Please, President Bush, another soft-on-crime Beltway back-slapper won't do (Michelle Malkin)

Jewish Wordl Review ^ | August 20th, 2002 | Michelle Malkin

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Jewish World Review August 21, 2002 / 13 Elul, 5762

Michelle Malkin

	Please, President Bush, another soft-on-crime Beltway back-slapper won't do http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Good riddance to James Ziglar, the hopeless head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service who announced his resignation last week. This is a man whose main qualifications for the nation's top immigration enforcement job were his boyhood friendship with Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott and his effortless ability to suck up to Sen. Ted Kennedy. This is a man whose law enforcement background consisted of less than three years as the U.S. Senate's sergeant-at-arms and doorkeeper, protecting the Senate gavel and playing Senate hall monitor. This is a man who freely admitted before his confirmation that he had "no discernible experience in immigration law and policy." This is a man whose idea of increasing U.S.-Mexican border security was to give his beleaguered agents pepperball guns, and whose idea of leadership was to openly assure millions of illegal aliens earlier this spring that it is "not practical or reasonable" to deport them. Everyone knows the INS lacks the proper resources and manpower to do its job. But good grief, did we really need the nation's top immigration officer using his megaphone to advertise his own cluelessness and question the reasonableness of the laws he was supposed to enforce? But let's not be too hard on Ziglar. He didn't seek out the job. It was his elbow-rubbing pals who promoted his nomination, and it was President Bush who ultimately put him in power. Administration insiders are saying Ziglar wasn't pushed out. But when his impending departure is coupled with the recent "retirement" of the State Department's Consular Affairs chief, Mary Ryan-she was sacked after intrepid National Review reporter Joel Mowbray relentlessly blew the whistle on her office's terrorist-friendly visa policies-it seems on the surface that the Bush administration is finally getting rid of the pre-September 11 furniture and updating the bureaucratic front offices for the War on Terror. Whether or not the INS gets folded into the proposed Homeland Security Department, it needs top executives who understand that immigration in the post-September 11 era must be treated first and foremost as a national security issue-not as a politically correct entitlement, not as a social engineering experiment, not as a diplomatic tool, and not as a cash cow. The agency needs someone with: the dedication of Detroit-based Border Patrol officers Mark Hall and Robert Lindemann, who guard the northern border and, at risk of their own jobs, offered prescient warnings to Congress about the threat of terrorists and other criminal aliens exploiting lax immigration enforcement; the guts of Neil Jacobs, the former assistant director of investigations at INS's Dallas office, who suffered retaliation for helping expose the Clinton-Gore administration's corruption of the naturalization process; the foresight of Mary Schneider, a 20-year veteran of the INS in Orlando who warned a deaf Justice Department years before the September 11 attacks that aliens connected to Osama bin Laden were operating in Florida and illegally gaining residence; the wisdom of Bill King, a retired senior Border Patrol agent who knows the perils of granting mass amnesty to illegal aliens after having administered the 1986 amnesty program for the INS Western Region; and the administrative experience of Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney for San Diego who served under President Reagan and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement in the first Bush administration, acting as liaison on border issues between the INS, the U.S. Customs Service, and Drug Enforcement Agency. In short, Ziglar's replacement should be someone from the enforcement side of the trenches. Someone who has led by example and who will send a message to INS employees that their jobs-patrolling the border, tracking down immigration outlaws, and kicking them out of the country-are not only "practical" and "reasonable," but more important than ever during the War on Terror. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, warns wisely that perhaps we shouldn't hope too much: "After all, the State Department has nominated a clone to succeed Mary Ryan, and an important member of Ziglar's team remains dangerously in place: INS policy director Stuart Anderson, a libertarian ideologue who has crusaded tirelessly for years, in and out of government, for open borders." Please, President Bush, another soft-on-crime Beltway back-slapper won't do. Enjoy this writer's work? Why not sign-up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here. JWR contributor Michelle Malkin can be reached by clicking here. Michelle Malkin Archives © 2001, Creators Syndicate

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((((((growl)))))

[Shermy]

Hey, why not say it straight. He was put in to open the borders, reduce enforcement, and put an ideological face on legalization of millions. Short term profits were the concern. His appointment was not a "mistake."

[Sabertooth]

I'm constructing a special Michelle Malkin ping list.

Post to this thread if you'd like on or off (easier for me than Freepmail). Thanks.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

His appointment was not a "mistake."

And his replacement won't be a mistake either, a beltway hack. I wouldn't be suprised if Jack Kemp has already gotten the call.

