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The notion that Bush wants to do anything stop illegal immigration is fantasy. He has had five years to deal with the problem, and he has done nothing, unless you count bleating about how "family values don't stop at the Rio Grande" and about the need to import millions to do "jobs Americans won't do" as doing something.

What Bush wants is the abomination passed yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee; the White House will push for all the tough provisions in the House bill to be deep-sixed when the House and Senate bills are reconciled in conference.

"The notion that Bush wants to do anything stop illegal immigration is fantasy. He has had five years to deal with the problem, and he has done nothing..."

No one who has paid any attention to the facts would claim that he's done nothing with a straight face.

I just spent 9 days along the U.S. - Mexico border, including 2 days around Playa de Tijuana and Tijuana itself. Unlike what you'd see 5 years ago, you don't see hordes of illegals running and swimming across the border. You *do* see U.S. border patrols, U.S. Coast Guard ship patrols, helicopter patrols, and a big steel fence that GWB built after 9/11.

Now granted, this increased border security probably isn't perfect, but it irritates me that people are claiming that we've "done nothing" or that our borders are still "wide open" and other such nonsense.

Yes, there are remote desert areas where environmental groups have successfully sued the Bush Administration in order to slow the construction of the steel fence. Yes, those remote areas *are* passable on foot (but you'd better bring a bunch of water and be prepared to hike for miles) for now. So clearly more needs to be done.

But we also have to give credit where it is due, and there has been substantial progress on border security in the last 3 years, contrary to the people who keep writing articles based on pre-9/11 information.

Once easy, Illegal Immigration Now Risky:President Bush Builds 12 ft Tall Steel Fence Along Mexican Border From The Pacific Into Arizona, Plus Around Major Populated Areas In Arizona and Texas

Illegals Deported By The Planeload Now

"The president cited a 66 percent increase in border-security funding since he took office, along with a 42 percent increase in interior-enforcement spending and a total of 6 million illegal aliens caught and returned home." http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20060326-123457-5749r

DHS Announces CBP Border Patrol Agent Deployment Schedule
Washington, D.C. – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced today the fiscal year 2006 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agent deployment schedule. In a significant increase in personnel, an additional 1,700 CBP Border Patrol agents will be assigned to the southwest border.
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/press_releases/archives/2005_press_releases/0122005/12072005.xml