After spending billions of tax dollars on homeland security, the federal government has still not secured the nation’s borders. To understand why, realize first that too often the government’s left hand actively blocks the right hand from doing its work on the border. For example, instead of deporting the 505,365 illegal immigrants thought to be here who are also convicted felons – as the agency is required to do by federal law — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released them back into local communities.
By refusing to release any “personally identifiable information” to elected public officials and law enforcement, ICE puts criminals’ “privacy rights” before the safety of American citizens. At the same time, the Interior Department is blocking the Border Patrol from intercepting members of drug cartels, terrorists and human traffickers at the southwestern border, so the criminals enter the United States virtually at will, wreaking environmental havoc on protected wilderness areas along the way and sowing murder and mayhem in our cities.
To end such official absurdities on America’s borders, the new Congress must make the following urgent priorities:
» Secure the border. Finish the fence ASAP. Sending 1,200 National Guard troops to perform administrative support duties on the border will not get the job done no matter how often President Obama and HHS Secretary Janet Napolitano claim otherwise. Send as many troops to the border as the secretary of defense says are needed to secure it. Announce an aggressive shoot to kill policy for those found using known drug cartel routes for crossing the border.
» Enforce existing laws. Withdraw the suit against Arizona. Convicted criminals, holders of expired visas and others with no legal right to remain in the United States should be expelled. It is only “impossible to send all 12 million of them back” if we never start the process. And if only half leave, six million fewer illegal immigrants here would still be great progress.
» End bureaucratic paralysis. Border Patrol officers should be given statutory authority to enter any federal lands necessary to do their jobs. It is astonishing that Congress has not done this already.
» No amnesty. The American people oppose amnesty because it is unfair, especially to legal immigrants who waited patiently for years to come here. The choice must be to either get in line with everybody else seeking citizenship or leave.
» Reward legal immigrants. Legal immigration should be expanded and encouraged, especially for those with needed special skills. If anybody deserves a streamlined “path to citizenship,” it’s those who have already demonstrated their respect for American law and tradition. They should be fast-tracked to citizenship to the greatest practical degree possible.
» Government regulation drives illegal hiring. Recognize that, as the cost of hiring new workers goes up with increased federal regulation, the incentive to instead recruit cheaper illegal immigrants expands. Government must focus on reducing the cost of doing business wherever possible.
