Thursday, May 27, 2010

CONUNDRUM


It already IS illegal to enter our country improperly. Can you "square" illegal? Do you get llegal-er?

Everyone agrees that immigration is not a good situation. So then why isn't something done? President Bush kept us safe but did nothing about the border. Why? What motives by elected officials keep the border open? And how can there be so many varied camps in this immigration issue?

There is one Latino in the Senate, New Jersey's Senator Menendez. Last week he called for a Major League baseball players boycott of AZ. He also said "IF there is a greater border presence necessary, it should be in the form of additional border patrol agents." IF, Senator? IF? New Jersey must be a "fer piece" from the border. Or perhaps the Senator lacks the ability to see this issue as it affects the country as a whole.

Then there is President Obama making a joke about the issue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLgZ1LWLlko His Attorney General and his Homeland Security Secretary (and others in the administration) spoke vociferously against what AZ passed. Well, they spoke vociferously until someone asked them if they had read the bill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rH1FEcbi4A

On another side there are the compassionates. They are good-willed people plus some Open Border people who must think that everyone has a right to live here and the country can accommodate everyone. I wonder if the compassionates' back yards looked like this if they would protect their property?


We've all heard of the AZ rancher who tried to protect his property. He and his dog were killed on March 27, 2010. The fifty-eight year old Rob Krentz (below) was a husband and father and granddad. His land had been in his family for 100 years. What would you do if your land became a drug corridor?

Armed burglaries are commonplace there as the drug smugglers deliver their goods and then rob on their way back through to Mexico. You wouldn't want to leave home for fear they would take it all. You certainly would be afraid to leave your wife at home alone. Rob Krentz had multiple burglaries and he had complained to law enforcement for years. The killer is at large, but the sheriff followed footprints back to Mexico.

Mike hunted back in the 60's with a college friend who had a ranch out in west Texas. Even back then, Mike can remember that they would come up on one of the unoccupied houses on the ranch and it was always unlocked. The policy was to leave it unlocked so transients wouldn't tear up the house getting in...and they left cans of frijoles prominently out on the kitchen table. Mike's rancher friend did the best he could to protect his family back then by basically bribing them to come and go peacefully.

There is another group in the immigration issue, the guilt crowd. Life is good for them and they feel bad that everyone does not share prosperity. Most people DO appreciate the life we have in this country. But if faux remorse swells the number of people and sinks the ship, our opportunity to do good for others goes down, too. America has an immigration plan that has worked in the past. Visit Ellis Island and look at what those immigrants wanted. They longed to come here and share the American experience. They demonstrated good faith by learning our language and fighting in our army and demonstrating their productivity. They wanted to become Americans. Ellis Island also teaches that people were admitted because of what they had to add as citizens. Criminals and people with communicable diseases need not apply. That's a far cry from today.

Our country is generous with her resources. We have always reached out to the poor and the oppressed. If our immigration policy needs to be tweaked, then let's TWEAK IT. But secure the border! We cannot continue to fling wide the door by enticing people to come here with offers of free healthcare and anchor babies and free schooling and sanctuary cities and free housing and free food. It was well intentioned in the beginning. It might have started out with a can of frijoles in the 60's, but you and I live in today's results.

And today the screen door opens, and a duke's mixture comes in. True, some are just people desperate to improve life for themselves and their family they left behind. They may not have any idea of becoming Americans (so they are not "immigrating")...and they endure abominable treatment in the process. Even so, are they the greatest danger? No. Borders must be regulated to protect us from the deadly undesirables - terrorists and drug runners and gangs who kidnap and kill. They hardly fit the inscription on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." NONE of these undesirables yearn to breathe free; they yearn to enslave and kill.

Have we taken leave of our senses? Truly, the enemy is at our gate. Yes, Senator Menendez, we DO need a greater border presence and it will take more than just border patrol. And President Obama, it will take more than that token 1,200 Guardsmen you just sent.

We need to protect our land so America may continue to be the shining city on a hill.

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