Thread: UNARMED BORDER GUARDS PUT MORE THAN OUR NATION AT RISK

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/ho ... ?id=566669

UNARMED BORDER GUARDS PUT MORE THAN OUR NATION AT RISK
Michael Cutler
Author: Michael Cutler
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: January 6, 2007


To add to the farce that is known as border security, now we are faced with the travesty of unarmed border guards who are forced to deal with armed border intruders. FSM Contributing Editor Mike Cutler, a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, warns us that unless this laughingstock ends, we will most likely endure another terrorist attack, programmed to be catastrophic


UNARMED BORDER GUARDS PUT MORE THAN OUR NATION AT RISK

Recently, unarmed National Guard troops were forced to flee when they were confronted by armed intruders who ran our nation's border with Mexico. The troops who fled the confrontation were assigned to an entry-identification team, asigned to monitor major illegal-alien and drug-smuggling routes into the United States. Clearly these troops succeeded in identifying the fact that armed intruders had crossed the Mexican border. Unfortunately, because they were forced to escape, the troops were unable to identify the intruders and were uncertain how many there were. All that they were able to report is that our borders had been violated by an unknown number of armed and dangerous men!

The Border Patrol agents, obviously disgusted with the abysmal situation on the border they’ve taken an oath to protect, refer to this operation as "Nanny Patrol". The government refers to it as "Operation Jump Start". Actually, "Jump Start" may not be an inaccurate name for the operation. The bad guys jumped our unarmed National Guard troops and our troops started to run.

Actually, I refer to the administration’s efforts to provide tough-sounding names for largely ineffectual field operations by another name, "Operation Back Rub", as this name is the most accurate given the circumstances. Consider: when a child wakes up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare, the dutiful parent in an effort to get the frightened child back to sleep, will probably administer a back rub among other fear-soothing prescriptives. This serves a two-fold purpose. The child’s fears will be allayed and the parent can go back to sleep. It would appear that the administration wants to conduct business for illegal aliens (the children we support) the same way…show them they have nothing to worry about while Congress, the Administration and the populace (the "caring" parents) go back to sleep while our borders are wide open!

The stationing of unarmed National Guard troops on our nation's border with Mexico, especially in locations that are well known to be along well established routes taken by drug traffickers is, in my judgment, nuts! These troops were put in harm's way for nothing more than a public relations campaign to soothe the fears of angry and frightened American citizens. The troops are operating under orders to take no action against anyone who runs the border, only to notify the Border Patrol whenever such illegal entries into the United States take place.

In the classic law enforcement movie, "The Untouchables," Sean Connery plays a highly seasoned Chicago cop who acts as advisor and participant in a task force assembled by Elliot Ness to combat Al Capone and the mobsters of that crime-infested town during Prohibition. One of the nuggets of advice Connery's character provides to Ness is, "You do not bring a knife to a gun fight!" That advice should be followed by the administration. The situation on the Mexican border is so violent and out of control that our armed Border Patrol agents are confronted by armed drug smugglers whom some believe even to be members of the Mexican military. If armed Border Patrol agents are out-gunned by these "neighbors" to the south, what in blazes is the National Guard doing sending unarmed troops into such a perilous situation? This is not a matter of bringing a knife to a gun fight, it is sending unarmed men up against cannons! If this continues, how long will it be before we wind up with dead National Guardsmen on our border?

Teddy Roosevelt described his concept of foreign policy as, "Walk softly but carry a big stick." Here the administration demonstrates a reverse philosophy. It engages in all sorts of false bravado by providing all sorts of macho sounding operational names for efforts they claim have the situation under control. The facts simply do not add up. The bad guys learned an important lesson as a result of that encounter. They know, if they doubted it before, that they can cross into our country with impunity. They have already learned that the administration is more than willing to prosecute the sworn Border Patrol agents to the maximum if they make a split-second decision to try to protect our border and their own lives. Now it is clear that we have unarmed troops "defending" our border who have no choice but to flee if confronted! What will the administration do next, position scarecrows along the border and dress them up in Border Patrol uniforms?

Reports were that the armed intruders fled back into Mexico. Now, why would armed intruders flee from fleeing unarmed intruders? Or, how do we know for sure that they all did? We do not know many things about these armed men. We do not know their nationality nor do we know why they entered our country. We do not even know how many intruders were involved. They may have been smuggling drugs. They may have been smuggling criminals or may, themselves, be members of criminal organizations or gangs. Perhaps they were terrorists.

