Hi Gang:
This news report appeared in the Washington Times on Friday, August 13th and is an important report for you to pay attention to because it makes it clear that the administration is absolutely determined to foist “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” on our nation and on our citizens.
The administration, backed up by such “luminaries” as Senator Schumer, the senior senator from the State of New York and the chairman of the Senate Immigration Subcommittee and Speaker of the House of Representative, Nancy Pelosi have come up with the strategy of declaring that once the borders are secure it would be time to enact Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
Why do you suppose that the President, Janet Napolitano (the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Surrender) and all of the other “usual suspects” have established the securing of the Mexican border as the sole prerequisite for determining when it would be appropriate to enact “Comprehensive Immigration Reform?”
Ignoring the fundamental fact that the Mexican border is not even close to being secure- it simply represents a “speed bump” to the smugglers and the Mexican cartels and the terrorists who have easily managed to run our nation’s border- the idea of saying that the only concern about implementing Comprehensive Immigration Reform is an utter absurdity!
As you may know, before a pilot sits down in the cockpit of his airplane, fastens his seat belts or his harness, fires up his engine(s) and heads down the runway and into the “wild blue yonder” the pilot conducts a thorough pre-flight. The preflight begins with a “walk around” where the pilot inspects various components of his (her) airplane- makes certain the tires are inflated, the control surfaces are free and engine cowling is secure, their is enough oil in the engine, etc., etc.
Once in the cockpit, the pilot goes through an extensive preflight checklist that enables him to make certain his control surfaces move freely, that the engine is running properly, the radios and navigation gear are all in order and other items are working properly. It is only after this checklist is completed that the pilot heads for the runway.
To simply arbitrarily decide that the only concern that the government should have where immigration is concerned is to be able to claim (falsely) that the Mexican border is secure and that our nation is now ready for the implementation of Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the equivalent of the pilot kicking the tires on his airplane and saying that the airplane is ready to fly across a large ocean or over high mountains with bad weather closing in!
Would you want to be a passenger on that plane with that pilot?
Where Comprehensive Immigration Reform is concerned, as citizens of this nation- we are a captive audience for the decisions that our leaders make.
If the focus is on the Mexican border because of concerns that aliens are entering our nation violate our borders and our laws, then why is there no mention of the other ways that aliens manage to enter our country?
What is to be done to secure the Canadian border? What is to be done to prevent stowaways from entering our country at seaports or along our nation’s coastal regions? It has been estimated that the United States has some 90,000 miles of coast line! (And you thought the more than two thousand miles of border between the United States and Mexico and the four thousand miles of border that separates the United States from Canada were a problem?!)
I have often made the point that any state that has a seaport or an international airport is also a “border state.” It has been estimated that some 40% of the illegal aliens present in our country did not run our borders but actually entered the United States and then, in one way or another, violated the terms of their admission. There is nothing even noted about this in the media or in statements made by our nation’s “leaders.”
What about the issue of immigration fraud or visa fraud? These crimes are the ways that aliens enter our country and embed themselves in our country- often acquiring lawful status they are not entitled to. This is the same inept and corrupt system that would be called upon to adjudicate a minimum of 100,000 applications for participation in Comprehensive Immigration Reform each and every day- in addition to the other applications that USCIS has to deal with each and every day. (It is estimated that USCIS already adjudicates more than 6 million applications for immigration benefits each and every year and fraud permeates the system now.)
When aliens manage to enter the United States there are only an estimated 6,000 special agents at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to perform all of the vital missions of that beleaguered agency and it is further estimated that half of those 6,000 special agents are engaged in investigating and pursuing violations of customs laws which have nothing to do with immigration. The situation at ICE is so dire that the unions that represent the employees of ICE recently gave John Morton the head of that agency a unanimous vote of “No Confidence!” I am confident that these government employees know what they are talking about!
But the President, Janet Napolitano, Chuck Schumer and the rest of the “leaders” in Washington are telling us that all is well and we should be providing tens of millions of illegal aliens with a pathway to United States citizenship!
Clearly our nation got into the disastrous situation we are in now because for decades, our political leaders have put their desires for campaign contributions and votes ahead of national security and the safety of our citizens.
The only term I can use to describe this deplorable situation is to call it what it is- a monumental betrayal of the citizens of our nation including those who lawfully immigrated to the Untied States having waited years and spent significant amounts of money to become a part of this nation.
Let me make my point as clearly as I possibly can- in point of fact, Comprehensive Immigration Reform should never, under any circumstances be enacted! Let me repeat this- COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM SHOULD NEVER BE ENACTED!
Here are the three of the reasons that I have taken such a strong and unambiguous stand:
1. There is no way that our officials at USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services would be able to determine the true identities of the vast majority of the potentially tens of millions of illegal aliens. The open border advocates have taken to refer to illegal aliens as “undocumented.” The idea to this use of language was, of course, to obfuscate the fact that these people are foreign nationals (aliens) whose presence in our country represents a violation of law. However, it is appropriate to consider the fact that by being “undocumented” there is no reliable way of determining their true names, dates of birth or even their nationalities. Therefore there would be no reliable way of knowing their backgrounds, potential affiliation with terrorist or criminal organizations or their intentions. Hence the idea of providing identity documents to tens of millions of illegal aliens under potentially false names would provide criminals and especially terrorists with an opportunity to create brand new fictitious identities that would render most of our terror watch lists and “No Fly” lists all but useless! These documents would enable the criminals and terrorists to easily conceal their true identities and thus embed themselves in our country.
