Border Voter

A modest contribution to President Bush’s call for a Good Faith, civil and reasoned debateon Illegal Immigration

 

There is unity among Americans on one point:

Our Borders are broken. There are two answers:

1. Fix it.

2. Fuhgetabout it.

 

One answer attacks the problem.

The other embraces it. Or pretends it doesn’t matter.

On one side is near-unanimous American public opinion;

on the other is a small, elite cabal of liberal media, political power seekers, La Raza ‘Reconquistadores’, gooey gum-drop, non-sensical ‘moralist preeners’, and craven migration profiteers.

 

The losers are the many who watch their personal and national security, dignity of labor and common culture dissipate daily before their very eyes. Also losers are those cruelly enticed souls who die in the merciless desert of thirst and the grit of cynical neglect as they seek ‘jobs no one else would do”… Perhaps the saddest category is the last.

 

The newspaper’s banner headline read: “Fox pledges more Border control”.

It might as well have read, “B’rer Fox pledges closer care of the chickens.”

No Foxes are necessary to fix our Border, thank you, Senor Fox. You and your endemically corrupt government and Federales are acting more like a problem than a solution.

 

Neither helpful are Dependency Class Democrats (DCD’s) nor Peon Labor Republicans (PLR’s). DCDs and PLRs have together more in common with the Rabi Blanco “White Tailed Pheasant’ elite ruling Familias below the Border than they do with middle class Notre Americanos above it.

 

DCDs intentionally build ever larger and culturally disconnected classes of semi-citizens to acquire and retain political power; the PLR’s toast migrant-picked grape wine in crystal flutes to underclass labor who ‘do the jobs no one else will do’. Disingenuous language of multicultural diversity and mock solidarity helps sooth the conscience of greed and neglect, political and economic exploitation at the expense of both the migrant and the America we have known which changes daily before our eyes.

 

Together, Republi-Dems or DemoReps elites share the same clubs, parties and friends, whilst their middle class countrymen oppose in record numbers the policies their cynical manipulations impose for power and profit. America is as a result becoming a classed society in quick-time, fast losing its traditional culture of middle-class homogeneity. We quite simply cannot assimilate at the rate we have acquired our millions, -which now exceed the combined populations of seven states.

 

Have you not noticed? Go to any street corner or construction site or Wal-Mart in America - anywhere in America, rural or urban - and see the stratifications of the South:

schools, prisons, healthcare, language … horrific gang violence and drug trade, - we are no longer – and no longer seem to aspire - to the ‘Unum’ in our ‘e pluribus’.

 

There is an ugly, fundamental coarseness and cultural shift taking place before our very eyes and within our hardening hearts, even as we hire that low cost nanny or cut-rate auto repairman. We want a Dependent Class beneath us – or we want a cheap gardener, painter, or road crew. To the degree we tolerate such effusive exploitation, we participate in it.

 

Either we are a Nation of Laws – or we are not. We must decide. Or decision will be taken from us. We will not be mau-maued by illegal ‘guests’ in our streets. We will not be intimidated into betraying the essence of America for a cheaper glass of tomato juice. We will preserve America’s essence and welcome those who seek to become One with us – not those who drain our generosity and good will, and demand special recognition for flaunting our laws.

 

Cohesiveness is essential element of strength. Strength is a necessity to a coherent National Will. The depth and quality of National Will determines success or failure of policy – and of nations. It is time to revisit not only Border Policy and the question of massed illegals among us, but to measure the totality of our immigration construct, lock, stock and barrel. Any outcome must be judged against the criterion: Does the proposed policy serve to build a cohesive America, a stronger America, an America consistent and true to its principles, its past and its promise. Does it build Americans?

 

Let there be no mistake: many of the millions of migrants bring good qualities to America. Qualities we have too often lost within ourselves. New blood is healthy, and vitalizing – it renews the body as well as the spirit. Too much new blood bursts the veins. Migrants are in many respects the best resources of what their exporting countries have to offer - and the least they can afford to lose.

