Border agents intimidated?
0 comment Friday, August 22, 2014 |
Sara A. Carter, who writes for the Inland Daily Bulletin in California, has been doing some good reporting on the border issue. She broke the story a while back about the feds passing information to Mexican officials on the movements of the Minutemen in the border areas.
Of course the story never received the coverage it deserved, although a few of us in the blogosphere picked up on it, and it got some attention on conservative forums. But of course the MSM ignores such stories; they don't fit the agenda.
Such will probably be the case with this story written by Sara Carter, 'Mums the word on border'.
Congressmen who visit the U.S.-Mexico border unannounced are being monitored by the Department of Homeland Security, and at least one U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent has been suspended for speaking to a congressman without first getting supervisory clearance, according to documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin.
Congressional representatives interviewed by the Daily Bulletin said they were unaware until recently that Border Patrol agents were required to file Significant Incident Reports -- normally used for shootings and other serious border incidents -- when congressional representatives made unannounced visits this summer along the U.S.-Mexico border.''
At least one agent has apparently been punished for speaking with an Iowa congressman, Steve King. Rep. King is quoted as saying that several agents during his past visits would not speak with him for fear of being punished.
King rightly describes Border Patrol/DHS's policies as a form of intimidation.
The clear intent of this policy is to discourage employees with firsthand knowledge about the porous state of our borders from sharing that information with members of Congress," said TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing about 11,000 Border Patrol agents. "In order for our democracy to function properly, citizens and lawmakers must have access to the unvarnished truth."
Withholding information from congressional leaders violates the Homeland Security Act of 2002, Bonner added.'
Bonner makes a very important point: the intent of the policy is to keep the people in the dark about the border crisis, by attempting to interfere with our duly elected representatives in their efforts to examine things firsthand.
All of this is profoundly un-democratic; our representatives are our eyes and ears on these matters, since the average American citizen cannot ascertain first-had what is happening. Trying to control the flow of information on vital matters like our border security is not the kind of thing we expect in a 'free, democratic society,'
And as Bonner says, these misguided policies are in violation of the Homeland Security Act.
One agent says
It feels like we just can't speak the truth," said an Arizona Border Patrol agent, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They want to know what we say and who we say it to. If we say something that doesn't fit with the agency line, then we're reprimanded."
A Congressional investigation of this is in order; we'll see what happens, or whether this story is just lost down the memory hole. Many of us are weary of faxing or writing our congressmen; I have only ultraliberal 'representatives' who are not the least bit responsive to my concerns. On the other hand, the massive efforts of many immigration-restriction groups over the last year seem to be having some effect; some of our elected officials are starting to at least pretend to take notice. But talk is cheap.
What is the government afraid of, with policies like this, or what are they hiding, and why?
It's obvious that our 'leadership' has no intention to secure our borders or to assert our sovereignty. We know that they want to flood this country with immigrants, both illegal and legal. It's obvious that the fact that the majority of citizens is not in agreement with the government's plans for us. What is there left to hide?
Maybe this is the kind of thing they want to keep us in the dark about.
Trashing the border
or more likely, this is the kind of thing they want to hush up, or whitewash:
Battle at the border
The above is an eye-opening piece about the violence in the border areas, spilling over into American territory, along with the domination of violent Mexican drug cartels.
Despite the very real crises caused by our insane wide-open borders, it seems that the plans call for amnesty and the de facto erasure of borders, whether under a 'North American Community' or not. Yet they try to maintain a thin pretense of wanting to shore up security and enforce our laws. Why do they bother? Our leaders say one thing, giving mere lip service to enforcing the laws and protecting our 'borders' but they establish policies which undermine our sovereignty and independence.
It's hard to escape the conclusion that our government truly thinks we, the people, are stupid, gullible, and easily distracted. Sad to say, there may be some truth to this.
I don't believe all Americans are stupid; I think that there has been a purposeful dumbing-down of America via our educational system and our media. And most of us are either too wrapped up in bread-and-circuses, and too worn out by the rat race, too preoccupied:
'getting and spending, we lay waste our powers,' as Wordsworth wrote long ago.
Our elites are counting on the passivity or distraction of their 'subjects'. But as long as a few people continue to shine a light on some of these clandestine moves by our government, there's hope.
Kudos to Sara A. Carter for her reporting on the border issues. It is extremely rare to find any kind of honest reporting on the border/immigration issue. It is painfully clear that the MSM works to an agenda, and that they have no interest in covering all sides of the story. One would think, in a sane world, that our newspapers and other media outlets would tell the story with some attention to the American point of view: how does it affect American citizens, how does it affect our everyday lives? What does the future hold, given present trends? Is all this immigration, whether legal or illegal, good for America and Americans? Does it serve the majority of us? Instead of an examination of all perspectives, including and especially that of the American people, we get manipulative sob stories of immigrant travails and of 'racism' and xenophobia. We get sermons, endless sermons from our self-appointed moral guardians in the media, and in various leftist 'do-gooder' groups, and ethnic militant groups. Any coverage of the downside of immigration and open borders consists of hit pieces on the Minutemen or denunciations of the handful of pro-enforcement leaders like Tom Tancredo. We get endless editorials, lecturing us on why, as a 'nation of immigrants' we must welcome everybody from everywhere, for all time.
But thank goodness there are still a few journalists like Sara A. Carter.
Let's hope a Congressional investigation is next.

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