Posted on 06/27/2005 4:05:07 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) today urged the civilian "Minuteman" border patrol organization not to begin operation along the Texas-Mexico border in October as planned, expressing concern that the group's activities could do more harm than good.
"I would hope that everybody who is concerned about the porous nature of our borders would allow the federal government to act," Cornyn told 1200 WOAI news this morning.
The Minuteman action "may actually not help solve the problem but may create a new and additional problem," Cornyn said.
"So my preference would be to let the federal government do the job the federal government is supposed to do."
Cornyn said he is preparing to introduce a comprehensive immigration control measure along with Senator John Kyl (R-Arizona) next month. He said he hopes many of the measure included in that bill will address the concerns the Minutemen have been raising.
He said a budget measure set to be discussed this week is designed to take Homeland Security funding from other projects and move that money to boost security along the Texas-Mexico border.
"With our enemies exploiting our vulnerability to a porous border, it is important that we move on this issue."
Cornyn stressed that his proposal, which is expected to reach President Bush's desk by the end of the year, will not include an amnesty for people already in this country illegally.
"We need to deal with employer verification and employer responsibility. We need to give them the tools to determine whether an employee is legal to work in the United States. We need additional money for Border Patrol agents, and a new commitment to technology. But we also need to have a 'common sense and realistic' temporary worker program, which allows them to come into the U.S. and work legally, but then requires that they return to their home countries with the skills they learned and the money they earned in the United States," Cornyn said.
Cornyn said repeatedly that he feels the Minutemen have brought attention to problems along the border, and he understands their frustration with a lack of border controls. But he doesn't think putting untrained civilians along the increasingly dangerous border is the right way to handle the problem.
"What I worry about is if civilians step in, there will be an unexpected conflict, there will be some incident where somebody could get hurt."
He cited the danger posed by drug traffickers, traffickers in illegal immigrants, and violent syndicates like the MS-13 organization.
The Arizona based Minutemen group announced plans last week for four chapter in Texas to begin patrolling the Texas-Mexico border in October, possibly as part of a larger effort to string civilian patrols from San Diego in the west to Brownsville in the east.
But since then, groups have emerged in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and elsewhere dedicated to opposing the Minutemen's efforts, causing the issue to become politically charged.
"It's interesting to read Tom's explanation of why he ran in the first place. Rather startling.
It had to do with a guy he saw on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol in 1975, ranting about Aztlan in both Spanish and English. The guy had the usual uniform of the day, levi's, t-shirt with slogans, long hair, etc. Basically a Chicano Separatist. Apparently listening to this idiot bugged Tancredo enough with what he was saying that he decided he was going to do something about it, and started getting involved with politics. First at the local level, then later federal.
The punch line is that the guy he saw ranting went on to become well known in his own right. His name was Federico Pena, and after they cleaned him up, he was elected Mayor of Denver, and later Secretary of Transportation by Bill Clinton. They also named the airport in Denver after him."
Charming, huh?
Wow!
Thanks for that piece of information, I never knew that.
Ciao.
And I'm sure you tried your best to say this with as straight a face as you could manage.
Then DO IT!!!! Not another penny, not another vote for ANY Republican (well, maybe Tancredo), until our borders are secure, illegals are deported when found in this Country and businesses are prosecuted for hiring them.
1. if confrontations result between the minutemen and the mexican activists.
2. if the liberal tv covers it.
we cannot win.
why, do you think the president of the united states is going on tv tonight? to attempt to undo the tv erosion of the iraq war.
everyday liberal tv, and even the yahoo and other internet hosts, push the negatives of iraq to the top.
the result is a gradual, predictable erosion. cbs didn't even mention durbin's outrageous comments. why? it's payback time from liberal tv to president bush for winning the duel with dan rather.
they did this to us in vietnam. they know what they're doing.
Open Response to Cornyn...
No. We'd like the government to act, but since it won't, and America is still supposed to be a government by of and for the people, it is the people's duty to act, and organized as the minuiteman project, only it acting would have the legitimacy of the will of the people, because it wouldn't be done if it wasn't seen as reflecting the will of the people necessarily if the government acted when it has refused to for so long..
My assessment. Your mileage may vary.
Keeping in mind that we Texans are very conservative bunch, Barry Goldwater would have probably only rated a couple points higher than Cornyn. Cornyn may not be rock-ribbed like a Tom Delay, but he is a solid conservative. Like every hired hand we send to DeeCee, he won't be with us 100% of the time, but I'll stand by my opinion until I've seen reliable evidence to the contrary. One caveat: Of all the issues he could be ranked/rated on, immigration may be his weakest.
FGS
"The conflict has already started - you just can't see it from your front porch yet."
Could be because I target practice from my front porch!
:~)
I agree. If there was ever a need for a contemporary militia, it's this situation.
This indicates your lack of grasp of the facts. Vietnam (and Iraq) being a war was easy to turn public opinion against. The media's attempt to turn public opinion against the MM in Arizona and New Mexico backfired in a big way. Why? Because all attention directed to immigration, whether legal or illegal, garners much anger from the public. The American people are against ALL immigration, without exception. Polling data indicate 88% against illegal immigration, and 69% against immigration in general.
Any attention we get works in our favor, and leftist demonstrators attacking citizens protecting our borders will boost our cause best.
Good luck, I've sent him umteen faxes thru NumbersUSA.com and have yet to receive any response from him.
While you're at it you might ask him about this from his website:
The following is from the PDF file on his site.
Expanded access to healthcare services for children, pregnant women, undocumented immigrants, in rural areas and other underserved communities
Support funds for 1200 new or expanded Community Health Centers over five years, including 170 centers in 2003, which will provide services to a million more patients.
Ensure that Texas receives its fair share of Community Health Center funds. Texas accounts for 11% of the nation's uninsured but gets only 6% of the program's funds.
Expand the National Health Services Corps to hire and train bilingual, professional health "promotoras" to go door-to-door in underserved areas. The program would also include scholarships and loan assistance to encourage doctors, nurses, dentists, and mental health clinicians to practice in under-served communities. Cornyn also supports exempting loan repayment under the program from federal income tax.
Support federal legislation, including a revised and extended Welfare Reform Act, to allow states and localities to remove restrictions on what healthcare services can be provided to illegal immigrants with federal funds, thereby expanding immigrants access to primary and preventive care.
Ah, right, got it. Someone disagrees with you so you sneak in a jab that they must be potheads. You're a class act.
wrong.
if what you say is true, then why is the president addressing the nation tonight? answer:
the liberal media has painted the iraq war negatively, and the president's poll numbers are down.
Actually, what sprang to my mind upon reading your posts was the 'quality' of the opposition in AZ, and the likelihood that little will change in that regard in TX. I'm sure you can find lots of libs to march with you in Austin, for example.
I find it interesting that you take offense at my joke about potheads, but pass right on by my reference to the fact that the Minutemens' primary opponents in AZ were ACLU types.
Oh well...
Well I hate to dissapoint you, but I don't use drugs, and I don't belong to, nor do I support the ACLU. Then again, neither does President Bush, Governor Perry, or Senator Cornyn, all of which suprisingly enough seem to share my view. Somehow, in company like that, I don't think you're ACLU charge is going to stick any better than the one about smoking "doobs".
Angry thread bump.
Hell Yes.....
Damned Angry that the folks I paid good money to get elected have their heads up their butts on this paramount issue
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