Hi Gang:
This Tuesday, as I do on just about every Tuesday- at 8:00 AM Eastern Daylight Savings Time, I will be a guest on the excellent Helen Glover Show which is broadcast on Providence, Rhode Island’s Radio Station, WHJJ.
Immigration is emerging as one of the most important issues in the minds of the citizens of our nation yet it would certainly appear that all too many of our elected “representatives” and other politicians who are supposed to “lead” with the consent of their constituents are blatantly ignoring the will of their constituents and their oaths of office!
In fact, while some claim immigration is a single issue, in my judgement, it is a singular issue because it significantly impacts virtually every challenge and threat confronting our nation today!
Today Helen and I will be discussing the just released FBI report that details the growing threat of gangs on the safety and security of our nation and our communities across this country.
Here is a link to my commentary about that FBI Gang Threat Assessment:
According to the FBI report there are an estimated 1.4 million members of various gangs to be found across the United States and some of them have joined our military services where they have acquired first-rate training in the effective use of extremely lethal weapons and military tactics that pose an immediate threat to law enforcement officers and the civilian population of our nation. This report also notes other ways in which these gangs have infiltrated law enforcement and government agencies.
Certainly not all of these gang members are foreign nationals but a significant percentage of these 1.4 million pernicious criminals are, indeed, aliens. Also the report details how alien smuggling, narcotics smuggling, human trafficking and identity theft are among the crimes that these gangs are engaged in. Where ethnic gangs are concerned, they involve aliens from nearly every continent on this planet.
It is worth noting that the FBI posted the following paragraph in the introduction to the report:
Gangs are expanding, evolving, and posing an increasing threat to U.S. communities.
That’s the bottom line of the just-released 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, and it probably doesn’t come as a great surprise to anyone who follows the news or is active in their community.
While the FBI considers this growing menace to our nation and our communities as essentially being “common knowledge” our leaders such as Secretary of DHS Janet Napolitano seems to be blithely unaware of this threat to Homeland Security as are the governors, mayors and other political leaders who oppose the enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws even where it involves criminal aliens.
If, as the saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss” these “leaders” must be among the most ecstatically happy people in the universe!
International terrorists and transnational criminals need to be able to enter the United States in order to carry out their goals. When our nation provides such pernicious individuals with lawful status and especially resident alien status and United States citizenship, we provide them with the ability to hide in plain sight among us. In the parlance of the 9/11 Commission, this is the process by which the terrorists embed themselves in communities across our nation.
Our nation’s immigration laws do not differentiate people by race, religion or ethnicity but do draw the distinction between citizens and non-citizens (aliens).
Our immigration laws are supposed to protect our nation from aliens whose presence in our country would be harmful to our nation and our citizens. Clearly this administration and a succession of previous administrations from both parties have refused to shoulder this responsibility in a meaningful way.
There are currently about 7,000 special agents employed by ICE and the majority of these agents are focused on violations of Customs laws and not immigration laws. To put this in perspective, the NYPD has about 35,000 police officers and the TSA employs more than 60,000 personnel. Clearly there are no resources and no desire to truly enforce these the immigration laws that are so important to our nation.
I hope you will be listening to Helen’s excellent show!
The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
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!
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 or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!
If our government’s failures to secure our nation’s borders and effectively enforce our immigration laws 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-