[2Trievers]

"... immigration in the post-September 11 era must be treated first and foremost as a national security issue-not as a politically correct entitlement, not as a social engineering experiment, not as a diplomatic tool, and not as a cash cow. "

"... immigration in the post-September 11 era must be treated first and foremost as a national security issue-not as a politically correct entitlement, not as a social engineering experiment, not as a diplomatic tool, and not as a cash cow. "

"... immigration in the post-September 11 era must be treated first and foremost as a national security issue-not as a politically correct entitlement, not as a social engineering experiment, not as a diplomatic tool, and not as a cash cow. "

That bears repeating and repeating. Maybe someone in Washington will read it and act! &;-)

[Sabertooth]

Hey, why not say it straight. He was put in to open the borders, reduce enforcement, and put an ideological face on legalization of millions. Short term profits were the concern. His appointment was not a "mistake."

I'll tell you what... I'm going to give the President the benefit of the doubt for now.

His next appointment for INS Commissioner will be most telling of his true policies with regard to the security of our borders, the soverignty of our nation, and the respect for American rule of law.

If he appoints another Ziglar, you will have been proven right. But if the President appoints someone serious about his or her duties as INS Commissioner, I won't care about Ziglar or the motive for hiring him.

[Reagan Man]

>>>In short, Ziglar's replacement should be someone from the enforcement side of the trenches.

In short, that rules out Michelle Malkin. She has more brains and smarts then all those FReepers who have called for her to be nominated by PresBush to head the INS. A tough, no nonsense type of qualified government official is definitely needed to get control over the illegal immigration problem, that continues to make a mockery of our laws, while placing additional burdens on the nations infrastructure.

[Sabertooth]

A tough, no nonsense type of qualified government official is definitely needed to get control over the illegal immigration problem, that continues to make a mockery of our laws, while placing additional burdens on the nations infrastructure.

Come up with a name yet?

[Sabertooth]

"... immigration in the post-September 11 era must be treated first and foremost as a national security issue-not as a politically correct entitlement, not as a social engineering experiment, not as a diplomatic tool, and not as a cash cow. "

[Reaganwuzthebest]

I'll tell you what... I'm going to give the President the benefit of the doubt for now.

Bush is a nice guy, but when it comes to immigration he's exactly like his father. They both philosophically believe it's the best thing since sliced bread. Controlled immigration is good for the country, but this President supports the status-quo.

Even though you live in California, I want illegal immigration stopped and illegals deported as much as you do, but it's not going to happen under this man. Hope I'm wrong, and I'll admit it if I am, but Ziglar's replacement isn't going to do much more than his predecessor did other than look tougher. That's the way Bush wants it.

[rdb3]

Michelle Malkin shoots! She scores!

Did you expect anything less?

[goldstategop]

I'd love for Michelle to be right but I doubt it. Here in Kalifornistan, GrayDown has indicated he's willing to grant illegal aliens another public benefit - drivers' licenses at a time when the state should be taking away billions in benefits illegals are already receiving. We certainly don't need officials in public office for whom protecting America's borders and citizens isn't their first priority. Its high time for voters to send the political class of both parties a message on November 5th - we will no longer tolerate business as usual.

[Sabertooth]

Hope I'm wrong, and I'll admit it if I am, but Ziglar's replacement isn't going to do much more than his predecessor did other than look tougher.

Even with the uncertainty resulting from the incorporation of the INS into the Homeland Security Department, I don't think there's ever been a time when the so much was riding the appointment of a new Commisioner.

Let's hope the President does the right thing.

[janetgreen]

Put me on Michelle's ping list please. I sent this column to President Bush, hoping that others will do the same and that maybe it might get some attention. His choice for new INS chief will tell the story to many of us.

[nunya bidness]

Whomever gets the job should bolster the border patrol from the ranks of the ATF, IRS, DEA, ETC.

[Elkiejg]

Please add me to your Michelle ping list - she's great. I nominate Rudy G. for head of INS - wouldn't you just love to see him kick some illegal A**!!

[bat-boy]

At the risk of sounding like a male chauvenist pig....damn she looks hot. Beauty and brains. What a combo! I think I'm in love (uh..well lust anyway).

[Reagan Man]

Reagan was the best, but in the mid-80`s, he signed off on allowing some 3 million illegal immigrants to become American citizens. I highly doubt you will see President Bush make the same decision. Besides, 90% of American's oppose an across the board amnesty for illegals today.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Let's hope the President does the right thing...

He could start by putting the military on the border, even temporarily. Illegals continue to pour in by the thousands, the more that come in, the harder it becomes to deport them.