1LWLlko
Here is a link to the arguments posed by the law firm that Governor Brewer retained to defend herself and her state against the insane DOJ lawsuit:
http://www.azgovernor.gov/dms/upload/PR_072010_USvAZDefendantsResponsePlaintiffMotionPI.pdf
The securing of our nation’s borders and the effective enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws are, arguably, among the most important of all missions that are supposed to be carried out by our federal government.
Nothing less than the security of our nation and safety of our citizens hang in the balance!
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 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 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!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
