August 19, 2013
Dick Baynton
The Roanoke Star

Reports indicate that the Otay border crossing with Mexico just south of San Diego was swamped with immigrants seeking asylum recently. These people from Mexico and perhaps other Central and South American countries used a ‘secret’ word or expression that allowed their entry into the U.S. pending a review of their claims of ‘credible fear of drug cartels. ’Pete Nunez, a former U.S. Attorney and immigration expert was quoted as saying, “This will swamp the system.”

According to news reports, many of these refugees (Refugiados) were put up in $99 rooms at nearby hotels while Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel were the security detail for the asylum candidates. Others were released to locations in cities located in states as distant as Texas, Florida and New York.

Testifying at a congressional hearing, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Associate Director Joseph Langlois said they were expecting 28,600 refugees seeking asylum by September 30, the end of the current fiscal year. However, an observer suggested that if the secret word is ‘asylum’ and is used by a mere 200 daily, the number of asylum seekers could reach 73,000 a year. In the 2009 budget year, just 5,369 were reported to have sought refuge.

While the government claims that there are about 11 million illegal aliens (undocumented guest workers) in this country, other estimates span from 7 million to more than 20 million. According to an article in the Christian Science Monitor, 400,000 illegals were deported in fiscal 2012. Of that number, 55% or about 220,000 were convicted criminals. U.S. Border Patrol officers apprehended nearly 365,000 attempting illegal entry and seized 4.2 million pounds of narcotics in 2012.

Perhaps many foreigners crossing the border legally or illegally have heard about the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP). The USDA, working with the Mexican government is promoting SNAP printed in Spanish and distributed to 50 Mexican Consular offices in the USA. As Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) says, guest workers and immigrants should be self-sufficient/independent when they are admitted and working here.

Our legislators and government officials continue their inexhaustible debate about immigration, each party trying to trump the other’s moral and legal imperatives. Regardless of the outcome of the immigration debates, here are two examples of the shameful priorities our government displays about allowing refuge for foreigners.

Dr. Shakil Afridi, the Pakistani who provided critical evidence about Osama bin Laden’s identity has been given a sentence of 33 years in prison in his homeland. It is incomprehensible to believe that the State Department in association with the CIA would not have unfurled the red tape to get this man to the USA as a refugee before being picked up by terrorists and convicted by a tribal court.

Sgt. Dakota Meyer, USMC, received the Congressional Medal of Honor resulting from his heroics in the battle of Ganjgal, Kunar Province, Afghanistan in 2009. His friend and interpreter, an Afghani national helped Meyer during this vicious ambush by killing several Taliban fighters and helped carry out the bodies of lifeless marines. In spite of the support of a USMC general, other officers and enlisted men, the U.S. Department of State has withheld the application for a visa for this brave man for four years. Bing West, co-author of a book with Sgt. Meyer says, “For four years, he has avoided assassination. But eventually his luck will run out…we have turned our back on him.”

All the while the President is playing golf under the protection of the Secret Service in Martha’s Vineyard. Members of Congress are on vacation and schmoozing in their home districts. The news media is fixating on a rodeo clown in Missouri wearing an Obama mask and Oprah’s claim that she was disrespected in Switzerland.

Our imperious bureaucratic politicians are betray the trust of the people who trusted us.

http://theroanokestar.com/2013/08/19...ration-reform/