Polite Kid

In this weeks edition...
Americans punished for doing the "jobs Americans won't do?"
Do criminal aliens have a 'right' to commit crimes in America?
Is something from a sci-fi novel the solution to illegal immigration?
And "uncounted beans?"
All this and more in this weeks exciting episode...

You can watch Jake's entire interview with professor Zhang...here.
You can vote for this post at Real Clear Politics...Here.
If this video has inspired you to get more involved here are some things you can do. NumbersUSA puts you in the know with daily updates on legislation and contact info you can use to keep your congresscritter honest.
Heres another site you may find useful. Immigration stance provides you with an easy to read scorecard on every congresscritters record on immigration related votes. Knowledge is power! And a reminder, if your representative is one of the altogether rare 'good guys' make sure to give them a call and offer an 'attaboy!' before you return to lambasting the bad guys.
This has been the Blogs For Borders Video Blogburst. The Blogs
For Borders Blogroll is dedicated to American sovereignty, border
security and a sane immigration policy. If you'd like to join go to the
Blogs For Borders Website and send us an email with "sign me up" in the subject line.
Technorati Tags: illegal immigration, crime, mexico, mechanizing the harvest, uncounted beans, statistics, blogs for borders video blogburst, amnesty, border security

Labels: Blogburst, Borders, Video

The North American Union, SPP, and NASCO: Erasing America's Borders
By Heidi at Euphoric Reality
Our government has undertaken some monumental legislation that fully impacts the American way of life, our freedom, and our sovereignty. The purpose of such legislation is to homogenize Canada, Mexico, and the United States into a North American Union - and we're all going to sleep through it.
Have you heard of a little-known program called the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America? This tri-lateral partnership was signed by President Bush last year without Congressional oversight or public approval. Opponents of the SPP have called it NAFTA on steroids - and we all know how disastrous NAFTA has been for everyone except Mexico. It also appears to be modeled on the ineffective and highly unpopular European Union (unpopular with the people, that is).
I went to the website, www.spp.gov, to begin my research. There are, indeed, no boundaries between Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. when it comes to the cooperation of financial, trade, and foreign affair departments. Though some of the PR language on the website sounds fairly benign, the commissions are picking up momentum. And you know what happens when bureaucrats start grasping at influence and power! Except that now we don't have to just worry about our own greedy bureaucrats - but Canada's and Mexico's too.
This is not some weird and obscure conspiracy website, it is our government's plan to literally give away or sell our national sovereignty. What is most galling is that we will share responsibility for security across North America. It is very conceivable that we could see our troops deployed to secure the southern border of Mexico. Yes, you read that right - not OUR unsecured warzone of a southern border - but Mexico's border with Belize and Guatemala. That is the conclusion of an investigative report done by Lou Dobbs on CNN:
Robert B. Murray notes:
President George W. Bush, President Vicente Fox of Mexico, and former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin agreed in March 2005 to create this union by executive regulations and agreements rather than by treaty to bypass Congress. Twenty working groups were formed and are well on their way to establishing a super-government for North America that will not be bound by our Constitution. The web site for this new bureaucracy-located at www.spp.gov-provides a look at their plans and accomplishments thus far. The plan is to have this arrangement implemented by 2010.
Behind its innocuous title, the ''Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,'' the United States will surrender its Constitution. According to Jerome R. Corsi, an author and political commentator, our nation-state prerogatives would be superseded by the authority of a North American court and parliamentary body and our dollar would become the "Amero."
Possibly the strongest leg of the SPP is NASCO - North America's SuperCorridor Coalition - otherwise known as the NAFTA Superhighway. Airily dismissed by some public officials as internet rumors and hype and completely unaffordable, NASCO has quietly been amassing funding and already begun preliminary construction in Texas.
...already underway is the plan for a NAFTA Superhighway: 1,200 feet wide, stretching from Lazaro Cardenas on the west coast of Mexico, entering the United States at Laredo, Texas, and continuing straight north to Winnipeg, Canada, with another route to Kansas City thence north easterly to Detroit and Montreal.
Containerized goods from Asia will be offloaded onto Mexican trucks, with Mexican drivers, and distributed throughout the economic system. Go to www.nascocorridor.com to view the plan and progress. There will be no internal boundaries to restrict the flow of people, goods or services.
In fact, the first customs stop on the Superhighway will be in the heart of America - Kansas City! Along the way, primary U.S. labor unions will be by-passed in favor of Mexican labor, including the Longshoremen's Union, the railroad United Transportation Union, and the Teamsters.
How will such a massive flow of goods and foreign traffic be monitored? According to author Jerome Corsi,
''Across the NAFTA Super-Highways will flow millions more Mexicans, now armed with North American border passes and biometric identification, as defined by the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America working groups organized within the Department of Commerce.''
Similar toll systems snaking their way from the southern and northern borders cutting through major American cities will force American citizens to submit to having RFID enabled identification cards which contain an ever-increasing array of information about their personal lives.
Illegal aliens with cloned RFID transponders will enjoy streamlined access to the US while Americans labor under the financial burden of tolls that go directly to foreign corporations and restrictions that take the right of free travel out of their hands. This and more is occurring without Congressional oversight, but is naturally funded with our state and federal tax dollars.
But our public officials are saying this could never happen, if only because it's completely unaffordable! Not so, since foreign investment will cover any gaps that taxing the American people leaves. Additionally, the Bush administration has embarked on a policy of selling off key US infrastructure to the highest bidder - in most cases foreign owned corporations.
[K]ey players, including the investment bankers and the worldwide capital investment funds, have a plan to address these fiscal shortcomings with their own resources. On April 30, 1992, President George H.W. Bush signed Executive Order No. 12803 on infrastructure privatization, a move that cleared the way for private capital to invest in U.S. infrastructure projects, including highways.
For instance, the Indiana Toll Road, Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, a Texas toll road from Austin to Sequin and The Chicago Skyway have all been sold or leased for 99 years to foreign companies who will all enjoy billions in profits from American citizens forced to pay the tolls. And now the New Jersey Turnpike and the Ohio Turnpike are also under the hammer with foreign interests at the forefront of the negotiations.
An earlier Corsi article cites government websites which carry full planning details of the Super Highway. Its construction has already begun in Texas with no congressional oversight whatsoever. The Trans-Texas Corridor is being overseen by The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the contract is owned by the Cintra corporation which in turn is owned by the King of Spain Juan Carlos. The project is being financed by the implementation of a toll that will be collected by means of GPS tracking devices installed in all vehicles and also envelops many connecting roads to the highway. (Toll road info summarized by Paul Watson)
Watson further adds this dire prediction, ''To even be allowed to use major roads and highways, US citizens will be subject to a criminal background check and the government will have the ability to pinpoint their particular RFID signal and remotely block it from central computer mainframes - effectively abolishing freedom of mobility in America.''
President Ronald Reagan once said, "A nation without borders is not a nation." While we�ve been looking elsewhere, our own government has implemented a comprehensive plan to erase our borders with Canada and Mexico. The NAFTA Superhighway will allow vehicles, people and goods to travel from Mexico, into the American heartland, and up to Canada with little impediment, making America's borders obsolete. Coupled with Bush's blanket amnesty program, the new North American Union and the NAFTA Superhighway (NASCO) will fully expedite the wholesale dismantling of American sovereignty. It would seem that the while the rest of the world is already lining up to get their piece of the American pie, Americans will be the last to know. It is happening quietly and behind our backs, while our attention is fully engaged by the War on Terror, the upcoming elections, and our personal lives.
_________________________________
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we're going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Labels: Blogburst, Borders, Guard

