Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Editorial:

Illegals & terrorists
Thursday, August 16, 2007
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 22373.html

The "what" of two confidential government reports about illegal immigration -- devastating indictments of the Bush administration's utter indifference toward protecting American soil and souls -- is not as disturbing as the "when."
A report by the Drug Enforcement Administration claims Islamic extremists, embedded in the United States and posing as Hispanic nationals, are partnering with violent Mexican drug gangs to finance terror networks in the Middle East, according to The Washington Times. And that, the report says, could lead to "a catastrophic event by terrorists."

A report by the Department of Homeland Security, also obtained by the newspaper, states nearly every part of the Border Patrol's national strategy is failing and that al-Qaida -- targeting the most vulnerable border areas -- has been trying to smuggle terrorists and weapons into this republic.

The DEA report is from 2005. The DHS's, 2006.

Since these unnerving studies did not motivate President George Bush to defend the Mexican border, what will?
If Mr. Bush had devoted a fraction of the time and energy he spent shilling for illegals' amnesty to, instead, erecting an effective barricade, many of those drug dealers and terrorists would have been walled off.

That there could be similar yet older confidential reports also ignored by Dubya is beyond disturbing.
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Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Letter to Editor:

Dealing with illegals
Friday, August 17, 2007
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 22578.html

Why wait for the federal government to solve problems with illegal aliens ("Illegals & terrorists," Editorial, Aug. 16 and PghTrib.com)?
Within the Immigration and Nationality Act, there is Section 287 (g) -- Delegation of Immigration Authority -- which permits local police to be trained to investigate illegals, detain them and process the illegals for deportation.

In South Park we had several incidents with illegals working for independent contractors hired by Verizon, but when we tried working with the immigration department we couldn't get anything done; naturally, the contractor moved the workers to another location.

This Section 287 of the Immigration and Nationality Act must be a guarded secret, because I knew nothing of its passage until I searched the Internet for help with verifying the status of illegals.

Since Section 287 gives local government a tool in solving some of the problems with illegals, I will work hard to have our police department trained. I hope other elected officials will read this and do likewise.

David J. Buchewicz
South Park
The writer is a township supervisor.