http://www.dailynews-record.com

Foreign Criminals

Posted 2006-02-19

The RUSH Drug Task Force arrested five men in Harrisonburg this week who are suspected of selling methamphetamine.

At first, authorities reported all five of the men were Mexican citizens and in this nation illegally. Later reports indicate that at least one defendant may — may — be legally inside U.S. borders, and two of the defendants may be from El Salvador, and not Mexico. In these types of cases, sometimes documentation can be hard to find.

Wouldn’t it be a wise idea to keep foreign criminals like this out of the country? Combine this with other criminal gangs of illegal immigrants in other parts of the Valley and other parts of the commonwealth — particularly in northern Virginia — and it’s easy to see that rampant illegal immigration has created a major criminal problem.

Running drugs is a not a mom-and-pop operation. Drug dealers are prepared to defend their criminal operation. In the searches connected to this case, 24 guns were confiscated, another reminder that drug gangs are not pacific in their views or behavior.

This may be the only nation in the world that has extensive criminal gangs of another nationality — or nationalities, considering the violent MS-13 gang consists largely of Salvadoran immigrants — inside its borders.

The government has resisted cracking down on immigration because, to put it bluntly, some Republican businessmen want cheap labor and some Democratic politicians want cheap votes.

While most immigrants — including illegals — are hard-working and law-abiding, the seriousness of criminals coming across the border cannot be understated.

The Harrisonburg arrests are another indication that the government must take stronger steps to curb illegal immigration. Sens. George Allen and John Warner, and the commonwealth’s congressmen should make clear to the White House and the Department of Homeland Security that they want increased enforcement of immigration laws.