The 9/11 Commission has made it clear that 59 or roughly two-thirds of the 94 terrorists who were identified as having entered our nation and embedding themselves in our country in the decade leading up to the attacks of September 11, 2001 utilized visa fraud and/or benefit fraud to enter our country and embed themselves in our country.
2. The reason that unscrupulous employers intentionally hire illegal aliens is to save lots of money. They pay illegal aliens substandard wages, off the books and under conditions that are so substandard and so deplorable as to all blatantly illegal. If we suddenly provided tens of millions of illegal aliens with lawful status they would immediately demand prevailing wages and lawful working conditions that would cost their employers lots of money. It should be anticipated that most employers would simply fire these illegal aliens only to hire the next wave of illegal aliens. This was precisely what I observed, up close and in person, as an INS special agent in the wake of the Amnesty of 1986 that we were told would involve approximately one million to a million and a half illegal aliens. When the dust settled some four million aliens were provided with lawful status- many of those aliens having committed fraud in their applications- receiving the most precious benefit our nation could bestow upon an alien- resident alien status and hence, United States citizenship. Many of the aliens who were granted lawful status back then demanded fair wages and working conditions and were fired.
The question no one is asking and therefor no one is answering- “What will happen when twenty million or thirty million or forty million aliens who are newly legalized and demand prevailing wages and proper working conditions are fired by their employers? What would the expenses be to provide these newly unemployed aliens with unemployment payments? What will the cost be to our nation to have to provide welfare, food stamps, housing subsidies and other such benefits to the spouses and children of these aliens who, under the auspices of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” will have been lawfully admitted into our country? What will the impact be on healthcare and the already faltering school system when tense of millions of children of newly legalized aliens show up for school- many of whom can be anticipated to not possess English language proficiency?
3. You get on opportunity to make a first impression- what message would providing tens of millions of illegal aliens with lawful status send to people across our planet? Clearly the message would be dangerous- come to the United States, violate our borders and violate our immigration laws and not only will nothing be done to punish you for violating our borders and our laws, our leaders- beginning with the President of the United States and members of the Congress cannot wait to reward you for violating our borders and our laws! By the way- how do you suppose this would make those lawful immigrants who played by the rules and followed the letter of the law as well as the spirit of the law to legally immigrate to our nation feel?
When I recently traveled to Phoenix, Arizona in support of the governor of Arizona and her state’s true leaders such as State Senator Russell Pearce, the senator who proposed the Arizona immigration law, SB 1070 I was provided with the opportunity to speak at a number of events including an amazing rally. I made a point then that I will make now.
The immigration crisis that confronts our nation has been created by members of both political parties. It is wrong to bash our fellow Americans in our anger and frustration over the lack of representation by political representatives who have failed to represent their constituents. It is important to not bash “Liberals” or Democrats or other Americans. I consider myself to be a “Liberal” although my brand of liberalism is the sort of liberalism that President Harry S. Truman or Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson subscribed to. There are many Americans of all political leanings who want our nation’s borders secured and the immigration laws enforced fairly and effectively.
To make it clear to all- I have come up with a new term to describe those who are determined to undermine our nation’s security and do irrevocable harm to the middle class of our nation that served as the engine for success and innovation that our nation became known for. It was the middle class that underscored the “Can do!” spirit of the United States that made our nation the envy and role model for all other countries around the world!
The term I believe most accurately describes the advocates for Comprehensive Immigration Reform is “Deconstructionalist!” It is a clear and unambiguous term and one we should use to provide clarity to the issues and the challenges that confront our nation today! These folks are attempting to deconstruct our nation’s borders and the laws that were promulgated to protect our nation and our citizens.
Three years ago I wrote a commentary that was published as an Op-Ed piece in the Washington Times in which I had first suggested that Comprehensive Immigration Reform should be really entitled the “Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007”
You can read my Op-Ed that was entitled, “Immigration Bill a ‘No Go” at:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/jun/22/immigration-bill-a-no-go/print/
Today I would suggest that perhaps this legislation should be called the “Freddy Krueger Act!”
It is unacceptable that the citizens of this nation be betrayed by their own government especially where border security and the enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws are concerned!
A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!
November 2nd cannot come fast enough!
We the People, throughout this nation must seek opportunities to make it clear to our political “representatives” that we understand their game plan and won’t tolerate it!.
I believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world. However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels and members of al-Qaeda!
If reading this makes it difficult for you to sleep now- perhaps you could do something worthwhile- perhaps you might spend a couple of your sleepless hours writing letters to your elected representatives this evening and remind them that Election Day is just months away!
We the People can add to the consternation of these politicians who are failing to live up to their oaths of office by contacting them and making it abundantly clear that election day is coming and they should think of election day as their personal “Day of Reckoning!”
Our government must live up to its obligation of protecting its own citizens and, indeed, all who are present in our country from the criminals and terrorists who would threaten our lives and the survival of our nation and our way of life. In the end, the government is actually those who are elected to act as our “leaders.” Those who fail to truly lead and look out for those they are supposed to represent, need to be sent packing this coming Election Day!
If our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!
We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.
My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.
The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.
Any politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to keep his (her) job. Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation who favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the outrageous betrayal that this would represent given the national security implications that this program would have, should be shown the door at the next election!
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same. We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”
Later this year, each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. Later this year more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!
However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.I implore you to get involved!
If this situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation!
All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-