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Control The Border

Posted 2006-03-02


A border out of control. Smuggling gangs with the best weaponry. Mexican military protecting drug smugglers. Shots exchanged between American border patrol agents and criminals. A terrorized populace. Sick and injured immigrants left to die of exposure.

That was a picture of the American southwest border as painted by witnesses before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Due to some quirk in the law, the Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over immigration and is considering new legislation.

"(My neighbors and I) must live with the constant possibility that we could be attacked or killed on our own property," said rancher Lavoyger Durham. He told senators he has found immigrants dead on his property, that he and other ranchers have been fired upon and other civilians have been threatened by smugglers.

There has been a political and media outcry over the possibility of a United Arab Emirates-controlled company running six American ports. Yet chances are the UAE will do a better job running our ports than our own government is doing controlling our border. Since 2002, there have been more violent deaths in this nation caused by illegal immigrants than caused by terrorists.

Do our senators need to be reminded that the Constitution says nothing about local education or federal welfare or a dozen other federal programs but that it is clearly the constitutional responsibility of the government to protect its citizens, and to protect the national borders?

Do they also need to be reminded that political considerations should play no role whatsoever in fulfilling this constitutional duty? Elected officials should not check with special interest groups before performing their constitutional duties.

Lenient guest worker programs and legal immigration programs are fine, but the government has to act now to stop illegal immigration.