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  1. #1

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    If Minutemen 'invasion' is disaster, blame D.C.(opin)

    http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php? ... b5_stanton

    Stanton: If Minutemen 'invasion' is disaster, blame D.C.
    Tuesday, March 15, 2005
    BILLIE STANTON
    Tucson Citizen

    Semantics are telling. The reporter who gives both sides of a story still can slant the piece by having one side "say" things while the other side "contends," "alleges" and "claims."
    So it is in the Great Migration Debate.

    Some refer to "aliens" not as creatures from outer space, but as people who cross our border. Others call these folks "migrants."

    The Tucson Citizen, like most newspapers, has style and usage guidelines, which in this case call for using "illegal immigrants." Not "border crossers," not "aspiring citizens," not anything except "illegal immigrants."

    Many a reader on both sides of the Great Debate chafes at that ruling, but there it is.

    Tucson attorney Ed Kahn has his preferred style, too. He says our new Minutemen are not "vigilantes." Rather, they are "undocumented Border Patrol agents."

    Indeed they are. And buckle your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen, 'cause here they come.

    If our mail is any indication, many of these volunteers will pour in from California and Texas.

    The Minuteman Project, organized by Jack Gilchrist of Orange County, Calif., has invited them to come to Cochise County on April 1, protest nonenforcement of immigration laws, scour the border area along the San Pedro River, and detect and report suspected illegal immigrants.

    A recent editorial suggestion that trained agents and law officers are better suited for such tasks went over like a lead balloon.

    Congress, President Bush, the Border Patrol and the entire Department of Homeland Security have had their chance, and thousands of people continue to pour over our porous border, outraged readers responded.

    They're right. People still come, even though safer crossing points in Texas and California have been effectively closed, and the journey now requires traversing a very inhospitable desert.

    Starting April 1, that stretch will become even more inhospitable, as those "undocumented Border Patrol agents" traverse the terrain in search of suspects.

    Many Americans believe illegal immigrants come here to:

    a) Take jobs Americans need.

    b) Illegally tap into our welfare system.

    c) Smuggle in drugs and other contraband.

    d) Vote in our elections.

    e) Take over our country.

    f) All of the above.

    On the flip side are those of us who believe most people come here illegally because legal entrance is nigh impossible, they are desperate for work and money, and they will eschew welfare and voting to stay under the radar of la migra.

    Ever notice how they always find work?
    Whatever our beliefs, unprecedented numbers do sneak north into our land, and even the most liberal among us no longer ignore the threat of terrorism.
    Even if we all are brothers and sisters on God's great Earth, none of us wants that psychotic little brother, i.e. Osama bin Laden's more evil twin, sneaking into these here United States.

    Deep within, where images of collapsing twin towers lurk, we all yearn for safety and security.

    Politicians will waste weeks, months, years, arguing over how to handle illegal immigrants already here. "But that's amnesty!" some will cry. "But we need them!" employers will respond.

    We do need them, as anyone who's ever tried to harvest his own tomato fields and peach orchards knows all too well.

    If we didn't need them, didn't hire them, didn't turn a blind eye to their employers, they wouldn't be here. Nobody can make it in America without work, as anyone who's ever been unemployed without a trust fund also knows very well.

    The dilemma and solution seem so clear. If they've been here a spell, working hard, pleasing an employer and behaving as otherwise law-abiding people, why not identify and legalize them? If they've broken laws, bilked us for benefits or otherwise behaved badly, why not deport them? And if they're desperate to work, and an employer can't find anyone else to hire, why not let them in?

    The caveat, of course, is full identification and monitoring to ensure that whoever enters by agreement gets to stay only by agreement, too.

    The situation is so sizzling hot today that strangers with guns soon will flock to southern Arizona to try to take things in hand.

    If that doesn't describe a failure of government, advise me what does.

    If chaos erupts in Cochise County, we won't have Gilchrist and his volunteers to blame. But we will have a whole host of high-rolling suits in Washington, D.C., at whom to point our fingers. God save us.

    Billie Stanton's column appears on Tuesdays. E-mail: bstanton@tucsoncitizen.com; phone: 573-4664; fax: 573-4569.
    "This country has lost control of its borders. And no country can sustain that kind of position." .... Ronald Reagan

  2. #2
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    Ms. Stanton restores some of my faith in the press.
    We need to start saving ourselves!!!
    http://www.alipac.us Enforce immigration laws!

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