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

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

[Sabertooth]

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

[Marine Inspector]

How about it, MI? Any other names being tossed around by the agents themselves?

Not yet. Unfortunately, those of us in my office are inclined to think that a "Ziglar part 2" will be the pick.

Personally, I'll take Michelle.

[4Freedom]

The black vote was what was in play. They're the biggest losers in jobs and lowered wages as a result of all of this massive, unregulated legal and illegal immigration.

From what I've read, Mexicans and Canadians that file U.S. tax returns are able to claim so many dependents back home that they literally pay no taxes.

Anytime they want a tax cut they can just invent another dependent back in Canada or Mexico.

They're Christian. What's that mean? Did they outlaw prostitution in Mexico when I wasn't looking? All the red light districts are gone?

Mexicans have one of the highest rates of unwed motherhood in the country. They are extremely addicted to welfare. Do you believe that these unwed, welfare mothers are going to vote for your tax cut, so that they have to go out and work?

IMO, the Hispanics are going to expect more social programs, amnesty, open borders, etc., etc. in return for any votes that materialize.

Are you ready for Bush to give them that?

[BOBTHENAILER]

But even so I still think it's important to separate legal from illegal as well as control the borders. If we don't do it now, we never will.

I couldn't agree more. The illegals would be more subject to RAT propaganda and would vote that way, illegally.

The only distinction I would make here, is the hearts and minds are being won and I think we'll see it in the voting booth.

We've got way too many priorities out there to alienate each other over immigration. That ought to be a no-brainer. I hope that Ziglar's departure (firing, IMHO) will give Bush the impetous to find a proper candidate to run the agency with vigor. Judging by her articles, I think Malkin could do it.

[BOBTHENAILER]

The black vote was what was in play. They're the biggest losers in jobs and lowered wages as a result of all of this massive, unregulated legal and illegal immigration.

Give me a break. When did you last look at the percentage that voted for Gore or Hillary.

As to hispanics, I can see that your mind is locked tight and shut so I really see no point whatsoever in continuing anything along those lines with you.

Rip, rail, and throw mud at Bush all you want but you'll never see a better candidate come along for a while and if you think otherwise you're dreaming.

[Frohickey]

I could see Bob Barr as INS chief.

[4Freedom]

"Rip, rail and throw mud..."

I did't do anything of the kind. I gave you a reasoned response to your post.

I'm just trying to tell you that an endorsement by the Hispanics you're talking about is as thrilling as an endorsement by the Communist Party.

Wait'll it comes time for the Republicans to deliver, after the elections. Then we'll find out how socially and fiscally conservative these new constituents are.

[Reagan Man]

>>>I could see Bob Barr as INS chief.

Something tells me, that will never happen. =^)

[Mr. Mulliner]

Yeah, I'd like to be on the Michelle Malkin ping list.

And please put me on your baseball ping list (and remove Singapore_Yank from same).

Thanks!

[Barnacle]

Where are you going with this post?

&;^)

[Travis McGee]

bttt

[Snow Bunny]

Bunny Bump!!!

[Sabertooth]

Bunny Bump!!!

I thought bunnies jumped.

[Snow Bunny]

OH yesssss we jump and bump and do all kinds of things. heh heh

[doglot]

Didn't Rudy just have to pay Donna Hannover (Mrs. Giuliani) several million dollars up front, child support, etc. because he got caught ministering to the help just like another politician of the Democratic party? Didn't he have to get his honey out of Gracey Mansion by legal force?

Yes, I believe he did! /sarcasm

[Pelham]

That is a truly horrible thought. And may well be true.

[Pelham]

The problem is the policy is set at the top. Until Dubya changes his mind nothing is going to change.

[Brownie74]

....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.

Thats the way I see it. Bush wants an amnesty and he can't afford to put a Tom Tancredo type person in as head of INS. I wish he would but he won't.

Keep the MM pings coming.

[4Freedom]

"...he can't afford to put a Tom Tancredo person in as head of the INS."

Bush is going to find out that he can't afford not to.

[4Freedom]

You're right, Michelle lacks experience in government, but she does have a good command of the legal and illegal immigration problem facing this country.

You're completely ignoring the other aspects of the competition for this job. She'll completely obliterate the other candidates in the evening gown and swimming suit categories. ;^)

[Reaganwuzthebest]

If Bush puts a Tom Tancredo in to head the INS, I'll eat my socks. Since they don't appear to be too appetizing, that can be said with confidence he's not going to do it.

But if he does...I got the salt and pepper handy.