Sam Bridges
The enemy within
By Sam Bridges
On April 19, Americans remembered the victims of the horrendous attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 10 years ago, an attack that was the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. The 168 victims in that attack were innocents, ranging from small children playing to young people conducting business to workers simply trying to do their job. We were excruciatingly reminded that the enemy can come from within and can sometimes even be from our own ranks. Furthermore, these ceremonies and memorials occurred against the backdrop of an ongoing and growing threat from within that our government continues to mostly ignore.
The United States continues to spend billions of dollars on the War on Terror. It is certainly a valid approach to take the offensive at times to stop our enemies at their source outside our country. But a good offensive effort must also be balanced by a defensive stance. If our enemies are currently elsewhere, then we must also prevent them from coming here and attacking us from within.
In addition to the War on Terror, the United States also continues to spend billions on Homeland Security in its various forms as the primary component of our defensive strategy. These funds are, for the most part, well spent to protect our land and its citizens. Governments are instituted to protect their citizens. But we spend these billions, only to keep the gates wide open and largely unchecked. It's as if the United States is attempting to apply the Biblical and age-old concept of a fortified city, except that we are applying it both poorly and incompletely. We fortify ourselves in every conceivable way, save one...the flood of illegal immigration.
Without a doubt, unchecked immigration has terrible and long-term economic impacts on this country. Illegal immigrants fill jobs that would otherwise be filled by American citizens or legal residents. Public funds are used to provide goods and services to those here illegally at the expense of the American taxpayer. But perhaps the worst impact that unchecked immigration has on this country is the opportunity it provides terrorists seeking an easy entry to perform their wicked schemes.
We should welcome immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity, but only if they are willing to follow the established laws and methods by which they can become a legal resident of this country. If they are unwilling to follow our most basic entry requirements, then we should be unwilling to use our citizens' tax dollars to support them as if they were a citizen or legal resident. While that may seem callous and heartless, it's actually just a simple matter of a country having certain basic expectations of behavior and action for those wishing to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that country provides.
Responding to this inundation of illegal immigration, Arizona voters passed Proposition 200 in November 2004, which requires state and local employees to verify the immigration status of people applying for public benefits and report undocumented immigrants or face possible criminal prosecution. The loudest critic of this state's effort to control the economic effects of illegal immigration is none other than the Mexican government...which, by the way, has recently issued a colorful comic book with advice for migrants on how to cross the U.S. border with Mexico. Calling it "state-sponsored illegal immigration," U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) has written a letter of protest to the Mexican government urging it to halt the distribution of this Guide for the Mexican Migrant. Hayworth continues in his letter, "Mexico's state sponsorship of illegal immigration is nothing less than an act of deliberate hostility against the United States — an attack on our sovereignty — and it must cease before it does permanent damage to our relationship."
The U.S. Border Patrol agents do an excellent job, but they are apparently under-supported and are limited by grossly inadequate resources compared to their commission. The Minuteman Project is a volunteer effort to help stem the tide of illegal border crossings and has been successful in shifting most of the illegal immigrant traffic out of the Naco corridor southeast of Tucson. Some, including the ACLU, view these volunteer citizens as vigilantes and are critical of their efforts.
Even if we ignore the economic impacts, and even if only a small fraction of the thousands of illegal immigrants flooding through our borders every year intend us harm, that is still too many to allow. The risk is far too great. And that risk is precisely the reason states and individual citizens are being forced to counter the negative effects and secure our borders when the federal government continues to ignore the reality of the issue, the size of the flood, and its impacts on our nation's safety, security, and viability.
If our government continues to allow illegal immigration to flood through our borders unimpeded, then we have no reason to be surprised the next time we are attacked from within.
© Sam Bridges
On April 19, Americans remembered the victims of the horrendous attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 10 years ago, an attack that was the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. The 168 victims in that attack were innocents, ranging from small children playing to young people conducting business to workers simply trying to do their job. We were excruciatingly reminded that the enemy can come from within and can sometimes even be from our own ranks. Furthermore, these ceremonies and memorials occurred against the backdrop of an ongoing and growing threat from within that our government continues to mostly ignore.
The United States continues to spend billions of dollars on the War on Terror. It is certainly a valid approach to take the offensive at times to stop our enemies at their source outside our country. But a good offensive effort must also be balanced by a defensive stance. If our enemies are currently elsewhere, then we must also prevent them from coming here and attacking us from within.
In addition to the War on Terror, the United States also continues to spend billions on Homeland Security in its various forms as the primary component of our defensive strategy. These funds are, for the most part, well spent to protect our land and its citizens. Governments are instituted to protect their citizens. But we spend these billions, only to keep the gates wide open and largely unchecked. It's as if the United States is attempting to apply the Biblical and age-old concept of a fortified city, except that we are applying it both poorly and incompletely. We fortify ourselves in every conceivable way, save one...the flood of illegal immigration.
Without a doubt, unchecked immigration has terrible and long-term economic impacts on this country. Illegal immigrants fill jobs that would otherwise be filled by American citizens or legal residents. Public funds are used to provide goods and services to those here illegally at the expense of the American taxpayer. But perhaps the worst impact that unchecked immigration has on this country is the opportunity it provides terrorists seeking an easy entry to perform their wicked schemes.
We should welcome immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity, but only if they are willing to follow the established laws and methods by which they can become a legal resident of this country. If they are unwilling to follow our most basic entry requirements, then we should be unwilling to use our citizens' tax dollars to support them as if they were a citizen or legal resident. While that may seem callous and heartless, it's actually just a simple matter of a country having certain basic expectations of behavior and action for those wishing to enjoy the freedoms and opportunities that country provides.
Responding to this inundation of illegal immigration, Arizona voters passed Proposition 200 in November 2004, which requires state and local employees to verify the immigration status of people applying for public benefits and report undocumented immigrants or face possible criminal prosecution. The loudest critic of this state's effort to control the economic effects of illegal immigration is none other than the Mexican government...which, by the way, has recently issued a colorful comic book with advice for migrants on how to cross the U.S. border with Mexico. Calling it "state-sponsored illegal immigration," U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) has written a letter of protest to the Mexican government urging it to halt the distribution of this Guide for the Mexican Migrant. Hayworth continues in his letter, "Mexico's state sponsorship of illegal immigration is nothing less than an act of deliberate hostility against the United States — an attack on our sovereignty — and it must cease before it does permanent damage to our relationship."
The U.S. Border Patrol agents do an excellent job, but they are apparently under-supported and are limited by grossly inadequate resources compared to their commission. The Minuteman Project is a volunteer effort to help stem the tide of illegal border crossings and has been successful in shifting most of the illegal immigrant traffic out of the Naco corridor southeast of Tucson. Some, including the ACLU, view these volunteer citizens as vigilantes and are critical of their efforts.
Even if we ignore the economic impacts, and even if only a small fraction of the thousands of illegal immigrants flooding through our borders every year intend us harm, that is still too many to allow. The risk is far too great. And that risk is precisely the reason states and individual citizens are being forced to counter the negative effects and secure our borders when the federal government continues to ignore the reality of the issue, the size of the flood, and its impacts on our nation's safety, security, and viability.
If our government continues to allow illegal immigration to flood through our borders unimpeded, then we have no reason to be surprised the next time we are attacked from within.
© Sam Bridges
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