We don't have a secure border [including tracking down and deporting visa overstays.] I am not referring to individual actions. It is about policy in a macro sense. Why aren't our borders secure? Where did you come up with that phony strawman about individual border agents?
I think the point is that the man at the top sets the tone. Local law enforcement agents have been actively discouraged by Homeland Security from enforcing anti-illegal immigration laws (there have been reports of this from L.A.). And what is the Federal government doing to protect the border control agents who are trying to do their jobs?
The unwritten policy is not to enforce the laws too strictly, if at all. The border agent, by adopting a permissive approach, was just following what he thought his superiors wanted him to do. Conflicting messages are being sent out by management - make a big show to appease the populace by conducting some high-profile raids, then quietly release the people that were rounded up, back into the locality. This way, management can blame the guy at the bottom, when something bad happens that becomes public; and at the same time quietly indicate to their underlings that if they expect to be promoted, they'd be wise not to crack down too forcibly. Good way for management to evade culpability - happens all too frequently in government and business, I'm sorry to say.
Snugs...luv ya but you are wrong about the flow of responsibility. Harry Truman even had a sign on his desk... The buck stops here http://www.ustravelphotos.com/Missouri/images/MO%2001P%20Truman%20Library9.jpg
The President is the operating officer of government in our system. Progress, or lack thereof, on the border fence is his responsibility.