 

Industrious, aspiring, entrepreneurial, family focused, strongly religious – they are precisely what their exporting countries would need to build their own prosperity, if their native DCDs and PLRs would seek broad based prosperity rather than privilege, greed and power. That is why orderly immigration policies are so important. That, and the little matter of an Open Border during a War on Terror.

 

The lack of seriousness of the administration in fighting the Terror War at the Border (though we send hundreds of thousands of our best youth and billions of tax dollars to foreign lands …) when its exigencies collide with open borders interests is clearly illustrated at Ft Huachuca. This huge 155 square mile US Army base lies on the border in Arizona. The fort – from which soldiers chased banditos and revolutionaries into Mexico in the early 1900’s, now is a major drug and human migrant route to heartland America. Groups of 75-80 invaders traipse freely through Base Officer Housing, drink from home garden hoses and look for food.*

 

A recent Congressional Delegation discovered that, although knowing of the problem at the highest level of command, this important military base has devoted but FOUR junior enlisted troops to protect the entire installation. No officers. Further, these soldiers primary duty is environmental protection, - not perimeter security or safety for the soldier’s families and highly sensitive government property.

 

With WMD lose in the world and Iranians and prayers rugs found along the travel routes, who can explain such gross negligence in terms other than conscious policy and intentionally unregulated routes to middle America? We might as well pass out bus tickets to Detroit in Norgales. ‘Secure the Ports’ hysteria? – Well, we have a 2000 mile long “Port” that is a wide-open door by design, with millions of violations each year against the express will of American opinion, security, and interests…

 

At the same time, it is neither accurate, fair nor in good faith to call ‘Xenophobic’ or otherwise malign those Americans who counsel restraint and caution, border order and security, in a time of Terror-war. Indeed, there is far more evident racism and cultural aggressiveness in highly organized ‘spontaneous’ school strikes, chants of “Brown Power”, “Mexico!”, “The Race!” and waving foreign flags than in anything we have heard from citizens who endure high crime rates, gang violence, prison, court and insurance costs, and cultural predation, who pay huge taxes and reduced quality of life to sustain generous illegal alien education, health care, social services. There are countless ways we pay for the ‘labor no one will do.’

 

Yet, if Latinos will do ‘work undone’ for $5 and hour, will not other billions in this seething, aspiring world do it for $5 a week? Surely we can find urgent ‘work undone’ worth $5 a week … say, ironing underwear or plucking past-peak azalea blossoms from public gardens with tweezers …”Just can’t find an American who will do it …!”

Where is the end? And how much cultural sovereignty do we sell for another azalea plucker?

 

America is – by a long shot – the most desired residence on earth for billions of aspiring economic refugees. Billions. But at what point do we cease to be America? At what point do we lose the cultural cohesiveness, Toquevillian democracy in America, the economic and political freedom which is our distinctive identity? When do we say, “enough for now - We need to catch our breath — some time to digest and assimilate the 15 million-person portion we have just consumed.”

 

I think the time is now. Maybe it was yesterday, or last year … but every night and day thousands more stream across undefended and unsupervised borders to a non-policy of collusion and deception. Fewer than one percent of our migrant guests have ever seen a dentist; many carry disease, virtually none have rudimentary inoculations, and much of the meager wages they earn is returned, US-tax free, to their countries of origin. America changes before our very eyes – and there are millions more to come …

 

Order on the Border is long over due. A comprehensive solution is needed. True. But Seal the Border FIRST. Then consider, in good faith and full examination of need, what to do with the 15 million nameless, low wage line-cutters, aspirers, good folk – and perhaps terrorists - who are here.

 

The following are a few modest – but non-negotiable Terms of Principle which must be a part of any final Border Order. There may be more, some may be modified, but the Principles are sound, solid, and offered in good faith. When implemented, the discussion can properly turn to accommodation of those who entered illegally and are doing “jobs no one else will do (at the price they do it).”