Martinez Says He's Not Backing Down On Immigration Reform
Sen. Mel Martinez told the Tampa Tribune editorial board today that he�ll continue pressing for immigration reform, despite the criticism his prominent role in the issue got him from the conservative wing of his own party.
[...]
Martinez said he put heavy penalties and requirements for earned citizenship in his bill last year, hoping to prevent the "amnesty" accusation. But now, he said, he realizes he can�t stop that accusation, so he�ll proceed regardless of the critics.
He even appeared to say he would put lighter penalties into his new version of the bill. But a spokesman later said that�s not what Martinez meant.
"Dealing with the 12 million [illegal immigrants] here, we all want to say it�s not with amnesty," he said. "Unfortunately, we allowed those who would call amnesty anything other than deportation to sort of define amnesty."
Realistically, he said, the country can�t deport all illegal immigrants here now, so the question is what requirements to impose to bring them to "a regularized status."
In his previous bill, "We had so many penalties and what not on these people, by the way, and trying not to make it amnesty, and it still got called amnesty. So this time around I�m going to be a little lighter on the sentences and try to just say call it what you willl. We�ve got 12 million people, we�ve got a broken-down system, we�ve just got to find a way to come to some sensible outcome."
And of course, in Martinez's universe, a 'sensible outcome' is citizenship for all.
Is anybody surprised by this? When Martinez was named as the choice for RNC head, we all knew this was part and parcel of the amnesty push. Putting a Hispanic face in that position was an important gesture to the 'Hispanic community.'
This article perpetuates the by-now urban legend that 44 per cent of Hispanics voted GOP in 2004:
The Republican share of the Latino vote fell from 44 percent in 2004 to 30 percent this year, according to FOX News exit polling data. With the Hispanic vote making up 8 percent of the electorate in 2006 compared to 5 percent in 1996, the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority in America will be essential to winning elections down the road, say Republicans looking to recover from this year's losses.
"We can do better, we need to do better," said Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
"We believe that the party that captures and motivates and gets the Hispanic vote to turn out is going to be the party who wins the White House" in 2008, said Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation�s largest and oldest Hispanic rights group.''
Steve Sailer debunked the '44 percent' myth, but that hasn't deterred the GOP from citing that phony figure again and again and again and again. As long as they can keep deluding the gullible GOP faithful into believing that Hispanics would be solid GOP voters, if only we cater to them, and pass the amnesty... And the dutiful media keep on repeating the falsehood of the 44 per cent, and speak of the GOP's need to 'win back' the precious Hispanic vote. Uh, you can only win back something you previously had, and neither the GOP nor George W. Bush ever had 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. And even if they did, (which they didn't) it would still mean that 56 percent of Hispanics did NOT vote GOP, doesn't it? But as long as they keep on exhuming that old lie, they can pretend that Hispanics are essential to the GOP's re-election and success. So on we go, with the amnesty juggernaut gaining speed.
But Martinez, Danny Diaz, and the rest of the Hispanic amnesty-pushers should be careful; they are weakening the argument put forth by the 'can't we all get along' crowd, who say 'Hispanic-Americans are just as angry about illegal immigration as the rest of us. They aren't in favor of amnesty.' Now this piece of propaganda was never persuasive to me; my own personal experience says otherwise. There might be the occasional Lupe Moreno who considers herself American first and foremost, but such pro-American Hispanics are the exception, it seems. For every Lupe Moreno, unfortunately there are many leftist Hispanics who call her and patriotic Hispanics like her 'coconuts' or 'racists. Speaking of those leftist Hispanics she said:
They've practically spit in my face. They called me a racist more than I can count. But you know what, it gets to the point where that word doesn't mean anything anymore. They are groups of hatred.''
How many elected Hispanics oppose illegal immigration and amnesty? Since supposedly most Hispanic-Americans oppose amnesty, it should be a piece of cake to name a few public figures of Hispanic ancestry who oppose it. Funny; I can't think of one, out of all the elected Hispanics, congressmen and women, mayors, governors, or whoever. Similarly with Hispanic pundits or journalists. Even those like Linda Chavez, who is half -Anglo, are pro-amnesty. Ditto Bill Richardson, the half-Anglo politician and seeming presidential wannabe, who is pro-amnesty.
Martinez's arguments are pretty hackneyed, such as 'we've got a broken-down system'. What a lame pretext for abolishing our borders. Our government deliberately refuses to control our borders, letting in millions of illegals, then says ''Woops! Oh look; our borders are broken, our system is broken! Guess we'd better abolish borders and give everybody citizenship, since obviously our system is broken and our borders are unenforceable.''
No; the solution is obviously to start enforcing our laws and protecting what is ours, instead of letting burglars and pilferers break in and run rampant, then recommending that we give away our prized possessions and heirlooms to the thieves 'because the locks are broken', and then give them the keys and the deed to the family homestead. But no; common sense won't prevail, with our current leadership; they are hellbent on not just giving away what our ancestors worked and fought and bled for, but giving it away to whoever can grab a piece of it, regardless of their merit , or their potential to appreciate it or make wise use of it.
And what kind of message is it when our elected officials say things like we 'can't' deport all those illegals who are here now (and by the way, Mel: there are way more than 12 million illegals here; we didn't all fall off the turnip truck, so don't insult our intelligence.) Any elected official who chants the 'we can't' mantra is a disgrace. America would never have come into existence if our forefathers had whined 'we can't' the way these weaselly politicians and party hacks do.
Martinez himself is an immigrant. So often we hear of how legal immigrants appreciate their citizenship, and don't support giving amnesty to those who cut in line and broke the laws to get here. But I just don't see much evidence of that.
There are and have been many worthy immigrants, among them my late lamented colleague, who blogged as 'Aussiegirl', and other patriotic immigrants like Balint Vazsonyi, the writer and concert pianist who truly understood and loved the American heritage and way of life. Vazsonyi and others like him understood that it was something of a privilege to be given residency here, and an even greater privilege to be granted citizenship. It's a truism that we seldom appreciate what we don't have to work for, or what does not cost us much in terms of effort or personal sacrifice. By giving American citizenship away to those who have proven their lack of regard for American laws and the American system, let alone for the American people, we are making it a thing of little value. Truly when we give citizenship away to virtually anybody who makes it across the finish line, we cheapen it immeasurably.

Labels: Amnesty, Borders, Immigration, Politics

This Blogburst is also available as a Podcast.
by Toni at Bear Creek Ledger
All of these stories were found in the last couple days posted to Lucianne.
'Border Baby' boom strains S. Texas - There's a picture with the story of an illegal alien who's given birth to her fourth child on American soil at American taxpayer expense who thinks it's owed to her!
Of course the real story is how 'anchor babies' are breaking the backs of South Texas hospitals.
Doctors and health officials say they are overwhelmed by both the new arrivals and those immigrant mothers who already are in the state. Even Houston's feeling the pinch. An estimated 70 percent to 80 percent of the 10,587 births at Ben Taub General Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital last year were to undocumented immigrants, administrators say.
Also feeling the strain is Starr County, an already poor South Texas county that has the region's only taxpayer-supported hospital district.
Immigrants "want a U.S.-born baby" and know that emergency room staffers don't collect any money up front, said Dr. Mario Rodriguez, an obstetrician in Starr County.
"The word is out: Come to Starr County and get delivered for free. Why pay $1,000 in Mexico when you can get it for free?" Rodriguez said.
This story is more than disconcerting. Gives me a lot of confidence in ICE/DHS! The corruption is disheartening, read the list and weep.
Corruption Involving Immigration Workers:
In the past 12 months, dozens of U.S. immigration employees have been accused of corruption-related charges. Some cases, drawn from a review of court records and government announcements, and listed by agency:
U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION
- David Duque Jr., a Border Patrol agent since the mid-1990s, faces up to 15 years in prison at his November sentencing after pleading guilty to bribery and the unlawful transfer of documents. While being recorded by investigators, Duque sold some 70 identification documents to a source cooperating with law officers - including passports, birth certificates, green cards and Social Security cards. He also took a $5,000 bribe to allow cocaine through a highway checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas.
snip......
U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT
- Santiago Efrain Valle, an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in El Paso, Texas, was charged in March with trying to extort $20,000 from an immigration detainee at the El Paso Service Processing Center. Federal agents arrested Valle after he allegedly accepted $20,000 from undercover officers. According to court documents, Valle agreed to accept the money in exchange for dismissing pending immigration charges against the detainee and also changing his risk classification. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.
snip.....
U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES
- Robert Schofield, a USCIS district office supervisor in Fairfax, Va., was arrested in June, accused of illegally granting residency and issuing naturalization certificates to more than 100 unqualified immigrants. Qiming Ye, a Chinese citizen, also was charged for allegedly brokering deals between Schofield and Asian immigrants. One unqualified immigrant was granted residency status after meeting Schofield's wife in the Philippines, and then living with Schofield and baby-sitting his stepchild for a year, a court affidavit alleges. When stopped by Customs officials at an airport, the immigrant provided Schofield's name, cell phone and home telephone number from memory, the affidavit said. Passports seized from Ye's residence included green card stamps bearing Schofield's ID, and phone traces showed dozens of calls between Ye and Schofield's home number and his Department of Homeland Security cell phone, the court documents allege. "Numerous" allegations of bribery involving Schofield have been reported in the last decade, an investigator said in an affidavit. A trial date is pending.
I've only posted one of each area from the story. There's many more in the story and the dollars involved can be staggering.
Then we have more great news from ICE/DHS. Told of immigrant arrests, Feds often failing to act:
The lack of response by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has fostered confusion among municipal officials already resentful of being designated as surrogate federal agents in the national policy debate over illegal immigrants.
This comes at a time when a suspected illegal immigrant who was once in Denver police custody stands accused of dragging a woman to death behind his vehicle. There are conflicting reports as to whether Denver police notified immigration officials after he was arrested in April.
Law-enforcement agencies in Colorado placed 9,429 inquiries about suspected illegal immigrants to ICE in the 2005 accounting year. ICE requested detainment for 330 of those suspects, according to agency statistics.
This year, ICE has received 13,063 inquiries from Colorado authorities, placing holds on 284.
Well that really confirms the story from TBone's buddy!
Now this is a story which gives me a modicum of hope.
GA Lawmaker may apologize to Latino's
A Georgia Republican says he'll apologize to a national Latino advocacy group he accused of supporting racism and illegal immigration if the organization agrees to a list of conditions.
In a press release this week, Rep. Charlie Norwood called the National Council of La Raza a "radical," "anti-American" organization that "supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland."
In offering a conditional apology, Norwood asked NCLR to sever all ties with a leftist student group and its "racist doctrines," to repudiate all claims that any American territory belongs to Mexico, and to seek outside supervision to ensure that NCLR-sponsored programs do not discriminate.
La Raza uses all the typical name calling of the left when they are in the wrong and have nothing left to use in their defense except for race-baiting.
Cry me a river on this story. I know, that's harsh but I'm sick and tired of the woe is me illegal alien injured illegally crossing the border into the US; then the American taxpayer has to pick up the tab for their medical expenses.
Woman finds scaling fence is a costly painful gamble:
A U.S. Border Patrol agent crouches in front of her. He slowly wraps her severed ring finger in a shirt. He places it in a bag of ice.
"I knew I couldn't do it, I knew I couldn't do it," she says quietly in Spanish to the man sitting next to her, Victor Perez.
Rosario, 25, and Perez, 24, sit with their heads down on a frontage road next to a 10-foot corrugated steel fence that marks the border south of Campo, Calif., about 50 miles east of San Diego.
About one hour earlier, the two climbed over the landing-mat fence as part of a group of Mexican illegal entrants.
The men and women helped each person climb over. Rosario caught her hand on the razor-sharp anvil point on top of the fence.
When she fell to the ground on the U.S. side, pain shot up her arm. Her hand was bleeding. The top third of her ring finger lay on the ground.
Just what do these illegal aliens think the fence is there for? It's To. Keep. Them. Out!
My BS meter sprang wildly out of control when I read this piece of scare mongering:
ID Program Will Cost States $11 Billion, Report says:
The cost to consumers for helping to secure America became clearer yesterday as a coalition of state groups tallied the bill for implementing the Real ID Act and federal officials divulged the price that some of its workers must pay for new smart cards.
In a report released by the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, state motor vehicle officials estimated it would cost more than $11 billion over five years to implement the technology required by the Real ID Act.
Under the law, states must start to re-enroll about 250 million holders of U.S. driver's licenses after May 2008. The states must train workers to verify copies of original birth certificates, Social Security cards, marriage certificates and various identification documents.
There's any number of ID's which could be incorporated into this program including a Voter ID! But the Democrats don't want any of this to happen since it would mean losing potential voters from the likes of illegal aliens, dead people, people voting twice......
House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), who introduced the Real ID Act, strongly disagreed with a similar cost estimate presented by the groups last year, saying it was bloated. The chairman cited a Congressional Budget Office report that estimated the cost of implementation at $100 million between 2005 and 2010.
The dollars saved on entitlement and social services and law enforcement to illegal aliens will more than cover the cost of this ID program.
Then we have the jailbreak from a detention center. This story was actually a bit confusing. There were 6 federal fugitives from this escape (which begs the question why these fugitives were only being held in a detention center) of which 5 of the six were held for repeated immigration violations (read: illegal aliens who have been deported multiple times). The sixth was a former McAllen cop gone bad, now a drug smuggler.
Outside help seen in Valley jailbreak:
The breakout's suspected leader is a former McAllen cop facing drug charges. Five Mexican nationals held on repeated immigration violations escaped with him.
snip....
He said investigators believe Francisco Javier Meza Rojas, 41, orchestrated the breakout.
"The only reason why we think he was the ringleader was because he had the money," Magallan said. "He could have arranged everything. He was (in the narcotics business) and a former cop."
A federal indictment from April alleges Meza, also known as "El Ocho" and "Chacho," led a drug trafficking organization that included his three brothers. U.S. District Judge Randy Crane on Thursday revoked the bond of one of them, Jesus Meza, a former Edinburg police officer.
The three now are being held in jails in McAllen, Raymondville and Karnes County, Magallan said.
The Mezas, along with other defendants, are scheduled to be tried in October on drug charges that include trafficking cocaine and marijuana from a rural area near Mission.
Yeah, that makes me feel real secure. Nice to know how prosperous the Mexican drug trade is in the US.
_____________________________________________
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we're going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to admin at guardtheborders dot com.

