May 12, 2006
As the U.S. Senate fiddles while the illegal immigration issue burns, President Bush was appeasing the poll gods with feigned interest in securing our borders using the National Guard. The idea of placing our military on the border frightens some while it infuriates others. Coyote Republicans like Chuck Hagel of Nebraska told ABC's ‘This Week' program, “That's not the role of our military.” If the role of our military is not to protect us from foreign invasion then what, pray tell, does Senator Hagel think our military is for? Serving soup in third world countries?
Hagel is not alone in his hesitation to use the military on the border. His hesitation, no doubt, comes from his overall soft stance on the illegal immigration issue. However, this fear of involving the military in enforcement matters stems all the way back to the aftermath of the Civil War. Back then, Union troops took advantage of their power over the former Confederate citizens and tried to butt in on elections. Contrary to popular myth, the use of the military in police action is not unconstitutional. The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878 and allows the military to be used in police action with direction from Congress. But enforcing our borders is much more than a police action. It's exactly what our military was designed to do.
Think about it in this way. There are an estimated 12 to 20 million illegals in this country. Most of them have come since the late 1980s. Had they all come at once, what would you call that? An invasion. Just because they spread the invasion out over 15 or 20 years makes it no less an invasion. What is our military's primary responsibility? It's to protect our country from invasion. The military will have its guns pointed outward, not inward. Pointed at invaders, not ordinary citizens.
Mexican President Vicente Fox raised concerns about President Bush's recent overture but with a wink and a nod our president assured him it was only temporary. Yes, only temporary until the public is fooled into thinking he's actually doing something about the problem. Or worse, it's just lip service to try and keep this pot from boiling over before the mid-term elections.
Here's what I've long called for as a solution to patrolling our borders. We should use the desert of the Southwest to train our National Guard. Most of the hot spots in the world where they might be deployed are in or near the desert. Any and all regular army personnel who are being pulled out of Iraq should be assigned to the border.
We also must stop this nonsense of tipping off the Mexican government to the whereabouts of groups like the Minutemen. When I first read that story my blood boiled. Here we have ordinary citizens heeding the call from the president to be vigilant and our own Border Patrol has been providing the Mexican authorities with the positions of the Minutemen so that coyotes, drug-runners and other invaders can find soft spots in the border miles away. Anyone who assists a foreign government or entity in gaining entry into this country illegally should be treated as what they are – an enemy of the state.
Between the corruption of the Mexican officials and the lackadaisical attitude of our own officials it's a wonder we don't have 50 million illegal aliens here. It's also a wonder we haven't been blown off the face of the earth. Use the military. Use whatever constitutional means are necessary but secure that border . . . before it's too late.