Thread: 9/11's lessons should apply to immigration

9/11's lessons should apply to immigration
Home News Tribune Online 09/11/07
Six years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Washington has made little headway on one of the key security risks still facing this nation: how best to protect our borders, or, to be more specific, how best to control the flow of illegal immigrants into this country — to know who is here and why.


The lack of a uniform and enforceable immigration policy, with hard and fast sets of rules and procedures for engagement, backed by the federal resources to carry them out, is a glaring failure of national leaders. They — meaning not only the Bush Administration but both Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate — have failed to understand that their inability and even unwillingness this summer to come to an understanding on some way to track and process uninvited visitors to the United States was an invitation for something else: another terror attack.

The vast majority of illegal immigrants to this country, be they from South America or Mexico or somewhere else, are here for no other purpose than to find work, feed their children, send money to family, establish a better life: each is an American ideal and a way of life long fed by fresh faces and fresh talent from abroad. But there is no escaping that porous borders equate to porous national security. As was illustrated by the 19 hijackers of the three commercial airliners that were used as weapons to kill more than 3,000 people on 9/11, it only takes a handful of individuals with murder on their minds to wreak widespread destruction of lives, property and free enterprise.

Washington's abrogation of its responsibility to put in place cohesive and comprehensive immigration standards has, unfortunately, left that job to the states. But a patchwork of regulations, as inconsistent and vague as some of those guidelines are, is destined to fail, simply because the states lack the sufficient resources and agreement among themselves to effectively police the matter. New Jersey's own attempts to address illegal immigration is a good example. Prompted to act by the slaying last month of three college students by Jose Carranza, an illegal immigrant from Peru, state Attorney General Anne Milgram issued a directive that police may ask about someone's immigration status when they are arrested for a crime or when driving while intoxicated, but the question may not be posed at any other time. The plan, though short of more aggressive measures favored by some illegal immigration opponents, at least clues law-enforcement to non-citizens who are in the country illegally and might pose a risk. But regardless if someone agrees or disagrees with the methodology, the edict only applies in New Jersey and it is unreasonable to think that local police are in any way equipped to carry it out; they are not, nor they should be, prime enforcers of immigration law.

It's this hodgepodge of rules and remedies that remains so bothersome, especially today, six years, one war and thousands of deaths after the official start of the United States' war on terror. This country, while founded on the notion of individual freedom, is first and foremost a nation of laws. One of those is that anyone who chooses to settle here must do so legally. There is no excuse for the fact that plenty of visitors are doing just the opposite. Or that government hasn't readily even attempted to get a handle on that underground population. Again, nation's interests and its security deserve much better.

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic ... 10332/1079

It's a disaster waiting to happen. If illiterate illegals can manage to enter this country and avoid detection, it should be a breeze for savvy terrorists.