Labels: Borders, Guard

Lately, with the depressing speech by President Bush and the even-more depressing weak media responses to it, I have been feeling burned out on this whole debate. The whole situation is so profoundly frustrating. Seeing the swift slide downward of my once-strong country, and the seeming betrayal by the powers-that-be is very demoralizing. And feeling so much ire and righteous indignation for my country is tremendously draining over the long term.
I can only hope that this present wrangling over amnesty will somehow re-galvanize patriotic Americans, in the wake of this propaganda blitz meant to wear down the opposition to open borders.The boilerplate being put out by the MSM and the party hacks is much like the wartime propaganda, when one side drops pamphlets telling the enemy to 'surrender; you can never win; your cause is hopeless.' That's what we are hearing from the media, and there is an air of torpor in some quarters.
We who are patriots need something to re-energize us, to rally us. Above all, we have to resist letting the enemy wear us down.
Our opposition has no good arguments on their side; all they have is relentless repetition of various slogans and agitprop, (a 'nation of immigrants', 'hard-working people', 'out of the shadows', and so on ad nausaeum) and various 'big lies' which they keep hammering on: '12 million undocumented', 'forced to come here to survive', 'solid family values' and so on).
When these emotional catchphrases and cliches and half-truths and whopping lies fail, there is always name-calling and accusations. The trusty race-card is tattered from its frequent use.
I've also noticed how often the Latino apologists resort to excessive emotion and hysterical-sounding rhetoric, as in this quote from a guest on Lou Dobbs today. Miguel Perez said:
what do we do? What are we saying, then? Are we saying basically, "Look, we're going to just sit around and keep the 12 million people, who we don't know who they are. We don't know where they live." And then the argument, we're not going to deport them. It's illogical to deport them. OK, so what the argument is then is that we are going to starve them out of the country. I wouldn't do that to an animal.
These histrionics were accompanied by a raised, shrill voice and gesticulations. This seems to be the preferred style with many of the Latino spokesmen. Is it politically incorrect to notice? I have yet to see a Latino apologist or pundit give a cogent, objective, calm argument for their side. And I have yet to see one who was willing (or able?) to see the bigger picture, as in what is best for America as a whole, for everybody; instead, it's all about their people, and oddly 'their people' are always their ethnic kin, not their fellow Americans. Perez, for one, is apparently a naturalized American who has lived here since age 11, for 40-odd years, and yet he seems to feel more kinship with the illegals from Mexico than with his American adopted countrymen. The same holds true for many other prominent Latinos. Case in point: Geraldo Rivera, American-born and bred, seemingly aligning himself with the illegals. Similarly, Latina 'conservative' Linda Chavez, also pro-amnesty. These people are not isolated examples.
America is dividing up into ethnic camps, but only 'generic Americans', who identify solely as Americans, are supposed to be objective and self-sacrificing. We are supposed to step aside and defer to all the other rival ethnic groups with their particular, insular agenda, while we must be all-tolerant and accommodating. This situation is highly unnatural as well as being grossly unjust; it can't obtain forever.
At what point will we Americans be granted the same right to look out for our interests? When hell freezes over? Or when we finally say 'not no, but hell no' to Political Correctness?
To paraphrase that old line about war, we've got to end liberalism before it ends us.

Labels: Borders

...that we won't hear about on Fox News or the other major media:
Three more border agents assaulted
One Border Patrol agent was nearly struck with a vehicle and two more nearly drowned within the past 10 days.
Yuma sector spokesman Chris Van Wagenen said these types of incidents are something the Border Patrol expects. He said those who profit from illegal activity are not going to give up control of the border without a fight.
"They're hoping to win through intimidation and violence.''
[...] The number of illegal aliens crossing the border has gone down, thanks to increased enforcement and the presence of the National Guard. But as the Border Patrol has predicted for some time, the amount of violence has gone up.
The record number of Border Patrol agent assaults for one fiscal year is 119. In 2006-07, there have already been 90 after only about four months, according to Van Wagenen.
"It's a 60 percent increase on last year," he said.'
Meanwhile, our major media makes sure we know all the latest celebrity news and gossip. 'Pay no attention to the ongoing border war' seems to be the attitude.

Labels: Borders, Illegal Immigration, Media

Lately I've been paying less attention to what is going on in Europe, preoccupied as I am with the prospects of our own country. At Flanders Fields, Flanders has posted this video called E.U.: Multiculti empire.
It's 7 minutes plus in length, but it is worth viewing. It's one thing to read about what is going on there, but seeing it on these video clips really makes it much more immediate. At about 4:30 in the video, you will hear the Moslem call to prayer -- which Obama describes as "one of the prettiest sounds on earth at sunset." You be the judge.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it�ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset."
And on the topic of Eurabia, over at Brussels Journal there is a piece called 'Reverse Colonization', regarding Diana West's observations of Moslems in Belgium.
What is different here, of course [�] is that what is going here is not a traditional process of assimilation to the host (European) culture, but a quietly revolutionary procedure best described as reverse colonization: Europe is being colonized by Islam.''
The discussion thread heats up somewhat as some stubborn commenters, apparently our fellow Americans, think the Hispanic invasion is no problem; after all, Latinos are Christian and they are really nice people (with the usual anecdotes to back this assertion up.)
Mexicans, if we can't get a handle on this, trust me, aren't going to be the detriment to our culture that the ever growing Muslim masses are to Europe. Wait until Europe stares down the barrel of Iran's "Muslim" nuclear bomb.''
Stubborn. Stubborn, stubborn, stubborn. How do we get past this? I encounter it so often. Why should we 'trust' this commenter and all those who think like him, who assure us that turning America into Mexico will be just fine, if we relax and enjoy it?
Commenter 'Ernest' on the thread (maybe 'our' Ernest, who comments here sometimes) makes a valiant old school effort at talking some sense into the Hispanophiles on the thread, but apparently to little avail as they just repeat their nonsense verbatim, like a broken record.
Sometimes I wonder whether our 'invisible elites' whom we cuss and discuss here so often did not purposely unleash Islam on us so as to make the Latino invasion seem less objectionable to a lot of people. It seems to have worked that way. 'At least the Mexicans aren't trying to blow us up, at least they are Christian, at least we can intermarry with those nice people, at least they work hard....'' and so on, ad nauseam.
It's unfortunate that the Mexican version of the jihad against us takes the form mostly of common-or-garden crime: drunk driving, random violence of various kinds, drug-dealing, sex crimes. Yes, I know the Islamic invaders in Europe do similar things to the European people, but their aggression is more overt -- which stands a greater chance of arousing some kind of response from the slow-to-anger Europeans.
The Brussels Journals commenters seem to think that we in America are in better shape. I wish I could believe that.

