http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_10756.shtml

US Government Fails to Defend Its Own Citizens
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Commenary by Donald A. Collins
March 14, 2005


While most of us often get “mad as hell� about some issue, few of us rush out into the street and scream or take physical action. That is especially true of many pundits such as myself.

However, late last month a group of hardy, brave and angry Arizonans and others did just that!

According to the Associated Press, over 1000 men “have already joined the Minuteman Project, anointing themselves civilian border patrol agents determined to stop the immigration flow that routinely, and easily, seeps past federal authorities. They plan to patrol a 40-mile stretch of the southeast Arizona border throughout April when the tide of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border peaks.�

"I felt the only way to get something done was to do it yourself," said Jim Gilchrist, a retired accountant and decorated Vietnam War veteran who is helping recruit Minutemen across the country.

These guys are going to places along this 370 mile border where US border patrol agents have been attacked and killed. Yet, the image of citizens trying to defend their own country because our government, Federal, State and local, have largely failed to do so, makes compelling news.

So far there has been small coverage in our main stream media, who would like to ignore this sight. But American citizens clearly understand that this is not about the failure of the US Border Patrol, but a failure of our government to make adequate laws and take appropriate actions that would quickly lessen this massive flow.

For starters, the Bush Administration has refused to fund the hiring of more border patrol officers and much of the huge border between Mexico and the US where thousands of illegal aliens cross into the US every day.

Most observers agree that the majority of those coming here illegally are coming here to find work and to send money home to Mexico. Estimates run around $14 billion per year in so called remittances by such laborers. It is often vigorously argued by everyone from President Bush down that these workers “do jobs that Americans won’t do� and that is partially true. American always performed menial labor, often for low wages, but the wages paid these immigrant slaves are too low even for many Americans who would like to take such work.

That is one aspect, but only one of several others. Another is the matter of certain businesses not having to mechanize some operations if there are slaves to do the job. This is likely widely true in agriculture, but extends to many other places as well.

Another reason our government has failed stems from not setting tough standards for worker identification and severe penalties for companies who hire illegal aliens. Business has for years demanded government allow open borders to keep labor cheap. At the same time, business is supporting with grants the ethnic lobbies such as LULAC and others, which scream racial epithets at anyone daring to call for less immigration. One punch at the LULAC web site (www.lulac.org) will give you the idea of how this works.

The most disconcerting point, however, is that recent intelligence discloses that al Qaida terrorists are the most like to enter here. The border patrol officials admit in that 2/21/05 AP article that “the 370-mile Arizona border is the most porous stretch on the U.S.-Mexico line. Moreover, recent intelligence show that al-Qaida terrorists are likely to enter the country through the Mexico border, James Loy, the deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department said last week.�

"Several al-Qaida leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico, and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons," according to James Loy, deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department in written testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

So here are a few among many frustrated American citizens who have long pleaded for help to stop illegal immigrants from traipsing into our country via their back yards. Group leader Jim Gilchrist says "We've been repeatedly accused of being people who are taking the law into our own hands," said Gilchrist, 56, of Aliso Viejo, Calif. "That is an outright bogus statement. We are going down there to assist law enforcement."

Gilchrist is certainly putting his troops in the right place. According to AP, “Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants caught by the U.S. Border Patrol last year, 51 percent crossed into the country at the Arizona border. While the number of agents has been upped from 1,700 to 2,100 over the last 18 months, there are still not enough according to Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner. About 10,000 federal agents now patrol the 2,000-mile southern border, he said.�

There could be trouble, as some of the Minuteman patrols plan to arm themselves during their 24-hour desert patrols. Most lack training in handling illegal border crossings. That they are there at all shows the intensity of feeling about the failure of our government to do its job.

Is this just a public relations grandstand play? Probably partly, but failing to get proper response from their elected officials certainly set the stage for this latest effort to curb crossings. It is indeed the largest such effort and perhaps could foreshadow other attempts by private citizens to protect their homeland. The Minutemen "clearly have every reason to be upset with the federal government for abandoning them," said National Border Patrol Council president T.J. Bonner, no relation to the commissioner. While Gilchrist has issued strict orders to only ID intruders and follow them, then alerting border officials, violence could occur. It could get very dangerous.

Isn’t this a sad pass to come to? Citizens so mad they feel they must act, while a crass uncaring government remains inattentive to their pleas. Someone is very likely to get killed, just as several regular US Border Patrol agents have already. When, oh when, will a totally fixable situation be addressed by our leaders? Answer, when enough voters show enough backbone to kick out those leaders who keep failing to “protect and defend� us as the Constitution states is their duty.

Collins, a DC free lance writer, often writes for the Dispatch on policy issues.