Where credit is due...
By David Tatosian (10/06/06)
In an article in the Arizona Republic, Republican Senator John Cornyn "...said Tuesday that 700 miles of fencing approved by Congress will probably not be built because of a lack of money and other practical considerations... It's one thing to authorize. It's another thing to actually appropriate the money and do it," he told reporters..." The good Senator explained, "...There's different kinds of fencing ... there's the old fence post and barbed wire, and then there's the virtual fence which is a combination of physical barriers, people, and technology and I think, in the end, that will probably be how this is addressed...." Senator Cornyn defends "...the Senate vote for the fencing, saying that it was an important symbolic gesture to show that Congress is serious about protecting the border..." (True enough. Promising 700 miles of fence along a 2,000 mile border isn't much more than a symbolic gesture)
However, I can think of a gesture equally as apparent in the passage of the "Secure Fence Act of 2006,” that bears a striking resemblance to one favored by illegal aliens at day labor centers whenever an American flag wanders by.
Surely it has become obvious that the United States of America will have no border security. There will be no fence to protect the Homeland.
It’s five years since 9/11 and our borders still remain open to whatever can get itself across the line.
During that time, many of us have begun to understand the obtuse and almost ethereal qualities of that territory that we call the border. We’re told it is a subtle and complex area where fences won’t work, criminals are the salt of the earth and claims of American sovereignty are an affront to human rights.
Clearly border control isn’t as easy as we might think.
For example, there are numerous international and bi national agreements, in addition to the Security and Prosperity Partnership that affect the region. The Pan American Sanitary Bureau, for instance, established in 1902 and renamed The Pan American Health Organization in 1947 (a part of the World Health Organization) is international. The International Boundary and Water Commission is a bi national agreement between the US and Mexico. Another bi national agreement, the Agreement On Cooperation For The Protection And Improvement Of The Environment In The Border Area, better known as the La Paz agreement, came into being in 1984. The agreement was brought into existence to minimize the environmental damage caused by the growing number of Maquiladoros on the Mexican side of the border. Article 4 of the document states “For the purposes of this Agreement, it shall be understood that the "border area" refers to the area situated 100 kilometers (62 miles) on either side of the inland and maritime boundaries between the Parties.” Parenthesis mine. In July 2000, the United States-Mexico Border Health Commission, another bi national organization, was formed. Its area of operation was the same as article 4 of La Paz. In September of 2000, the Bi national TB Referral and Case Management Project was signed. One of that organizations goals is to “ensure continuity of care and completion of care for migrating TB patients” by issuing bi national TB cards which have a “unique identification number, toll free telephone numbers in the U.S. and Mexico, TB treatment data elements, but no patient name or mention of tuberculosis.” The agreement states quite clearly “All patients traveling from Mexico to the U.S. are eligible (for the card) if they have active tuberculosis.”
According to the American Medical Association, “In 2005, the TB rate in foreign-born persons in the United States was 8.7 times that of U.S.-born persons” and “The deceleration of the decline in the overall national TB rate, the persistent disparities in TB rates between U.S.-born and foreign-born persons… and the increase in MDR TB cases all threaten progress toward the goal of TB elimination in the United States.”
While its true the above agreements state their programs, in and of themselves, are not to supercede or violate any country’s laws, passing out cards to tubercular Mexicans so as to enable them to get treatment for their disease while in the US would seem to violate American immigration laws that preclude the admittance of migrants, immigrants, visa holders or anyone else with an infectious disease.
No distinction is made between legal or illegal immigrants.
One might ask why tubercular Mexicans, who pose a significant health threat to the American Population, are granted entry into the United States in apparent violation of our laws. Is the spread of TB simply another job that lazy Americans won’t do?
According to the California Office of Bi National Border Health, there are at least 24 different organizations working the La Paz designated “Border Area” in California alone.
How do we get control of a border that international and bi national agencies, supported by our government, regularly disregard in the pursuit of their goals?
An unfunded fence, virtual or otherwise, that never sees the light of day is hardly a solution to the bureaucratic destruction of our southern border as a result of these agreements.
The agreements themselves follow a predictable pattern that consistently awards Mexico more for doing less.
It would be far better for the United States if we shared our southern border with North Korea or Iran. Perhaps our representatives would be aware of the dangers and take appropriate actions to protect us instead of constantly granting a wheedling, sniveling thief of a nation everything it desires at the expense of American citizens.
On December 21 2004, President Bush (tapping into that political capital his reelection had given him) signed an executive order stating, in part- “…I hereby extend to members and employees of the Mexican Section of the USMBHC the same privileges, exemptions, and immunities as are accorded under similar circumstances to officers and employees, respectively, of foreign governments with regard to the laws regulating entry into and departure from the United States…”
I wouldn’t want to be remiss in giving credit where it is due…
David Tatosian
Sources:
Cornyn-
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1003immig-fence03-ON.html
PAHO-
http://www.paho.org/
IBWC-
http://www.ibwc.state.gov/
La Paz-
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oia/MexUSA.nsf/ae0396372fe73b828825671c00
7e0b90/208f81d47fde81b9882566b10061cbc2!OpenDocument
US-MBHC-
http://www.borderhealth.org/border_region.php
And
http://www.borderhealth.org/about_us.php
Bi national TB Referral and Case Management Project-
http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/microsites/IDM/workshops/Health_and_Migration_09110604/se2_conf_US-Mexico.pdf#search=%22Binational%20TB%20Referral%20and%20Case%20Management%20Project%2C%22
AMA-
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/295/19/2243
California Office of Bi National Border Health-
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/dcdc/COBBH/activities.htm
Executive Order-
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/12/20041221-3.html
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