Labels: Borders, Colonization, Eu, Eurabia, Mass Immigration, Multiculturalism, Political Correctness

by Heidi at Euphoric Reality
Our Open Borders Will Be The Death Of Us Yet
I live in Texas, and sometimes I think people don't truly grasp the fact that the chaos on our borders is not a border state issue - it threatens them directly, no matter where they live. The fact is that our border chaos is directly linked to our national security. Terrorists already have and continue to illegally cross our border, blending in with illegals from Mexico and Central America, or brazenly crossing over with an armed escort of gang members or even the Mexican military.
Watch this video of an ongoing investigation done by the news team from KGRV TV serving
Harlingen-Weslaco-McAllen -Brownsville, Texas. (Video will open in your media player - it's a news segment.) It is part of an ongoing series highlighting the culmination of months of investigative research into the flow of terrorists over our borders. Fred Burton, a counter-terrorism expert of Stratfor, was interviewed on camera. He stated that now is the perfect time for terrorists to sneak across the border. Escalating violence and an unprecedented flood of illegals is distracting law enforcement and stretching it thin. Zapata County sheriff, Frederigo Gonzales Jr. says that as for WMDs, it is not a matter of "if", but "when".
About one in every 10 caught border jumpers is an Arab. I don't think I need to point out that if they are sneaking into the country illegally, they fit the profile and are probably terrorists. Unfortunately, we only catch about 25-33% of the flood of illegals, and estimates are that we absorb 3 million illegals (Time Magazine, September 2004 and Bear Stearns July 2005) that do make it through each year. That could mean that about 10% of the illegals that DO make it across are possible terrorists. Do the math: that's potentially 300,000 terrorists making it into our country free and clear. Let's get really skeptical and downgrade that so we feel better about it - let's say only 1% of those that make it through are possible terrorists. That is only 30,000 - per YEAR. Is that OK? Considering it took 18 terrorists to wreak the terror of 9/11, is 300,000 or even 30,000 terrorists OK with you?
If that's a reasonable risk for you, then consider the percentage of potential terrorists that have already crossed the border and are living among us - sleeper cells in our own neighborhoods. The low estimate of illegals inside our border is 20 million, the high is 29 million. What's 10% of that figure? Is a few million potential terrorists a reasonable risk?
For some strange reason, the smaller number of 30,000 is almost scarier to me. Maybe it's just easier to grasp a few thousand insane killers bent on our destruction, instead of an army of millions. Maybe it's because we can do still something about thousands - IF we act swiftly and ruthlessly - but a few million is an almost insurmountable...and it's possibly far too late. Fred Burton agrees with that assessment - he said the numbers of terrorists that have been caught is nothing compared to those that have made it through - those numbers are huge.
If you are an open borders type and think it's wrong to build any barrier along the border, or in any way militarize our border; or if you think illegal immigration is just about nice, poor people who want jobs, you need a wake-up call. Let's look at some of the issues raised by the investigation in the video above as well as some others I've written about in the past year.
1. Several months ago, according to KGRV TV, two IEDs and components for 33 more were discovered in Laredo. It won't be long before we face here in America, what our brave soldiers face every day in Iraq. And IEDs may be the least worrisome. If it's a simple matter to smuggle 3,000 pounds of drugs across the border, as the sheriff mentioned, how much easier is it to carry across a suitcase bomb - a dirty nuke?
"Several al-Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons," Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Admiral James Loy testified on February 16 before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "At home, we must prepare ourselves for any attack, from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) to Weapons of Mass Destruction�from soft targets like malls to national icons."
2. A terrorist jacket, with patches depicting an Arab military and 9/11, was found in Hebbronville, TX. Finding terrorist garb is nothing new. In 2005:
Ms. Garner, who grew up here in Naco, population 7,000 says..."It is more dangerous and pernicious, with a growing number of people of different nationalities coming across the border, including from the Middle East, India, and Afghanistan."
The evidence of that comes in Islamic prayer rugs found in the desert dust, Arabic literature left by still-warm campfires, and Afghani head garb caught on cactus quills. The FBI also recently found a drug tunnel beneath the bedroom of a schoolmate of one of the Garner girls, with $250,000 cash hidden inside.
3. In November 2005, a confirmed al Qaeda operative was arrested near the Mexican border and turned over to the FBI. He had been living in Mexico for six months and making notes of the movement of people and police officers.
4. Also in November of last year, A congresswoman from NC went on the record as noting that three al Qaeda operatives were being held in a jail in Texas, after being apprehended on the U.S.-Mexican border.
5. In 2005, in southern Texas alone, 51 suspected terrorists were captured while crossing the border [from the KGRV news report]. They came from countries such as Iran, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan, and were arrested on various charges of gun smuggling and illegally wiring large sums of money. We do not know where they are today. That's a problem.
6. In 2005, 10 Egyptians were arrested in Douglas, Arizona.
7. In 2004, a high-level al Qaeda operative (comparable to Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11) was arrested in McAllen, Texas attempting to make her way to New York after illegally crossing the border by swimming the Rio Grande. Though she was on a terrorist watch list, she had illegally entered into America at least 250 times before being caught!!!
8. In September of 2004, Action 4 News in Harlingen, Texas, learned that Al Qaeda cells - each group having from seven to fifteen suspected terrorist members were found just across the Rio Grande Valley in Mexico.
"We know from intelligence reports that there are middle easterners that are making their way in our direction," said U.S. Congressman Jim Turner during a news conference at the Veterans Memorial International Bridge in Brownsville.
"We don't know their purpose, but we do know that they are there and those reports are coming in increasing numbers. So it should be a wake-up call."
9. In July of 2004, Adnan El-Shukrijumah, a high-ranking Al-Qaeda leader and one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, was spotted in Honduras meeting with members of the MS-13 gang. By August, he had may his way north and was spotted in north Mexico.
By the way, if you need proof that al Qaeda is working hand-in-glove with Latino gangs, go here - there's plenty of reading.
10. In October of 2004, an intelligence report supplied to the Department of Homeland Security by Russian security services said that a group of 25 backpack-carrying Chechen terrorists - all white - illegally entered Arizona by way of Mexico last summer.
11. In September 2001, 10 Yemenis were arrested by Mexican police before trying to cross from Agua Prieta into Douglas, Arizona. They were released and they returned to Agua Prieta to try again, where they were joined by several other unidentified Arabs.
12. In November 1998, over 100 Iranians were apprehended in Arizona because of a tip called in by a border rancher.
Those are just a few examples. Our border security is non-existent, and our enemies are well aware of that fact.
While entry into the U.S. is their primary goal in establishing a base in Latin America, Islamist terrorists -- well-aware of the allure Marxism once held for many south of the border -- also see the region as a potential breeding ground for Islamic converts due to its poor economic and social conditions and corrupt governments.
For instance, the Shia terrorist group Hezbollah wields a strong presence in the tri-border region, a lawless, crime-ridden area where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay intersect. Both Osama bin Laden and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are also said to have spent time there, during the 1990's.
It was Mohammed who in 2002 encouraged alleged dirty bomber Jose Padilla to 'enter the United States by way of Mexico' in order to carry out attacks on U.S. targets, according to Deputy Attorney General James Comey.
Ironically, before converting to Islam and volunteering his services to Al-Qaeda, Padilla belonged to the Chicago chapter of the Latin Kings -- like MS-13, a violent Hispanic criminal gang.
Although U.S. agents were able to collar Padilla before he could carry out a terrorist attack, the U.S. border strategy, as presently construed, may one day soon yield a much less savory result.
Hm, do you think so???
Nevertheless, as stated in the KGRV news report, our government does not want us to know of the terror threat flowing over our border. Homeland Security refused to respond to KGRV's requests for an interview on the subject. And the government is doing everything they can to shut down the citizens who were once the greatest intelligence asset to to the Border Patrol in stopping terrorists crossing the border: American ranchers living along the border.
Perhaps the most valuable asset that the Border Patrol has is the aid of rural Cochise County (AZ) citizens. Many have attempted to help, in accordance with Arizona law. Through that legal process, landowners may execute a citizen�s arrest for individuals or groups trespassing on their property. However, even that has been nullified.
[...]
Rural citizens here have met with savage recriminations for exerting their legal rights. Immigration advocacy groups howl in protest, as does the Mexican government. Their lawyers have demanded that the ranchers be prosecuted for false arrest, kidnapping, intimidation, criminal assault and violation of civil rights...Illegal immigrants have now sued some Cochise County citizens in American courts.
[...]
Ben Anderson, a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives in Sierra Vista, Ariz., has made a detailed study of the border danger since the flood of illegals began through Cochise County in 1997.
"There is only one way to handle this," the colonel says firmly. "In a world now filled with biowarfare agents, backpack nuclear devices and chemical weapons like Sarin gas, we must militarize the border. There is no other way to stop the flow."
Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) concurs:
FBI Director Robert Mueller had previously "confirmed" in testimony before [a Congressional] committee "that there are individuals from countries with known al-Qaeda connections who are changing their Islamic surnames to Hispanic-sounding names and obtaining false Hispanic identities, learning to speak Spanish and pretending to be Hispanic immigrants."
"And these are clearly Arab terrorists," Rep. Culberson added, "from countries like Yemen, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. They're crossing the border, pretending to be Hispanic immigrants, and then disappearing."
Rep. Culberson said news of al-Qaeda�s penetration of the U.S.'s southern border has him worried that the next terrorist plot could involve setting off simultaneous truck bombs in major urban centers.
"The day they blow us up," he predicted, "the border will be sealed tighter than the Berlin Wall and you'll have armed United States military forces" enforcing immigration laws.
That will be too late.
_________________________________
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we�re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Labels: Blogburst, Borders, Guard

