Posted on 06/12/2008 10:36:27 PM PDT by pissant
The open borders of the United States amount to a national security exposure. This is a fact that cannot be debated.
One has only to look at the number of foreign nationals attempting to illegally enter the U.S. through Mexico over the last several years.
Since 2005, the Department of Homeland Security reports that more than 331,000 people from countries other than Mexico have been apprehended trying to cross the Southern land border. These individuals came from virtually every country in the world, including some with whom we have an adversarial relationship, such as Communist China, Iran and North Korea.
These apprehensions as well as the approximate 3.1 million border arrests over the same period are the result of a U.S.-Mexico border that has been left wide open and largely unprotected against illegal entry. This vulnerability continues to be exploited by migrants and smugglers everyday and, until our borders are secure, we must anticipate that terrorists may eventually try entering the U.S. the same way.
In 2005, when testifying before Congress, then-Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security James Loy confirmed the seriousness of this threat. According to Mr. Loy, "Al Qaeda leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry for operational security reasons." He also added that intelligence "strongly suggests" terrorists have considered entering the United States through Mexico.
That same year, while visiting Mexico City, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, "We are quite aware that terrorists will try very hard" to use the border with Mexico to enter the United States. Miss Rice also acknowledged the fact that terrorists will continue trying to infiltrate the United States this way, and thus "we need to make certain that we keep working on this issue." I could not agree more. The threat created by our open borders, as well as many of the other problems that are attributable to illegal immigration, will only intensify until this exposure is closed.
While we have made some progress in recent years toward creating a more enforceable border, we still have a lot of work left to do. Moving forward, we must continue strengthening security through manpower, technology and infrastructure, including the most reliable and effective enforcement tool so far: border security fencing.
Much like many other areas of the border today, the land corridor that once existed between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, Calif., was for many years considered to be the most prolific and dangerous smuggling route in the nation. It was not until I wrote into law the construction of a double border fence that the drug smugglers and armed gangs lost control of this corridor and conditions on both sides of the border started to improve.
Since construction of the San Diego border fence started in 1996, the smuggling of people and narcotics in this area has decreased by more than 90 percent. Violent crime is down by 53 percent, according to FBI statistics, and vehicle drug drive-throughs have been eliminated altogether. There are also significantly fewer apprehensions in the San Diego sector due to fewer crossing attempts.
In Yuma, Ariz., where almost 30 miles of fencing has been completed to date, there have been similar results. In 2006, before the start of fence construction, there were 119,000 apprehensions in this sector. By the next year, once fence construction started, there were 81,000 fewer arrests.
Homeland Security is rightly building fence at other points along the border and reports it is on course to complete 370 miles by the end of this year. Given the effectiveness of fencing, as demonstrated in San Diego and Yuma, it is in our national interest to extend this infrastructure to other smuggling routes and heavily traveled areas of the border.
Our nation's security largely rests on the security of our borders. We know what we need to do. All we have to do is act.
It's beginning to appear that the American electorate really does want an aristocracy.
Hell no. And I AM going to actually vote FOR somebody for a change.
It is down to two choices for me, right now, at least. Both choices are pro-Border enforcement. One even had very nice things to say about The Minutemen the other day on national TV.
Nope. "Jug Ears" or "Scarface" do NOT get this American's vote this time around.
I never have understood why anyone doesn’t want to crackdown on illegal immigration from the Mexican border. For the libs, it seems like they don’t want to insult the Mexicans or something. But if you go to Mexico, they are always checking for illegal immigrants. If you’re traveling around the country on a bus, they have random checkpoints set up to check everyone’s papers. Not just at the border. Why should we be easier on the Mexicans than they are on us? I just don’t get it.
I don’t necessarily believe it is the American electorate. The American electorate has been dumbed down, add to that the MSM who controls what people see and hear. Duncan Hunter NEVER got the face time, it was Rudy and Romney. Besides that, I think the powers that be wanted McCain from the beginning. It is they who decide not us.
What ashame, I am sick to death over this election. I cannot stomach McCain and I would have crawled on broken glass to cast my vote for Duncan Hunter.
It has been almost seven years since 9/11, yet the borders remain unsecured and the 1996 US VISIT Program [to track and deport visa overstays] has not been fully implemented. If this country is hit again with another 9/11 scale attack and it is found that the perpetrators entered this country illegally thru the borders or overstaying their visas, then Bush needs to be impeached.
Bumping your post.
MSM seems to be the gatekeeper.
They made Obama what he is and hauled out a crash cart for Juan last summer.
Duncan Hunter hardly ever got face time and if he did, the fact that he was running for president was NEVER mentioned.
I’m still mad about it!
The Chamber of Commerce wants an endless supply of cheap, exploitable slave labor subsidized by the taxpayer. The Democrats want more voters to make them the permanent majority party. The Labor Union bosses want more union members. The Catholic Church wants to reinvigorate declining church attendance. La Raza wants to change the culture and nature of this country. The Mexican government wants to export the jobless to release pressure on their corrupt regime and to reap over $20 billion in funds being sent back by Mexicans working in the US. And no one knows how much influence the drug money buys on both sides of the border.
All of these factors are subverting the will of the American public. Congress is bought and paid for. Get it now?
..merci, mon ami...
BTT!
I am taking that post and will use it, with your permission, of course.
ping
Because Hillary sacrificed her nomination having her people cross over and vote in the Republican primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina. She took one for the team.
The Team is still in charge.
Okay, okay. I got it. Thanks.
He still is and he is a damn lier as well. He will never stop.
Little Juan spouted a load of crap about "learning his lesson" in regards to amnesty for illegal aliens and he was lying his azz off. The defeat of the amnesty bill was one of the biggest smackdown of politicians by the American public in history. But little Juan is right back on the side of the illegals AGAIN in his open support for amnesty.
After adjusting his immigration stance when his comprehensive immigration bill died last summer, John McCain, now with the Republican nomination in hand, has once again ruffled conservative feathers on the immigration issue by returning to the position that almost stopped his campaign dead in its tracks.
Mr. McCain joined California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week in supporting a "comprehensive" immigration plan that would address the problem "in a humane and compassionate fashion."
"Sen. [Edward] Kennedy and I tried very hard to get immigration reform, a comprehensive plan, through the Congress of the United States," Mr. McCain stated. "We must make it a top agenda item."
May 27, 2008
LINK
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