 

Ten Essential Points of Order on the Border:

 

Seal the Border. That means S-E-A-L. Not ‘catch and release’. Migrants are not trout. Catch and release is a statistics game of deception. Catch and repatriate is the answer. Repatriate, not to the Border but to the Capitol of the exporting country. And ‘the bill’l goes to – the ‘exporting’ country. A sufficient combination of technology, barriers, National Guard and Volunteer Defense Forces to assist Border Patrol must be funded and immediately deployed. If there was a million man army poised on our border, this would be done. There IS a half-billion unknown human souls poised below, not for invasion but for unmonitored, uncontrolled migration. The results of Border Order must be supervised and reported upon within nine months and metric goals will only then trigger implementation of any normalization status.

That means S-E-A-L. Not ‘catch and release’. Migrants are not trout. Catch and release is a statistics game of deception. Catch and is the answer. Repatriate, not to the Border but to the Capitol of the exporting country. And ‘the bill’l goes to – the ‘exporting’ country. A sufficient combination of technology, barriers, National Guard and Volunteer Defense Forces to assist Border Patrol must be funded and immediately deployed. If there was a million man army poised on our border, this would be done. There IS a half-billion unknown human souls poised below, not for invasion but for unmonitored, uncontrolled migration. The results of Border Order must be supervised and reported upon within nine months and metric goals will trigger implementation of any normalization status.

In other words, the effectiveness of Border security will not be a promise; it must be a certified performance before any ‘normalization’ regime will take effect;

 

Period of Digestion – reduced immigration quotas using The Carrot and the Stick. Inventory which ‘countries of origin’ comprise the illegal population already here. Reduce proportionately the legal quota for that country.

reduced immigration quotas using The Carrot and the Stick. Inventory which ‘countries of origin’ comprise the illegal population already here. Reduce proportionately the legal quota for that country.

Illegals who register for residency are to be deducted from the country quota of legal applications permitted. Review and revise ‘refugee’ status. Costs of immunizations and screenings required for illegal entry are to be borne by exporting countries.

Education – particularly in needed fields - and tested fluency in English or needed skills are to be rewarded with additional quotas. A ‘substantial skills’ registration process and back taxes must be a part of Normalization;

 

English Language, Culture, and History classes according to a new, mandated curriculum and materials are to be required of all applying for permanent residency. Cohesiveness and cultural incorporation is essential to preservation and success of the American experiment as a model to the world. The objective is to build American citizens, not merely unassimilated economic residents. Plan a major televised ‘Open Arms, Open Hearts - New Citizen’s Welcoming Party’ where new Americans pledge and demonstrate their new status – American flags only - to all the world;

classes according to a new, mandated curriculum and materials are to be required of all applying for permanent residency. Cohesiveness and cultural incorporation is essential to preservation and success of the American experiment as a model to the world. The objective is to build American citizens, not merely unassimilated economic residents. Plan a major televised ‘Open Arms, Open Hearts - New Citizen’s Welcoming Party’ where new Americans pledge and demonstrate their new status – American flags only - to all the world;

 

Failure to Register Residency after a new statutory period of three months becomes a felony and prevents acquisition of any public services except emergency, life threatening medical care. Simplicity of this process must be assured with numerous sites, such as Motor Vehicles, schools, municipal government, etc. Local and state law enforcement must be empowered and funded to enforce and process immigration violators and abettors, along the lines of the House-passed CLEAR Act;

after a new statutory period of three months becomes a felony and prevents acquisition of any public services except emergency, life threatening medical care. Simplicity of this process must be assured with numerous sites, such as Motor Vehicles, schools, municipal government, etc. Local and state law enforcement must be empowered and funded to enforce and process immigration violators and abettors, along the lines of the House-passed CLEAR Act;

 