Did anybody catch Tuesday's Lou Dobbs Tonight special on the border? I saw only part of the segment in which Dobbs interviewed Johnny Sutton, the U.S. attorney who is now being criticized for his seemingly overzealous prosecution of the two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
Dobbs is to be commended for his dogged devotion to the illegal immigration issue; no one else in the MSM pursues this subject as relentlessly as he does. In the part of the interview with Johnny Sutton which I saw, I was amazed at his toughness with Sutton. I thought he really had Sutton cornered, and he kept peppering him with questions. Bill O'Reilly over at Fox looks positively timid compared to Dobbs in this interview; talk about the 'no-spin zone.' Dobbs had Sutton on the ropes; Sutton did not acquit himself well at all. He had no convincing answers, and he was on the defensive, sputtering and stumbling at times when Dobbs had him pinned.
Dobbs kept asking him who instigated the prosecution.
DOBBS: ... did you get orders from Washington, D.C. to prosecute this case?
SUTTON: Absolutely not. This case...
DOBBS: Did you in point of fact ask for the FBI to investigate it?
SUTTON: No, I mean the FBI...
DOBBS: Why not?
SUTTON: These are standard procedures. The FBI was notified. OIG was notified...
DOBBS: They're notified.
SUTTON: They decided who -- who...
DOBBS: The inspector general is caught point blank lying to Congress about this case. Where did they get the idea that these agents were dirty?
SUTTON: Six months after the trial, there's a briefing in Washington that...
DOBBS: No, no, no.
SUTTON: Yes, yes, yes.
DOBBS: No, no.
SUTTON: Six months after the trial, there's a briefing. I can't tell what some bureaucrats say in Washington. That didn't affect the jury. The jury already...
(CROSSTALK)
DOBBS: You're doing what they tell you to do because the OIG led the investigation instead of the FBI. And now you're calling them bureaucrats?
SUTTON: What these guys...
DOBBS: I agree with you, but...
SUTTON: They're talking about a case that they had nothing with. The jury had already convicted these guys before these congressmen got their hearing. But of course, out there in the world, that's a big -- that's a big conspiracy.
DOBBS: If you had it to do over tonight, would you still go after these two men?
SUTTON: Absolutely. In America, the cops are the good guys.
Transcript is here; read the rest; the segments with Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Ted Poe are also worth reading.
And here is more background on Sutton:
A respected U.S. prosecutor faces a conservative backlash over convictions that sent two Border Patrol agents to prison
WASHINGTON - Throughout his rise from a rookie prosecutor's job in Houston to a position as a U.S. attorney pursuing criminals across much of Texas, Johnny Sutton said, he was bound by an unwavering ethic: Do the right thing and follow the facts, even when they lead to "unhappy places" such as errant public servants.
Sutton's adherence to that credo has transformed him from a relatively low-profile federal prosecutor to a punching bag on conservative talk shows and Web sites, where he's been vilified for weeks for prosecuting two Border Patrol agents who now are imprisoned for shooting a Mexican drug courier.
Another prosecution, involving a Texas sheriff's deputy who fired at a vehicle loaded with illegal immigrants, has heightened the outcry. T.J. Bonner, the head of the national Border Patrol agents' union, calls Sutton "public enemy No. 1." Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, a former Harris County judge who remembers Sutton as an able young prosecutor, now accuses him of choosing "the wrong side" in the border war.
Read the rest here.
And last, here is an interesting piece about Sutton's possible role in the DOJ firing scandal; see the e-mails in which Sutton is mentioned.
I don't know that we will ever know the whole story on this case.

Labels: Border Patrol, Borders, Justice System

Many of you may have already read it, but the subject under discussion is the selection of one Tino Cuellar to head up the new administration's working group on immigration.
"Cuéllar has been described as a close adviser to Obama on immigration, and the American Bar Association recently suggested he could be on the short list to head the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency." In other news, president-elect Obama has announced that: a Mr. Fox will be placed in charge of the US Department of Hen Houses; The US Sheep and Lamb Protection Agency, will have a Ms. Wolf as its new head; the CIA will be co-chaired by Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale (of Bullwinkle fame;) and that the Department of Homeland Security shall have either Osama bin-Laden or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as its new secretary. It is believed that Mr. bin-Laden is the stronger contender of these latter two potential appointments, since President Ahmadinejad is currently running his own country and might have conflicting interests� As always, God help us all! Posted by John PM at 6:28 PM on November 24 Amen.
This would be funny were it not so tragic.

Labels: Borders, Ethnic Conflicts, Ethnic Solidarity, Illegal Immigration, News

Just a quick update on the Ramos-Compean story; we haven't forgotten about these men.
Velvethammer at the Ironic Surrealism blog informs us about the "Free Ramos and Compean" Campaign, which is apparently a nationwide effort:
You are invited to actively participate in our ''Free Ramos and Compean'' campaign.
We are all determined to continue the fight to free Nacho Ramos and Jose Compean and the American Freedom Riders feel strongly that our noise level should remain high and constant. It is important that we convince the Justice Department and George Bush that the opposition to the imprisonment of these agents will continue to increase in volume rather than subside
The implications of this fight go far beyond the treatment of agents Ramos and Compean. At stake here is the ability of all border Patrol agents to effectively enforce our immigration laws without fear of prosecution.
Please check out the details here.
And see this article:
Ballistics data don't support charge against border agents
by Jerome R. Corsi
Ballistics reports, used in the trial of Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos, one of two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting fleeing drug dealer Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, do not support the prosecution's claim the bullet was fired from Ramos' gun, according to documents provided to WND from Andy Ramirez, Chairman of the Friends of the Border Patrol.
The rest of the article can be read here.
There is a lot of spin out there, attempting to justify the case against Ramos and Compean, so we need to be aware of the facts so as to appropriately judge the spin that is presented.

