[nathanbedford]

Bayourod,

We have disagreed for some time now on whether immigration policy and immigration enforcement policy are good for America.
We have no disagreement on the good effects of diligence and attitude.

I understand that Gingrich has come very close to harshly criticizing the administration for it fecklessness on our souther border. I think Newt is so distressed with Bush that he is willing to make common cause with Hillary on this issue. This is either a symptom of Newt's treachery or an indication of his concern that our open border leaves us vulnerable to atomic terrorist attack driven here from Mexico, as has been warned about by the CIA director recently. It is appalling that either ideology or fear of accusations of racism have brought us tho the point where our immigration enforcement policy has opened a threat of mass murder in America.

[bayourod]

When you hear someone mention the danger of a nuclear weapon being driven across the border what does your mind envision? A Hummer traversing an isolated part of the desert at night or an eighteen wheeler crossing the international bridge at El Paso?

An atomic weapon would weigh several tons and would be extremely difficult to smuggle from Syria or Estonia to El Paso.

Our government has concentrated on stopping the smuggling of a nuclear bomb at its source, at ports in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East; at ports in South and Central America; at the Southern border of Mexico and finally at our own border. We even board ships headed toward Mexican ports.

At most official crossing points we have installed x-ray equipment and equipment that can detect nuclear particles. To protect our border between official crossing points we have areal surveillance (manned, unmanned and satellite) and ground sensors.

But most of the people complaining about nukes crossing the Mexican border really aren't concerned about nukes, they really just want to keep Mexican laborers from crossing. But the way you prevent nukes from reaching the U.S. is different than the way you stop Mexican laborers.

The fact that millions of Mexican laborers can climb over mountains, swim rivers, and trek across desserts does not mean that an eighteen wheeler can get across unnoticed.

The biggest threat of a nuclear weapon crossing the southern border is corrupt border guards. I've heard that corruption is very common regarding drug smuggling and human smuggling, but I would hope no set of guards would conspire to allow a nuke to pass through.