Thread: Border Security/GOP USA

http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/pwe...mw_0516p.shtml

Border Security
By Paul M. Weyrich
May 16, 2005

We must control our country's borders. Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Admiral James M. Loy appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in February to counsel the Committee about improving immigration control at our nation's borders. He delivered a message that was not given wide media coverage but one that many Americans already knew. Admiral Loy said:


Recent information from ongoing investigations, detentions, and emerging threat streams strongly suggests that al-Qaeda has considered using the Southwest Border to infiltrate the United States. Several al-Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pave their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons.


Admiral Loy warned that the U.S.-Canadian Border has vast and difficult terrain that could provide good passageways for terrorists to sneak into our country and wreak havoc.

No longer is curbing illegal immigration only a way to stop poverty-stricken people, who seek greater opportunity, from entering our country. Illegal immigrants break our laws by doing so and do a disservice to immigrants who have entered our country legally. Breaking the law is bad enough but curbing illegal immigration is a national security matter in this Age of International Terrorism. We must control our borders and know who is coming into our country.

My father was an immigrant, as was my father in-law. It would be difficult for one whose family has benefited from this country's open door policy on immigration to demand that the door be shut to future immigrants. My life was enriched by getting to know immigrants from Iron Curtain countries who searched for freedom and liberty and were thankful that they found it in our country. However, we have immigration laws and they must be obeyed. Even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), an immigrant himself, recently said we have the resources to control our borders but our leaders appear to lack the will. He stressed that controlling immigration is first and foremost a federal responsibility: "We have the money to do it. It is not a lack of money. When we can afford the war in Iraq, we can afford to control our own borders."

Jerry Seper of the The Washington Times reported in his March 30 article, "500 New Agents to Patrol Arizona Border," that the Border Patrol captured more than one million illegal aliens last year.

The presence of the Minutemen at the Arizona Border should have sent a signal to our leaders in Washington that our country is growing restless and its citizens want to see the Federal Government decisively act to control our borders. We need more border control agents and we need to equip them with the latest technologies to identify people who try to enter our country illegally. The announcement at the end of March that 500 new U.S. Border Patrol agents would be assigned to the Arizona-Mexico Border certainly was welcome news but we more aggressively must train and deploy new agents. The 9/11 Commission urged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to add 2,000 new agents annually over five years beginning in Fiscal Year 2006. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Robert C. Bonner believed it would be difficult for his agency to train that many agents so quickly but agreed that the agency needs more agents.

Another important preventive measure that should be implemented would require state and local governments and private sector institutions such as banks to stop accepting the Matricula Consular Cards issued by the Mexican Government as standard identification. (We recently had a heated debate in Congress over the standardization of state-issued driver's licenses. The President signed the national driver's license bill into law on Wednesday, May 11.) The Center for Immigration Studies' Mark Kirkorian recently wrote in National Review that "perhaps even more problematic than inconsistent license rules is the spreading acceptance of consular registration cards, chiefly Mexico's 'matricula consular' card, which functions as an illegal alien ID; when accepted by U.S. jurisdictions as a valid ID for everything from bank accounts to air travel, it represents a de facto amnesty." The FBI views these cards to be a risk; the Treasury Department approves their use.

Morton C. Blackwell, President of the Leadership Institute, made a candid point that our federal elected officials, particularly those who are conservative, should heed. Mr. Blackwell agrees that the issue of immigration is complex. He also said that many Americans - particularly the conservatives that overwhelmingly supported President Bush in the last election - quite tenaciously believe that our borders need more protection and that they will vote on that issue in the next election. Failure to control our borders would risk splitting the Conservative Coalition.


Controlling - not stopping - immigration is a matter of national security. It is a difficult task but it is truly the most important strategy at the front lines in the War against Terrorism. Lose this battle and there could be more opportunities for 9/11 to be repeated. Winning this battle starts at the front lines by exercising more control over who enters our country. This is a difficult task but one that certainly is well within our capability. (Using the military to patrol our border may strike some as an attractive option but it is preferable to have the Border Patrol improve its capability. Conservatives traditionally have looked askance at the military performing domestic law enforcement functions even if it involved national security.) Smart politicians realize the importance of this issue and would not be surprised to hear more calls for increased border security in the next election. This is an issue that may be good politics but it is much more than that; our national security is at stake.


Paul M. Weyrich is the Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation.

(Using the military to patrol our border may strike some as an attractive option but it is preferable to have the Border Patrol improve its capability. Conservatives traditionally have looked askance at the military performing domestic law enforcement functions even if it involved national security.)