Labels: Border Patrol, Borders, Illegal Immigration

by Heidi at Euphoric Reality
WHAT THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT SENATE BILL S. 2611
The new immigration bill (the most "sweeping reform in 50 years") S. 2611 is an amalgam of petty causes, illogical provisions, unstructured "solutions" with zero allowances for implementation, and self-contradictory language. Despite the mess, it was passed by self-righteous politicians who repeated the mantra "it's better than doing nothing." This from the same gaggle of do-nothings who outright rejected the House's law enforcement bill.
The Senate bill has our President's full support - this same bill is a derivative of one structured by Ted Kennedy and John McCain, and supported in full by the majority of Democrats. That alone ought to give one pause - President Bush, a Democrat?
Peggy Noonan says, "The disinterest in the White House and among congressional Republicans in establishing authority on America's borders is so amazing--the people want it, the age of terror demands it--that great histories will be written about it."
She opines that it is possible that..."the administration's slow and ambivalent action is the result of being lost in some geopolitical-globalist abstract-athon that has left them puffed with the rightness of their superior knowledge, sure in their membership in a higher brotherhood, and looking down on the low concerns of normal Americans living in America.
I continue to believe the administration's problem is not that the base lately doesn't like it, but that the White House has decided it actually doesn't like the base."
S. 2611 is less about law, and more about a weird, mutant agenda that melds licentiousness with an utter disregard for the end result. There are quite a few details in S. 2611 that the media has ignored and that the legislators would rather you know nothing about. Some were provisions germane to the original Kennedy-McCain bill or the pseudo revision of Hagel-Martinez, the rest are amendments that required separate votes to accept or reject. Here's what you need to know about the Senate's fiasco.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Senate failed to pass an amendment that would've made amnesty contingent on effectively securing the border. Their priorities are completely opposite those of the American people, who have repeatedly made it clear that our borders must be secured before anything else. Furthermore, buried in Arlen Specter's manager's package, an amendment proposed by Dodd makes it mandatory for our government to consult with Mexico before taking any security action along the border, to include building any barrier or any enforcement along the border. This includes everything from federal troops, and state-mobilized National Guard, down to local law enforcement. In other words, even if a county sheriff mobilizes a posse to guard the border, he must clear it first through Mexico. This effectively gives the Mexican government veto power over our national security concerns!
We've heard a lot about the 6,000 National Guard troops, assigned to help with back-up duties in order to free up Border Patrol agents. Unfortunately, that will make only 500 additional agents available to apprehend and detain lawbreakers at the border.
The White House adamantly insists that Guard troops take no role in law enforcement, even though, so long as they are under the command of their governors�as they will be under the president�s proposal�they are allowed to do so. Republicans worry that when the Guard shows up for duty, Lou Dobbs� cameras won�t be far behind, recording their impotence as they merely alert border agents to the whereabouts of entering illegal immigrants whom they must passively watch.
"Merely alert border agents to the whereabouts of entering illegal immigrants?" Sound familiar? The National Guard will, at most, be performing Minutemen duties. But wait! I thought the Minutemen were "vigilantes", Mr. President.
A tiny concession to border security was passed (Sessions, R-AL, amendment #3979) which allows for the increase of fencing and vehicle barriers along 370 miles of the southwest border of the United States. Unfortunately, existing hardware - including rancher's broken cattle fences - would be counted towards this paltry total.
What's most appalling is that a Democrat tried to push through an amendment (Leahy, D-VT, amendment #4117) that would revise the existing ban on granting refugee status to aliens who have provided "material support" to a terrorist organization! Fortunately, the motion was killed, but the fact that it was even considered and proposed is deeply troubling! Who can take these guys seriously?
EMPLOYMENT
Ted Kennedy passed an amendment (#4066) that makes it unnecessary for any illegal alien to have an employer attest that they are employed when petitioning for permanent legal residence, and "self-employment" is sufficient. Plenty of room for fraud and corruption there!
Now here's where the whole argument for "cheap labor/doing jobs Americans won't do" flies out the window. Barak Obama (D-IL, amendment no. 3971) passed an amendment that extends the Davis-Bacon Act's "prevailing wage" levels to all temporary guest workers. That puts them ahead of American workers, who have this protection only on federal job sites:
So guest-workers (but not citizen workers) must be paid Davis-Bacon wage rates for jobs in the private sector if their occupation is covered by Davis-Bacon. Presumably because Senate Democrats' union bosses thought this provision too modest, an amendment by Senator Barack Obama, approved by voice vote, extended Davis-Bacon wages rates to all private work performed by guest workers, even if their occupations are not covered by Davis-Bacon.
There goes their precious "cheap labor" - this provision will effectively price many guest workers out of the market. "Guest workers" will have legal status and visas that entitle them to real wages, overtime, deductions like unemployment and social security, and workers� rights that legal workers now enjoy. Illegals will still be cheaper. Thus, twenty million illegals will be amnestied right out of the job market. Then what do we do with them when millions of new illegals flood into the country to take their place?
Now enter the litigation factor: foreign guest farm workers, admitted under the bill, cannot be "terminated from employment by any employer . . . except for just cause." In contrast, American ag workers can be fired for any reason.
TAXES
We've been assured time and again that newly amnestied "guest workers" will have to pay back taxes for the years that they lived here illegally - except that they really won't. A loophole in the new bill provides that only two years of back taxes will need to be filed. I don't know any American citizen that can just choose not to pay taxes for years! Additionally, the Senate has now provided for illegal aliens to apply for the Earned Income Tax Credit. Our government will end up paying them!
SOCIAL SECURITY
Senator Ensign (R-NV) tried to remove the provision allowing illegal immigrants who receive legal status under the legislation to receive retro-active credit for Social Security benefits for time that they worked before receiving legal status. Arlen Specter killed it. The bill allows illegal aliens to receive Social Security benefits for the years that they worked illegally, even if they paid into Social Security under a false number or using a stolen identity! As an American citizen, if I were caught stealing someone's identity or forging documentation to avoid paying taxes, I'd go to jail. Not so illegal aliens! There are NO penalties for breaking those laws - only retro-active rewards. The longer they broke the law, the bigger the pay-off.
VOTING
Senator McConnell (R-KY) sought to add to the bill a requirement that all voters in federal elections be required to present a valid photo identification.
"It is nonsense to suggest that somehow a photo ID for one of our most sacred rights should not be protected by a requirement that is increasingly routine in almost all daily activities in America today," said the Kentucky lawmaker, second-ranking Republican.
But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., likened the proposal to a poll tax or a requirement for voters to pass a literacy test. "Now is not the time and this is not the place to consider an amendment that may disenfranchise a million or more poor, minority, disabled, and elderly voters -- all of them American citizens," he said.
The proposal barely passed on a vote of 49-48, but unfortunately, it remains in limbo, evidently doomed by arcane rules now that the Senate has voted for cloture.
What the bill DOES provide for is a Bureau of the Census report to Congress on the impact of illegal immigration on the apportionment of Representatives in Congress. Of course, they need to count them - they are, after all, their newly bought electorate!
"GUEST WORKER" STATUS - NOT TEMPORARY AT ALL
Here is a perfect of example of self-contradictory language within the bill itself. The bill supposedly protects American workers by ensuring that new immigrants will not take away jobs. However, the bill's own definition of "United States Worker" includes temporary foreign guest workers, so the protection is meaningless.
Senator Kyl (R-AZ, amendment #3969) attempted to ensure that temporary workers stayed temporary by removing the bill's provision allowing guest workers to apply for permanent residency. The Senator from his own state, McCain, killed the amendment.
Also, thanks to Senator Santorum (R-PA) the bill expands the visa waiver program (Immigration and Nationality Act, Sect 217) to numerous additional countries. At this point, why even bother with a visa? Waive it all!!
BUDGET
Senator Allard (R-CO), concerned by the incalculable administrative costs of implementing S. 2611, raised a point of order about the budget. Such a move is allowed under the Budget Act when the projected cost of legislation under consideration exceeds a certain level. If the point of order is upheld, the legislation cannot proceed. The Senate irresponsibly waived the protective rules under the Budget Act, rejecting the point of order 67-31. Apparently, no cost is too great.
THE "GO BACK TO THE END OF THE LINE" FALLACY
Bush's former chief economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey blows the whistle on the "end of the line" fiction being used to sell the Bush/Senate immigration reform:
At present, there are hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are waiting to immigrate legally to America. They have already waited in line to get their first appointment, then to submit the paperwork, then been called back to answer more questions. And still, they wait. In places like Hong Kong, the waiting time may be as long as 15 years. Most of these people have relatives--cousins or grandchildren, for example--who live and work and pay taxes in America and even have become American citizens.
While the process isn't pretty, there is no good alternative. Permission to reside in America is very valuable....
Comprehensive immigration reform promises that people already in the United States illegally can apply for citizenship, but requires them to "go to the back of the line." But a key question is, the back of which line? The reform bill before the Senate doesn't require illegal immigrants to go back home--to, say, Hong Kong, to the end of the 10-to-15-year line there--to get a green card. Instead, it allows the current illegals to receive their green card immediately--having, in effect, jumped the line at the U.S. consulate abroad. Then, like other green card holders, they will be able to work here, collect government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid, and travel as freely as if they had a U.S. passport.
The line the current illegals will go to the back of is the citizenship line. Under the proposed law, current illegals, newly minted green card in hand, will have to wait six years, then get in line to apply for citizenship. But even after six years, they will be years ahead of many people who have gone through the legal process and are waiting overseas for a consular official to let them come here. Once those who have been playing by the rules all along get here, they too have to wait six years before getting in line for citizenship.
If we really mean "the back of the line," that should be behind everyone who is already in the pipeline to come here legally.
Let's be real: this bill allows those who come here illegally to gain a huge advantage over those who follow the rules. This, in effect, creates an irresistible incentive for others to ignore the rules and come here illegally. Fast track it by going illegal - there's no reason not to!
ZERO PROVISIONS TO MAKE IT ALL WORK
Lindsey has further concerns about the utter non-viability of the Senate's bill:
In 2004, the INS issued 946,000 green cards and naturalized 537,000 people. The proposed immigration reform anticipates giving green cards to up to 11 million people [likely closer to 20 million] in one fell swoop and making them eligible for citizenship six years later. It is inconceivable that the INS could handle an eleven-fold increase in its workload. Do we really intend to pass a bill that purports to document these 11 million people without setting up a system capable of providing them the promised documentation? If we don't, everyone else who is already here legally but needs a visa update, or has adopted a foreign-born child, or wants his aging mother to join him in America, will get swamped by the tsunami of newly legalized people seeking documentation.
VDare concurs and says that the guest worker program is an administrative catastrophe in the making: "Already, there are backlogs of millions of applications with CIS [Citizenship and Immigration Services] for the various immigration benefits. If any guest worker program or amnesty is enacted, the sheer amount of work in processing, receiving and vetting applications and the assorted work that goes with them (interviewing, fraud investigations, verifying documentation) will without a doubt delay any application already pending�even if additional staff are added. This includes, of course, those innocents who bothered to apply to enter the U.S. the right way." No wonder, legal immigrants are so upset with this whole thing!
I do not understand how the Senate has been so willfully blind to the will of the people and so determined to ignore the future costs of their folly:
The approved bill would send the U.S. population skyrocketing towards a billion people by the close of the century -- with no analysis done of the impacts of this mass population explosion on housing, congestion, overcrowding, education, the environment and the overall quality of life. Local communities have not been consulted, and virtually no preparation has been undertaken to provide for the enormous burdens this legislation would entail. It reflects the degree to which the Senate is completely out of touch with the average American.
Nor does the bill take any serious steps that would improve immigration enforcement -- especially in the interior. It merely continues a cycle of rewarding lawbreakers and clothing a loss of border control with the patina of legality. Rather than face the reality of today's immigration crisis, the Senate has enacted a terrible bill that once again puts the interests of the American people last. The bill's cost is staggering, the administrative burdens crushing and the consequences for the cohesion of the future American nation -- no longer bound by a common destiny of the rule of law -- are severe.
_________________________________
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we�re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Labels: Blogburst, Borders, Guard

