The Fence That Never Was
By David Tatosian (10/15/06)
At the signing of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, President Bush admonished, “You can’t fence the entire border” and once again reminded us that any solution to the border “problem” must include a guest worker plan for his illegal aliens.
True to form, Republicans pronounced the president’s signature to be a great victory in and of itself and assured Americans the bill was one more example of their tireless (but heretofore unknown) campaign to secure the nations borders.
Engaging in a bit of hallucinatory prattle while referring to the bill, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who single-handedly killed any chance of passing immigration reform legislation before the elections stated “It should concern the American people that 131 Democrats voted against this security fence along our southern border…They don’t want border security: instead, they would rather jeopardize our national security and put Americans at risk”
Evidently delusional tough talk on border security is equal to providing border security for Hastert and his merry band of Republicans.
Perhaps its time for the tens of millions of Americans concerned with our border control/illegal immigration “problem” to face some unpleasant facts. Chief among them is the obvious fact that our misguided support of the Republican Majority has not resulted in any meaningful legislation addressing this issue. Sorry, but relegating the construction of 698 miles of fence to a Secretary of Homeland Security and the vicissitudes of “Operational Control” a month before an election is not meaningful. Insulting, outrageous, arrogant and typical of the Republican majority, yes. Meaningful? Hardly.
We are no closer to securing our border or solving the problems created by an ever-increasing number of illegal aliens today then we were when these Republicans came to power. In fact, the Republicans have made the problem worse.
One might be inclined to ask why this has happened. Why have Republican legislators, who go on and on about their commitment to the safety and security of the American people, been so apathetic about the border control problem? Its not as if they’re unaware of the problem. Since April 2005 and the Minuteman border operations, not only has the entire world been made aware of our lack of border security, but the opposition from American citizens has intensified.
Still our elected Republicans do nothing. Why?
There’s no doubt that if these same legislators were half as dedicated to our safety and security as they are to extracting billions of dollars of earmarks from any legislation within reach, there’d be a wall 2000 miles long and 100 feet high along our southern border. Not to mention the corrupt businessmen who would be getting in touch with their feminine sides in Federal Penitentiaries throughout the lower 48.
Why has nothing happened in the past year and a half? Why the tough talk, the useless field meetings, the royal proclamtions of victory at the promise of a fence somewhere in the distant future and the lack of relevant legislation?
Thousands of illegal aliens cross the border every day. The longer nothing gets done, the more illegals that cross the border. But beyond the occasional catch and release photo op and the bluster of Republican sound bites, nothing gets done.
Some might point to the deployment of National Guard units along the border as a step in the right direction. Well, if you think sending unarmed National Guard units to the border to free Border Patrol agents from their support duties, so as to increase the number of agents available to carry out their primary mission, which is to patrol the border, and then assigning those same agents to watch over the unarmed National Guard units sent to replace them is a step in the right direction, fine. Vote Republican
For my money, the National Guard feint is classic George Bush misdirection and obfuscation. The man of faith says whatever you want to hear and then, despite logic, reason or historical realities, he does whatever he pleases. (Send 3,000 M-16s and a million rounds of ammunition to arm Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas’ private army? Absolutely. It’s the war on terror. Its the President and his Republicans keeping us safer than the Democrats ever could.)
The deceit and conflicted execution of muddled Presidential (and Republican) policies is also an unpleasant fact.
Which brings me to another unpleasant fact: there will never be a fence along our southern border. Never. The Republican majority has weathered a year and a half of increasingly intense citizen pressure to do something about this problem and they have remained steadfast in their commitment to do nothing. Their inactivity has allowed a million more illegal aliens to cross into our country.
The whole issue of a fence along one third of our border is but a ruse, a puppet show to placate the gullible and the desperate while our elected darlings try to find an opportunity to pass a Hutchison-Pence style reform package favored by President Bush, his Republicans, their friends at the American Chamber of Commerce, the Democrats, Latin America and the illegals themselves.
And pass it they shall. Once the inconveience of this election is over, Republicans and Democrats alike will see to that.
And just like that the battle will be over. The war will have been lost without firing a shot. Without so much as a whimper.
And what an unpleasant fact that will be.
But only for Americans.
David Tatosian
Sources:
Guard-
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200203/032202.html
Arming Palestinians-
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3311221,00.html
http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50690
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1159193405354
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