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Date: January 17, 2006
Author: Marty Lich

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

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“We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker.It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.� ---Ronald Reagan---
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Words are powerful. So when I hear another country’s foreign secretary state that his country is not going to “permit or allow� a stupid thing like our proposed border fence I have to repeat these words; “Won’t allow or permit?� Who has the right to tell our country what she will and will not do on her own soil? Mexico? Guatemala? They think so.

These two countries are seeking illegal alien’s rights in America. They say a border fence is discriminatory and against freedom for their citizens. In part, this is true. By preventing unlawful entry into our country the ‘freedom’ of disregarding our laws will halt. Discrimination is against only those who break our laws. All who illegally enter the U.S. today receive free public school enrollment, tax-funded emergency and preventative health care, and a large range of taxpayer welfare services with no questions asked. We do not arm our borders with our military and we do not send our police out on impromptu raids, targeting neighborhoods known for harboring illegal alien residents. We do not allow illegal aliens to be deported overnight even if they were originally arrested for committing other crimes. When ICE decides certain illegal aliens are going to be deported from our country, they are released first on their own recognizance here until such time that an U.S. immigration court hearing can be provided for them.

Americans are a kind-hearted people. We find a border fence preferable, an act of prevention rather than an act of apprehension, believing that an “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.�

This fence proposal is not satisfactory to Mexico and Guatemala. Perhaps we should follow their lead to appease them. You see, Mexico also has an “immigrant� illegal alien problem. Their illegal residents have different civil rights than our illegal residents. No “please return for a court hearing� when they are apprehended. Mexico’s illegal alien stories play out like this: you are arrested; you are taken to a deportation center. From there, you are bused back to your home country and then turned over to the local immigration authorities. Mexico also guards her southern borders with gusto (aka guns) utilizing the “Southern Plan�, considered a orderly and secure repatriation. Per Mexico's own Federal Human Rights Commission, the police and the military catch and detain illegal immigrants despite the fact that it is against Mexican law for them to do so. Furthermore, the UN Human Rights Commissioner just reported that in Mexico routinely violates human rights with regards to their illegal aliens. No one is offered or receives free health care in Mexico. No person in Mexico can attend any school there unless they provide Mexican officials with a valid birth certificate. Mexico has different rules in the immigration game.

Guatemala has strict border policies too. Their immigration solution begins with “Venceremos 2001,� a Guatemalan deportation unit mobilizing more than 200 police agents. These agents head to the Guatemalan border cities in search of illegal aliens residing there. All apprehended illegal aliens are then deported in the same day according to Guatemalan officials. There is no court date to determine “eligibility� of residency nor do they receive any free school enrollment for their children. They do not receive free health care. No cash, no Guatemalan health insurance, no care.

Mexico and Guatemala have decided they have every right to tell the United States what we will and will not do on our own soil. The word “presumptuous� comes to mind here.

Let me repeat that “won’t allow� and “won’t permit� are powerful words when issued by another country. These are words that America must disregard.

The truth lies within Robert Frost’s non-combative words; “Good fences make good neighbors." And indeed they do. VT

Marty Lich is a Gypsum resident and a regular columnist for The Vail Trail. E-mail comments about this column to editor@vailtrail.com