The state of the borders 2003 (Michelle Malkin)

Townhall.com ^ | January 24th, 2003 | Michelle Malkin

[Sabertooth]

Michelle Malkin (archive)

January 24, 2003

The state of the borders 2003

Prediction: On one of the most pressing homeland security issues facing the nation, President Bush will have nothing -- nada -- to say during his State of the Union address.

I am talking, of course, about the state of our borders.

The Bush White House remains shamefully silent about the brutal murder of U.S. Park Ranger Kris Eggle. This 28-year-old American was gunned down last summer by an AK-47-toting illegal alien drug smuggler who waltzed across the southern border into Arizona's Organ Pipe National Monument.

According to the Park Service, as many as 1,000 illegal aliens a day trample across the park -- trashing our fences, ruining the environment, breaking our laws and endangering lives. It's a smugglers' paradise and a national security nightmare. "We have caught people from China, Pakistan and Yemen coming through," Bo Stone, an Organ Pipe ranger and close friend of Eggle's, told the Los Angeles Times this week.

"If 1,000 illegal immigrants can walk through the desert here, so can 1,000 terrorists."

Kris's father, Bob, a Vietnam veteran, told me last fall on a trip to Washington, D.C.: "I gave an eye for one war. Now, I've given my son for another. What is our president going to do about the war on our borders?"

Despite recent press coverage from the L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic magazine and Outside magazine, the Eggle family still has received no phone call, no acknowledgement, from the Bush White House in response to their call for border reform and serious enforcement of our laws.

Bob Eggle noted at a press conference in October: "The Mexico-American border is in chaos and is virtually a non-border. I have been involved there as a volunteer for the National Park Service and attempted to repair the border fence, only to have it knocked down again a couple of hours later. That non-border contributed to Kris's death."

The story is the same on the northern border, where just last week two reporters for the Toronto Star illegally crossed a dozen easy entry points between the land boundaries that separate Quebec from Vermont and New York state. Mangled fences and battered stop signs spraypainted with "U.S.A." are all that stand in the way.

"After September 11th, we all need to be concerned about border security and how easy it is to get in this country," Bob Eggle says. "Kris's death needs to bring about reform. We have to make his sacrifice meaningful."

Peter Gadiel, a lifelong Republican from Connecticut, is on a similar crusade to get his president to address illegal immigration as a national security issue. He, too, lost a son because of the government's lax border and entrance enforcement policies. James Gadiel, 23, died in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. He was an assistant trader at Cantor Fitzgerald.

"When you have 8 to 11 million illegal immigrants living here in the U.S, it's hard to notice 18 or 20 terrorists," Peter Gadiel argues. It is that ocean of illegals that "allowed the hijackers to plan, rehearse, finance and carry out their mass murders over a long period of time, almost completely free of fear that they would be discovered."

Some 300,000 illegal alien fugitives remain on the loose despite deportation orders. There is still no systematic tracking of criminal alien felons across the country. Sanctuary for illegal aliens remains the policy in almost every major metropolis. Banks and local governments continue to accept sham Mexican ID cards to "regularize" the existence of alien lawbreakers. And "catch and release" remains standard operating procedure for untold thousands of illegal aliens who pass through the fingers of federal immigration authorities every day.

Nevertheless, the Republican Party elites in Washington continue to turn a blind eye. As grass-roots conservative stalwart Phyllis Schlafly has noted, the Republican National Committee's mail-order surveys on important national issues omit immigration and border security. Meanwhile, the White House refuses to meet with the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, led by Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

"The simple truth is that we've lost control of our own borders," Ronald Reagan warned nearly two decades ago, "and no nation can do that and survive." We ignore America's lost sovereignty at our peril.

©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

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[Uncle Bill]

READ THESE QUOTES

"We're not looking for individuals of any particular religion or from any particular country."
FBI Director Robert Mueller - SOURCE

[Marine Inspector]

Canadian border has a lot of holes in it.

Yes it does, it also has about 1/20th of the traffic that southern border has.

Are they as rigorous there as BP is down south?

Yes they are.

Last time I went to Canada, they just looked at my birth certificate and that was it.

If you entered legally at a Port of Entry, then you did not encounter the Border Patrol. You would have spoken to an Inspector.

By law, you don't even need a birth certificate, if you are a US citizen. A US citizen only needs to make a verbal declaration of citizenship. On the other hand, the law also states that the burden of proof is on you.

I inspect approximately 200 people each day, I spend no more than 5 to 10 seconds with a US citizen.

[taxed2death]

Just a short note of thanks to you. Thanks for doing your job to the best of your ability. I've only been a Freeper for a little while and consider our border policy the cornerstone of "Homeland Security". When I first came on this BB I blasted away at the BP agents etc, but thanks to your insightful facts presented here and on many other threads you straightened me out right quick as to where the responsibility / blame lies.

Once again, just a simple thanks.

[babylonian]

Welcome to reality! There are some of us here who have been trying to tell the braindead for years that when it comes to destroying America, THEY'RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER! The only difference between Clinton and Bush is the zipper.

[Marine Inspector]

Your welcome and thank you for your kind words.

[cyborg]

Thanks for the information. All I remember of Canada was that the train stations were REALLY quiet and clean.

[Uncle Bill]

IMMIGRATION FEES TO DROP

[Nephi]

But what's the answer? There are a gazillion miles of border. Has anyone come up with a cost effective, workable solution?

Are you proposing congressional study in order to figure out how to enforce our borders before we do anything?

A good example of a workable solution is the one being demonstrated by Chris Simcox and his organization. First, he is actually doing something and second, the mere presence of his people is having an affect.

[Pipe Dog]

There are some of us here who have been trying to tell the braindead for years that when it comes to destroying America, THEY'RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER!

Says a lot about Homeland Security and the Patriot Act doesn't it?
Subversion of the Constitution is all this crap is. America, is in BIG trouble my friend(s).

Disclaimer: Above statements are strictly the opinion of the poster and not to be misconstrued with any documented factual evidence. In the event you feel that factual proof or documented evidence of said opinion is warranted, please e-mail your formal request to the following; idrgarawuw@\fle13.ctrlaltdelte

[babylonian]

It's nice to know you get it.

[Crusader21stCentury]

A few AC-130s would do the job, and you would only need to use them once maybe twice to get the message across.

[TruthNtegrity]

Put me on your ping list, please.

I ate in a Wendy's in Harrisonburg, VA, yesterday - mostly Hispanic behind the counter. The guy trying to fill my salad order didn't understand enough English - probably crossed the border last week.

I am SO angry at our open borders. I so fear that the next group of terrorists will have just walked across our Mexican or Canadian borders.

I continue to pray that Pres. Bush "gets it" and starts to do something about the illegal immigration before something awful happens.