The defenders of our borders, especially the southern border, have been given an almost impossible job....stop the influx of invaders,drug smugglers, coyotes (people smugglers), and potential terrorists. They are largely unsung heroes and do not themselves often speak out about their dangerous careers.
However, conditions have become so bad, Edward Tuffly II, President, Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council, has written a letter to Senator Jon Kyl, lead Republican negotiator of the amnesty bill now being debated in the Senate. Along with many supporters of the senator, Local 2544 was surprised to learn that he had told them one thing to get their support for his recent election, but is now doing the opposite, once he has been safely re-elected. Mr. Tuffly wrote:
“Local 2544, now representing about 2,600 Border Patrol agents in Arizona, endorsed your Senate bid last year with the CLEAR understanding that you would not support amnesty for illegal aliens. We feel we have been sold out.
As we learned from the 1986 amnesty debacle, the simple fact of the matter is that amnesty does not work. It simply rewards lawlessness, which naturally encourages more lawlessness. In this case, it will encourage continued massive illegal immigration. History proves this. We legalized approximately 3 million illegal aliens pursuant to the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, and now, 20 years later, we’re looking at legalizing 12 to 20 million more?
…..Why is it that some politicians naively think that telling a class of people it is acceptable to ignore our current laws will encourage that same class of people to obey future laws? Border Patrol agents successfully exposing corruption after the implementation of the 1986 amnesty program were admonished and ordered to ‘stand down’. (I was one of those so ordered.) We were told that anyone who had applied for, or indicated that they were going to apply for amnesty, was not to be questioned.”
Perhaps the question about politicians making naïve assumptions can be answered by the fact that they do not have to live among the “common” people who are adversely affected by the lawlessness they ignore. Most of them are millionaires and can afford to live in gated, well protected communities. They can afford to ignore the blunt statistics as stated in the INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants for the 2006 (First Quarter).
In Senator Kyl’s own state of Arizona:
83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.
63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.
40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
In the southern states of California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, statistics show:
75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.
24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by illegal aliens or “transport coyotes”.
50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border. (In the amnesty bill before the Senate right now, these gang members would be given amnesty and forgiveness if they renounced their membership in the gangs. What a deal.)
Overall, 29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 Billion annually.
It is highly unlikely that the senators who think amnesty is a good thing for these criminals will ever have to brush elbows with them. They move in rarified circles, traveling in limos and private planes. They are senators McCain, Kennedy, Kyl, Martinez and Lindsey Graham, joined by most in the Democrat party. Certainly the likes of Pelosi in the House, (who insisted on special airline arrangements so she could take family and friends along), and multi-millionaires such as Senators Feinstein and Schumer, will not have to come up against the “common” folk. They can well afford their own protection.
Chances are they will not come into contact with these people:
47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.
66% of the cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66%, 98% are illegal aliens.
However, the first line of defense on our southern border is the Border Patrol, whose salaries are not great and who risk their lives each day they go out to protect the citizens of the country. They run into people who will do almost anything to get across the border. When they do their jobs, certain of them, such as Agents Ramos and Compean, are prosecuted for doing what they have always done, trying to stop a drug dealer from making his drop. Not only are the agents in danger from the illegals, they face being prosecuted on orders from as high up as the Attorney General of the U.S., Alberto Gonzalez.
Edward Tuffly continues:
“Aside from this bill being bad public policy, astronomically expensive for the taxpayers, and bad for this country’s security, I want to assure you that amnesty is a tremendous morale breaker for frontline Border Patrol agents who are trying to secure this nation’s borders against all odds, and at an ever-increasing risk of personal harm. We would like any politician, just once, to explain to us why we risk our lives to keep people out of this country, when the same people we are trying to keep out will be legalized anyway after they get by us. And again, let’s be clear, most of them do get by us. We are basically destined to fail before we ever get started.
….The real problem is that our leaders’ willpower is broken. We aren’t allowed to enforce our laws properly. The country of Mexico is broken. It needs to be fixed by the citizens it victimizes. Rather than fix the corrupt system they live in, the Mexican government chooses to export their poverty problems to the United States. It’s simple, and they should be held accountable instead of being coddled, rewarded, and empowered to continue the abuse of their own citizens.
…….This new amnesty scheme simply will not work. We have already seen the chest thumping and the empty promises of ‘tough enforcement’ that is supposed to make amnesty more palatable to Americans. Unfortunately, reality and history dictate that these measures are long on amnesty, short on enforcement, and ultimately, bad for the American people.”
Perhaps if representatives of those on the line, the Border Patrol agents heard from here, were allowed to be part of the amnesty bill in the Senate, some sanity would have reigned. As it was, groups such as La Raza (The Race), MECHA (which advocates solely for one race), the ACLU, and several big business reps were allowed to help form the giveaway bill we now see emerging. (It has been reported that the Mexican government was represented, also.)
It is difficult to be betrayed in so blatant a manner as Senator Kyl has been found to have done, by making explicit promises before an election and breaking them afterwards. Also, Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, speaking before an awards function for La Raza, remarked that “we’re gonna tell the bigots to shut up”. Since South Carolinians are part of the makeup of the voters in national polls that say over 80% of American citizens do not want amnesty, they may not be happy to be called bigots by their own senator.
Some people’s interests will be served by the amnesty bill before the Senate. Some people are being represented. Are you?
Barbara regularly writes for CapitolHillCoffeeHouse. She also appears in California Chronicle, Border Patrol, and Citizens Caucus. Her primary interest is illegal immigration, but she writes about other subjects as well.
Barbara lives in a large city on the West Coast. Her loyalties are with God, family, country, heritage and borders.
She enjoys music, painting, poetry and song writing.
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