By Heidi at Euphoric Reality Facts are a funny thing. They are conveniently forgotten if they don�t uphold one�s point-of-view, and they�re easily overlooked if they are randomly scattered about. But when solid facts are brought together in one place, the pattern is difficult to ignore. The facts I�m about to provide below are just such a case. People may be able to overlook a single fact, but the weight of their significance cannot be denied when they come together in one place. That is the purpose of this week�s Blogburst - to look at some hard facts. I think it�s important to study the problems of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas as instructive for the rest of the states. It may be that others can write off the doom of California by saying, "Well, that�s just California, a loony state of fruits and nuts - that would never happen here." But while California is tipping head-first into ruin, it is highly indicative of the chain of events the rest of us are blindly bumbling through. Arizona and New Mexico have declared official states of emergency because they are completely unable to handle the burden of the influx of illegals into their communities. Texas is not far behind with mass hospital closings, an overwhelmed and declining school system, and a climbing crime rate. Just because one lives in Idaho or Nebraska or Maine does not mean that it won�t happen to you! You�re just a few years behind the curve. The following 10 facts have been pulled from the LA Times. We�ve posted them all at one time or another at ER or in the Blogburst. 1. L.A. County has 10 million people. 40% of all workers in L.A. County are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.
2. Of the 10 million people in L.A. County, 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak primarily Spanish. Of the 14 million people in California, 5.6 million primarily speak other than English.
3. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
4. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
5. Over two-thirds of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
6. Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
7. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
8. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
9. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
10. 21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish language only.
We need to look at the experience of California as inevitable for the rest of us - if we don't, we're only burying our heads in the sand and bequeathing that future to our children! After all, if we keep merrily careening down the road to California, we can't be dumbfounded when we actually end up in California, can we?!
Here are a few more facts on a national scale:
1. Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops but 36% are on assistance/welfare. More on welfare provided to immigrants.
2. Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration. More on immigration as the primary contributor to our population explosion.
3. The United States receives more immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined.
4. The cost of immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 BILLION a year [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University].
5. The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a NEGATIVE.
6. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens. The problems of illegal immigration are not solely "border state" problems. They impact everyone. California and Texas are the two biggest economic engines in the United States - and they are teetering on bankruptcy on a catastrophic scale. If they go bust, guess who picks up the pieces? Indiana, New Hampshire, South Dakota, West Virginia, and all the rest. Illegal immigration is not - I repeat, NOT - a border state problem. It�s a burden we�re all bearing and a risk we�re all sharing. We are way past the point of half-way measures and temporary fixes. As a nation, we must demand a definitive, decisive, no-nonsense solution. We cannot be placated by smarmy speeches from self-interested politicians, or fooled by spin semantics ("it�s a guest worker program - not amnesty"), or lulled into apathy by the drone of our everyday lives. We cannot leave this crisis to our children. Do something! Get out of your comfort zone and get involved. There are bigger issues at stake than the price of lettuce! The time is critical. And it�s NOW. _________________________________ This has been a production of the Guard the Borders Blogburst. It was started by Euphoric Reality, and serves to keep immigration issues in the forefront of our minds as we�re going about our daily lives and continuing to fight the war on terror. If you are concerned with the trend of illegal immigration facing our country, join our Blogburst! Just send an email with your blog name and url to euphoricrealitynet at gmail dot com.

Labels: Blogburst, Borders, Guard

From the Project USA website, a list of the "top ten reasons for flooding the country:"

Your ancestors were immigrants!

Immigration makes our economy grow

We're a nation of immigrants

Immigrants do the jobs Americans won't do

It's racist to oppose immigration

Immigrants built this country

Immigrants just want a better life --- limits are mean

Diversity is our strength

Only Native Americans can criticize our immigration policy

There is plenty of room in America for lots more people

Please see the website for Project USA's answers to the above arguments.
We have all heard all these creaky arguments many, many times; it's impossible to read a news article or hear a TV discussion of the issue without hearing one or all of the above cliches. The trouble is, the Open Borders evangelists are impervious to logic and common sense. They have an almost religious zeal in pressing their ideas on us. They are basing their appeal on emotions; usually they appeal to 'compassion' and sympathy for the poor downtrodden immigrants, (see arguments 5, 6, and 7 above) but they also rely on a sense of guilt among many Americans (see 1,2,3, and 4); after all, our ancestors came here and displaced the Indians, which was unfair, (so we are told) and why should we have more right to live here than the recent arrivals?
None of the arguments above have common sense on their side. Number 8, 'diversity is our strength', that ubiquitous Orwellian phrase, has no supporting evidence in the real world to back it up. It is just one of those mantras that are repeated so often that they become accepted unthinkingly. And number 10, 'plenty of room in America' is an odd argument for liberals to be making, considering their long record of doomsaying on the population question. Not so many decades ago, they were lecturing Americans on the evils of overpopulation, and the need for birth control, as overpopulation would lead to disastrous strains on resources and infrastructure, as well as a diminished quality of life.
Suddenly, however, the liberals are in the awkward position of saying that a population of 400 million or 500 million or more would not be a bad thing at all. What happened to change their minds?
Obviously, common sense and rationality have no bearing on the open borders agenda.

Labels: Borders, Points

Thomas Sowell, being an economist, has written at times about the economics of the illegal invasion. But in his column of today in the Washington Times, he touches on the societal and cultural effects of mass immigration and multiculturalism.
Sowell asks the obvious question as to why our country is prosperous and many other countries which are rich in resources are less successful. His answer is that the culture of the people makes the difference.
'When you import people, you import cultures.Those cultures no longer give way to the American culture when ''multiculturalism'' is a dogma and its apostles and activists make it necessary for American laws, language, and culture to give way, or at least accommodate growing alien enclaves in our midst.
A nation is more than a collection of whatever population happens to reside within its borders.' (Emphasis mine).
Sowell goes on to stress the life-or-death importance of national unity and solidarity, and notes in closing his article that the fact that Americans are 'at each other's throats' over immigration is not a good sign.
The very presence of large and increasing numbers of disparate peoples serves to further polarize America, which of late has been divided over racial and political differences. The borders issue becomes one more issue which divides us, and which causes emotions to run high. A further complication is that 'multiculturalism' and 'political correctness' warp and suppress the honest and open debate which is absolutely vital to coming to any kind of solution within our country. Those who oppose open borders and the transformation of our country make up a solid majority, according to many polls. But the majority voice is stifled; we are not allowed in our controlled media to express our honest feelings. Those who simply want to preserve the America they grew up in and enforce the laws of our land are branded as 'nativists', xenophobes, and of course 'racists'.
The divide between pro- and anti-open-borders factions also crosses party lines, with more than a few Democrats against the illegal invasion, and on the Republican side there is no lack of support for open borders, as witness our President's obsessive crusade for amnesty and the Hispanicization of America.
Sowell rightly stresses the need for unity in an 'international jungle' as he calls it. Today's world is possibly more dangerous than it has ever been, with a militant Islam on the march, Iran on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, and a 'Camp of the Saints' assault on the West.
I fear for our country when I see how divided we are. It's shameful when Americans are too divided and too paralyzed with political correctness to muster a healthy anger about the invasion and transformation of our country. There are too many people who feel more anger towards their own countrymen than towards outside enemies.
The presence of more and more people of differing and often hostile cultures can only further narrow our self-expression as our PC-ridden media and leadership try to contain honest expression of Americans' emotions. Containing the increasing conflict is creating a pressure-cooker situation.

Labels: Borders, Costs

Sutton Withheld Exculpatory Evidence In Border Patrol Trial
By Darnell McGavock of Independent Conservative
As far as major finds in how badly the case of former US Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean was not only messed up, but intentionally tipped towards their conviction, legal experts say this is the biggest! The defense says that a document from the Department of Homeland Security confirms that two supervisors were on the scene the day an illegal immigrant drug smuggler claims he was shot in the butt. The defense is just finding out about this document, that US Attorney Johnny Sutton�s office had and did not reveal to them during the trial. This was all reported on CNN show Lou Dobbs Tonight last night. I�ve YouTubed the video and you can watch it below.

Why did Sutton�s office withhold exculpatory information?
Ramos and Compean said they never filed a report because supervisors were there. Sutton claimed otherwise in court. Their version of the story has now been verified and once again we see another obvious lie from the mouth of Johnny Sutton.
Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Senior Legal Analyst says this news is potentially major, as opposed to other news he does not feel is as impacting to changing the outcome of the case. Toobin says this moves things into a "new category" that may cause a new trial. Lou Dobbs says that Johnny Sutton "lied" when he said he had no choice but to offer immunity. And World Net Daily has found more information about illegal alien drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila still running dope into our country, after being given medical treatment at US taxpayer expense. This offense was gagged by the judge and the family of Ramos and Compean still refuse to even talk about it, for fear that Johnny Sutton will come after them.
We need and I mean NEED a full Congressional investigation of this entire case right now. We also need to know who in our government knew what, when and what orders they gave to Johnny Sutton and/or the judge. We need to know every single detail related to President George W. Bush involving this matter. It�s time to stop reading and start writing your congresspeople. We now have more than enough information to not simply be suspicious about this case, we know these men were setup!