"Conservatives traditionally have looksed askance at the military performing domestic law enforcement functions even if it involved national security".

As a 4th generation Republican Conservative, I would like to know who these "conservatives" are looking askance at using military to quard our borders against a foreign invasion of foreign agents of foreign governments?

According to this belief, WHO keeps enemies out of the United States?

We know it isn't Border Patrol....they just pick them up after they are in.

We know it isn't Homeland Security....Tom Ridge stated publicly that there's nothing "we" can do about it....there's just too many of them.

We know it isn't Local Police....who only pick them up after they've robbed, raped, assauted, murdered, mutilated or been caught in trafficking drugs or people.

We know it isn't State Police...who have been told these people are "untouchable" and not to even stop them for traffic violations by their Governors....hoping to pick up some ILLEGAL VOTES in an election.

We know the Boy Scouts can't do it....because they have to go to School.

That just leaves....the Military and the Minutemen, Folks!!

Using the military to guard the border and PREVENT ENTRY of foreign agents of foreign governments is EXACTLY why we have a United States Armed Forces....to defend, protect, preserve the sovereignty of the United States and the National Security of the American People.

Do we need the military going door to door looking for ilegals inside the Border within the sovereign territory? No....Border Patrol, DRO, ICE, Homeland Security, State and Local Police, FBI, CIA.....neighbors, schools, hospitals, cash transfer agencies, banks, businesses, employers, state and federal agencies.....they can all do that.....but what they have all demonstrated beyond any doubt is that THEY CAN'T KEEP THEM FROM GETTING IN.

I'm confident that our Military CAN cooperate with Border Patrol and the Minutemen and accomplish simple goal of guarding the borders so that no one gets in unless they have permission!!

AMEN to THAT, Judy!!

RR

Controlling - not stopping - immigration is a matter of national security. It is a difficult task but it is truly the most important strategy at the front lines in the War against Terrorism. Lose this battle and there could be more opportunities for 9/11 to be repeated. Winning this battle starts at the front lines by exercising more control over who enters our country. This is a difficult task but one that certainly is well within our capability. (Using the military to patrol our border may strike some as an attractive option but it is preferable to have the Border Patrol improve its capability. Conservatives traditionally have looked askance at the military performing domestic law enforcement functions even if it involved national security.) Smart politicians realize the importance of this issue and would not be surprised to hear more calls for increased border security in the next election. This is an issue that may be good politics but it is much more than that; our national security is at stake.

It seems to me that the author is advocating the usage of the military at the Border. The fact that this was posted on the GOP USA page gave me some hope that perhaps the GOP might wake up and smell something besides coffee, don't you agree?

Yes good12me--this author is advocating use of troops on the border. What I was taking issue with was why would anyone have a problem with that or look askance at it, conservative or not, this is why we have Armed Forces to keep enemies out of our country.

I believe the only conservatives in the looking askance crew would be the crew bought and sold by the Globalists!!

I wanted to make the distinction between border work keeping enemies out and performing routine law enforcement. But war is war and invasions are invasions and it may be that aliens become violent in which case becaue they are aliens, they are enemies and even then who fights those people? City Police, State Troopers? I don't thinks so. They are aliens, enemies, agents of foreign governments, requiring troops to fight and defeat and remove them.

YES good12me--this article is a GREAT FIND because it shows that the GOP is coming round; getting some sense; and hopefully will soon act to guard the borders; deport aliens; place a Moratorium on new immigration.

Barney Franks from New York was just on O'Reilly claiming he is for the McCain Kennedy Act Not to Act because HE just can't imagine how troops on the border could possibly seal up our country.

Obviously the man believes that we are defenseless.

In which case why have a military at all??

Oh, and I found it "really smart" to tell the world on national TV....Come On In....the USA is Defenseless.

What a Beanhead!!

HOW DO THESE PEOPLE GET ELECTED TO BEGIN WITH????

Oh....yeah.....some of us voted for Bush....the others voted for people like Barney Frank, McCain and Kennedy in their states.

Well......it's time to Clean House and get people in our Government who know how to keep the Enemy of Any Kind Out of Our Country!!

He also said, "it's hard to have an open society and keep people out"????

Our society is open within our borders to Americans and Approved Guests.

WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH KEEPING ENEMIES OUT OF COUNTRY??

Do these people practice this double-talk in front of the mirror BEFORE they go on a show??

HOW MANY times have we heard this NONSENSE from both political parties and other affiliated BEANHEADS???

I could puke.