The Constitutional interpretation of birth in the United States as somehow constituting ‘citizenship’ is incorrect and originally unintended. This must be corrected. “Fruit of the Poisoned Tree” is but one well established legal doctrine here applicable. Cases of border crossing to call an American ambulance to deliver a bambino in an American hospital – all at taxpayer expense - must not magically create an “American citizen’;

in the United States as somehow constituting ‘citizenship’ is incorrect and originally unintended. This must be corrected. “Fruit of the Poisoned Tree” is but one well established legal doctrine here applicable. Cases of border crossing to call an American ambulance to deliver a bambino in an American hospital – all at taxpayer expense - must not magically create an “American citizen’;

 

Felony Conviction of any legal resident prior to citizenship will result in immediate (expedited) deportation to the capitol of the parent country, - with processing and transportation costs billed to that country. Foreign aid to exporting countries will be commensurately reduced by the legal and processing costs of returning violators;

of any legal resident prior to citizenship will result in immediate (expedited) deportation to the capitol of the parent country, - with processing and transportation costs billed to that country. Foreign aid to exporting countries will be commensurately reduced by the legal and processing costs of returning violators;

 

Proof of Current and Uninterrupted auto insurance is necessary to drive on any federally assisted highway. Federally granted resident drivers permits required also to travel on federally assisted roads, tunnels or bridges. Similar requirements for health insurance must be required to sustain legal residence. Violation by an illegal alien or alien in process for citizenship is a felony;

is necessary to drive on any federally assisted highway. Federally granted resident drivers permits required also to travel on federally assisted roads, tunnels or bridges. Similar requirements for health insurance must be required to sustain legal residence. Violation by an illegal alien or alien in process for citizenship is a felony;

 

Principle: One can only be a ‘resident’ of one place at a time. Same goes for Citizenship. Loyalty is not a fungible good. – NO dual citizenship is recognized and citizenship in any other country de facto voids American citizenship and all rights and protections thereto. Honorable Service in the American military for a minimum of six years shall be a fast route to citizenship. Those who pay the price of Freedom should enjoy its benefits. Other than honorable discharge shall preclude citizenship;

at a time. Same goes for Citizenship. Loyalty is not a fungible good. – NO dual citizenship is recognized and citizenship in any other country de facto voids American citizenship and all rights and protections thereto. Honorable Service in the American military for a minimum of six years shall be a fast route to citizenship. Those who pay the price of Freedom should enjoy its benefits. Other than honorable discharge shall preclude citizenship;

 

Voting in any federal election or fraudulently applying to obtain any federally subsidized service prior to citizenship is a felony resulting in immediate return to the country of origin. Legal residents of the United States are not permitted to vote as residents in any other country’s election;

or fraudulently applying to obtain any federally subsidized service prior to citizenship is a felony resulting in immediate return to the country of origin. Legal residents of the United States are not permitted to vote as residents in any other country’s election;

 

Employers who hire illegals knowingly and without prescribed background checks, health and license/credential certifications and verification of status shall be heavily fined and pay for all costs of repatriation processing. Any fraudulent claim of status and or federally assisted benefits due to status is a felony. Aiding or abetting aliens to break any US law shall be considered a felony. Fair labor laws and standards shall apply to all who work within the United States, regardless of status.

and without prescribed background checks, health and license/credential certifications and verification of status shall be heavily fined and pay for all costs of repatriation processing. Any fraudulent claim of status and or federally assisted benefits due to status is a felony. Aiding or abetting aliens to break any US law shall be considered a felony. Fair labor laws and standards shall apply to all who work within the United States, regardless of status.

To bring Order to our Border,

Security to our homeland, fairness to those who respect America’s law and immigrate to America to become ‘American’ - America must decide:

Will we fix it – or just fuhgetabout it.

* The author was a member of that House Delegation. He is also a retired Marine Corps officer who served with Joint Task Force Six, Counterdrug, along the two-thousand mile Border with Mexico. For ten days in May, 2005, delegates toured ports of entry, Border Patrol and local law enforcement, parks and ranchlands, met with common citizens, Minutemen and illegal entrants alike, visited health and responder infrastructure and Federal/State/Military authorities in Arizona and Mexico.

Their full report is available on Congressman Charlie Norwood’s web site.