All we do know is that our Border is not secure. We also know that while the administration, often aided and abetted by members of both political parties, are far more willing to spend billions of dollars on lucrative contracts for border or immigration technology that all too often fails to work, than to hire an adequate number of law enforcement personnel to get the job done.

A couple of years ago I testified before a hearing that was held by the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims. I was called to testify about the fact that while the Congress had appropriated adequate funds to hire an additional 800 special agents for ICE, the administration slashed that number to just 143 new special agents for that terribly understaffed agency. I was appalled that Congress wanted to hire only 800 new special agents but absolutely flabbergasted that the administration wanted to hire only a fraction of that number. Similarly I was amazed that while Congress had provided the funding to hire an additional 2,000 new Border Patrol agents, the administration slashed that number to just 210!

You can read a transcript of that hearing by clicking on the link below:

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/ju ... 785_0f.htm

For years we have heard about the infamous Catch and Release program that plagued our immigration law enforcement program. Catch and Release meant that the Border Patrol would arrest illegal aliens from countries that were OTM (Other Than Mexico), process them for removal or deportation hearings and provide them with a document requiring them to show up at an immigration office when they arrived in their intended U.S. city (thereby releasing them) to go before an immigration judge for a hearing. Not surprisingly, fewer than 15% of those aliens failed to show up for their hearings.

The form that they were served with is known as "A Notice to Appear" or "NTA". Frustrated Border Patrol agents came to refer to those forms as "Notices to Disappear". Worse than this, among those OTMs were aliens from "Special Interest" countries, meaning they were citizens of countries that were involved in terrorism.

How and why does this happen? There is a chronic lack of detention space for illegal aliens who are arrested by special agents of ICE within the interior of the United States. Yet the administration sees fit to spend over 200 million dollars to install cameras along the border, only to discover that many of those installed cameras do not work!

The bottom line is that more than 5 years after the unspeakable attacks of September 11, 2001 and 14 years after the first attack on the World Trade Center complex on February 26, 1993, our nation still lacks an adequate number of Border Patrol agents and other assets and resources to secure our borders and create an immigration system that possesses integrity. Our traditions of freedom and privacy have been whittled down in the name of national security, more than three thousand members of our armed forces have been killed and many more wounded, billions of dollars have been spent…and our own borders are not even secure! Our National Guard troops on the border are unarmed and thus placed in imminent danger as part of what is clearly a failed public relations campaign that has nothing to do with border security.

The madness must end before our nation suffers another, potentially catastrophic, terrorist attack. The madness must end if we are to protect our citizens against the drugs and criminals and gang members who pour across our borders every day and night. The madness must end if we are to insure the future of our children and their children. The images of Nancy Pelosi and other members of the brand new Congress surrounded by their children and grandchildren needs to be more than the usual "photo-op." Our leaders, regardless of party affiliation, must commit themselves to securing our nation. No mission is of greater importance to the safety of our citizens or the survival of our nation.

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

AMEN to that!

I don't know where this myth about unarmed National Guardsmen originated at. Depending on the job, some of the NG's are armed. To my knowledge, the so-called spotters are armed for self-defense. I know the myth of unarmed NG's makes for good hype for our side, but it's not accurate. We've got enough truth on our side without having to hype news stories.

I think you could call this Operation Walmart Greeter. The Guard would not be allowed to fire, and why would anyone risk it with our Border Patrol going to prison?

It's our sorry Rules of Engagement. We have that problem on our border, we have that problem in Iraq. Our soldiers can't fire on an unarmed person, even if they know he is an insurgent. Here, our troops are handcuffed as well. That's why the drug-smuggler attacked Ramos and Compean like he did. He knew they really couldn't retaliate. We need to tweek these rules. We look like fools and are losing these battles.

I keep reading more accounts that these National Guardsmen were "unarmed" at Governor Napolitano's bequest. This is outrageous. When the Arizona Republic asked for her to comment, she refused and asked them to talk to Homeland Security who also refused to talk to the newspaper.

This story should be so big and it should be national. Out Tucson Citizen newspaper carried the story for the first time today even though it broke Thursday evening. They didn't even have a reporter do an in-depth story on it, they used the wire service story. They placed it on the inside, 2nd page too, not prominently on the first page where it should have been, sooner than the Saturday edition.

I spoke to my folks in Florida today and asked if they had heard about this news story and they hadn't. This shows that the story has also been buried by the national news media as well. What is it going to take for people to wake up to how big this problem is?

It may actually take the death of several unarmed guards at one time during a "raid" by illegals for the nation, and perhaps Washington, to wake up. I sure hope they wake up before that happens.