Labels: Border Patrol, Borders, Justice System

Today's immigration outrages come from the Lou Dobbs Tonight show on CNN. The first story has to do with pro-illegal agitators demanding that our government stop enforcing our immigration laws. If that demand did not show such incredible effrontery, it would be laughable, because ICE seems to enforce the laws only in the most desultory way possible. For the most part, they ignore the law and give illegals free rein in this country, with the blessing of those higher up. Still, the widespread freedom illegals are given in this country is not enough for the illegals and their American-born collaborators, as you will see in the transcript. They are asking for the whole enchilada: no more enforcement, no more deportations.
Notice that these spokesmen for the illegals are implying that only 'criminal' illegals, that is, those who have committed other crimes besides being here illegally, should be deported. As if being 'workers, mothers, fathers, day laborers' should have the run of this country, gives them license to break the country's laws with impunity. Actually they have that right in practice, because of the do-nothing approach of our government. But the illegals and their enablers want to rewrite the laws of this country over the heads of the American people. If that is not absolute proof of their hostility to democratic principles, I don't know what is. Maybe in benighted, corrupt Latin America, they do things that way, by agitation and rioting, but that is assuredly not the American way.
The second story is about the hearings involving the National Guard's rules of engagement on the border, and the recent troubling incidents there.
Excerpts from the transcripts are below. I have bolded certain phrases for emphasis.
PILGRIM: Pro-illegal alien groups today demanding federal agents stop enforcing our nation's immigration laws. Now, the groups say they want all deportations to stop until Congress passes an amnesty bill for illegal aliens.
Casey Wian reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUIS CARRILLO, ATTORNEY: Let's take a vote. Who says English first?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A sign of the times, a news conference starting with a vote on whether to begin in English or Spanish.
CARRILLO: This young woman here was a victim of the recent ICE raids.
WIAN: Last week, ICE arrested more than 750 Los Angeles-area illegal aliens, one of the biggest sweeps of criminal foreign nationals in U.S. history. Now illegal alien advocacy groups claim ICE is using racial profiling to also target otherwise law-abiding illegal aliens, such as this 20-year-old mother of three.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ICE said that I was illegal. And the agent proceeded to arrest me.
CARRILLO: ICE has given the impression to the public that they're only going after persons with criminal backgrounds, when the truth is that they're picking up workers, mothers, fathers, day laborers. ICE has a historic custom and practice of engaging in racial profiling, stopping only Latinos.
WIAN: The facts prove otherwise. ICE deported illegal aliens from 189 nations last year, including 1,364 Jamaicans, 624 Canadians, 489 Chinese. 431 Filipinos, and 405 Indians.
The majority of deportations, both criminal and otherwise, do involve Latin American citizens. But ICE says that's only because those are the home countries of the overwhelming majority of illegal aliens. ICE says its recent raids only targeted illegal aliens already ordered deported by a judge. However, ICE says there were collateral arrests.
Now a growing number of illegal alien advocates are demanding the federal government stop enforcing immigration law.
JAVIER RODRIGUEZ, MARCH 25 COALITION: We demand, we demand a moratorium against deportations. On deportations and the raids.
WIAN: The same groups behind last year's pro-amnesty street demonstrations are threatening more protests and marches this spring.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIAN: All this an effort to pressure Congress to grant amnesty to the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens now in the United States -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Casey, is there any reaction from federal authorities on this protest?
WIAN: These demands, federal authorities say, are absolutely ridiculous. I mean, could you just imagine what would happen at the border if ICE and the Border Patrol decided to stop deporting illegal aliens in anticipation of Congress passing some sort of a guest worker or amnesty bill? The borders would be absolutely flood. They would be overwhelmed, even more so than they are now -- Kitty.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much.
Casey Wian.
[...]Well, let's turn to our border security crisis. There are currently more than 6,000 National Guardsmen patrolling our border with Mexico. But just what are the guard's rules of engagement?
An Arizona National Guards spokesman said, "We don't apprehend. We don't detain. We don't transport." Arizona legislators also want to know just what the Guard's role is. And today they held a hearing on the National Guard's border role.
And joining me now is Warde Nichols, Arizona's homeland security chairman. And thanks for being with us.
WARDE NICHOLS, ARIZONA'S HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
PILGRIM: Part of the hearing today was to sort out exactly happened. What did we establish at today's hearing on what happened?
NICHOLS: Well, unfortunately, what we established today is that the National Guard are there on the border as basically window dressing. They can't do anything. They -- all they do is radio in positions of illegals when they're coming across the border. They can't engage. They can't, you know, apprehend, detain. I mean they're there basically to just radio in -- radio in positions.
PILGRIM: Now, you have said that the gunmen who cross over from the Mexico side of the border appear to be testing the resolve of the National Guard. Explain a little bit what you -- what you mean by that.
NICHOLS: Yes, based off the stories that we got from General Ratochek (ph) today an exact account of the story. I believe that these were paramilitary personnel in Kevlar, vests carrying automatic weapons coming in to test the resolve of what the National Guard are going to do in these situations. Test -- test to see what their response is when they come across the border in these type of situations.
And we found out today that with rules of engagement in the type of things they have to adhere to, that our National Guard men and women on the border are, in my opinion, terrible risk. Their rules of engagement are terrible. Their hands are tied.
PILGRIM: The rules of engagement are what? They must retreat, correct, and cannot engage?
NICHOLS: Basically, yes. They have to -- there's three or four different things that they have to do in process. And basically, in a nutshell, they cannot do anything until fired upon.
PILGRIM: Now this area, tell us a little bit about this area, and what kind of people might be coming across.
NICHOLS: Well, in this type of area, it's out near Sasabe and in this area there's a lot of coyote, human smuggling going on. There's drugs that are coming across the border and now in this particular situation, we believe it was some type of paramilitary personnel.
PILGRIM: And -- and there was no engagement whatsoever?
NICHOLS: Well, again from General Ratochek's report, one the armed gunman got within about 30 feet of one of our guardsman. And they were standing there, looking at each other, rifles in hand, and at that point that's what our National Guardsman went a different position in a defensive position.
PILGRIM: They withdrew and called in...
NICHOLS: Yes, they called in the border guard. And that's another thing that we learned in the hearing today, that our border guard, our Border Patrol, are there basically taking care of our National Guard. I think it's a little reversed. Our National Guard men and women are trained military personnel. Yet they have to call the border guard, the Border Patrol in order to be able to do anything.
PILGRIM: Now this National Guard operation is called "Operation Jump Start". It's $760 million so far. Do you think that that's a waste of money or do you think that's effectively spent?
NICHOLS: You know, I can't say it's a complete waste of money, because we have gotten reports that they have been able to help Border Patrol apprehend and detain these people.
But again I would venture to say that if we use that money more wisely and we are able to put them there in a primary role, able to do the duties of the Border Patrol, we would have much more success in securing our borders.
PILGRIM: Now this particular group of National Guard troops were commended for their action. Do you think that that's something that should have been done? They were commended not only by the National Guard but Arizona's governor's office for their actions.
NICHOLS: Yes, I wouldn't want to belittle what the soldiers did in any shape, way or form. They were following out their directives and their orders. But that's what we were looking at today. What are their directives and what are their orders and what are their rules of engagement? And I would venture to say that they -- that their rules of engagement and their directives must be changed.
PILGRIM: Now, this is a state hearing. But what would you like to see happen?
NICHOLS: I would like to see more awareness about this issue brought forward. That people understand that our men and women on the border are at risk every day because of the directives of the federal government and the directives of the governors that they have signed on to in order to have the National Guard at the border. And they're putting their lives on line, and we've got to untie their hands.
PILGRIM: This is not just a state issue, because this border stretches across many states. Is there any thinking that perhaps a few states could get together and start to reexamine the rules of engagement?
NICHOLS: I would love the four border states to get together and, you know, look at the rules of engagement and look at what Border Patrol's doing on the border.
We know the governor of Texas, just in last week, signed a decree basically putting another 600 plus Texas National Guard on the border to act more in a primary role there and to be able to ride along with Border Patrol and assist. And that may be partially the way to go, but I don't think it goes far enough yet.
PILGRIM: In this hearing today, any input from Washington? And you are happy with the support you're getting from Washington?
NICHOLS: No, we didn't get any input from Washington. And quite frankly, unfortunately, Washington in their federal policies, immigration policies, border security policies, have failed us miserably here in Arizona, and we've got to do something about it.
PILGRIM: Any next steps decided on today?
NICHOLS: You know, I did tell the general in the hearing today that we would like to have him back at some point. As we let some of the thoughts simmer and understand what was said. And we hope to get more answers as we continue to mow through this process and be able to, again, make good policy decisions that we can bring awareness of the issue to the forefront.
PILGRIM: In the interim, would more National Guard troops help the situation?
NICHOLS: You know, we asked the general that. And he didn't really quite have an answer for us that issue. He said that he's apolitical. He's not going to get into the policies and the politics of it and that he's just there carrying out orders.
PILGRIM: Well, sometimes politics has to be practical.
NICHOLS: Yes, yes.
PILGRIM: Thanks very much for joining us this evening and explaining it.
NICHOLS: Thank you, Kitty.''

Labels: Amnesty, Border Patrol, Borders, Illegal Immigration

There has been a story floating around about a huge weapons cache which was recently seized on the Texas-Mexico border. However, none of the Texas newspapers I checked seemed to have anything on it, not surprisingly. One of the few sources which mention it is Stratfor.com, but a subscription is required for access.
This blog, The Mex Files, has some details.
Pictures at this blog.
This is just another story that should be getting a lot of notice, but which is scarcely mentioned at all. How and why is this the case? Is there some kind of policy to ignore or play down these stories? Or is it just that it doesn't fit the MSM's liberal agenda on the border issue, which focuses on the plight of the Poor Immigrant?
Is this a case of more drug cartel violence, or is there something more to it than that? Absent any real coverage of this story, we can only speculate.

Labels: Borders, Drug Cartels, Mexico, Open Borders