Bush’s Tough Talk on Immigration Falls Flat

by Cinnamon Stillwell

President Bush may have addressed the nation last week to assure Americans that his administration is doing something “comprehensive” about the growing illegal immigration crisis, but no one was buying it.  Least of all those who support true immigration reform instead of lip service. 

Predictably, Bush used the fig leaf of temporarily deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to the border to push his guest worker and amnesty proposals, which he continues to insist aren’t amnesty.  Whether earned or not, everyone knows that enforcing such programs is currently untenable, particularly while the border remains unsecured.  For those National Guard troops, it turns out, won’t be allowed to actually do anything.  Largely unarmed and limited to a supporting role, the troops will only be able to report sightings to an already overburdened and in some cases compromised Border Patrol. 

I say compromised because the news emerged a week before the president’s speech that higher ups in the U.S. Border Patrol had been reporting the whereabouts of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps members to the Mexican Government.  The Minutemen are comprised of volunteers who simply observe and report illegal border crossings to the appropriate authorities.  But they are of course a thorn in the side of those who wish to maintain the status quo at the porous border. 

The Mexican Government tops that list, seeing as its economy would likely collapse were the remittances sent home by illegal immigrants in the U.S. to dry up.  Then there would be the matter of all those citizens actually who might actually demand reform in their own country if access to U.S. dollars was not forthcoming.  The future of Mexico’s ruling elite hangs in the balance and they’re not giving it up without a fight.

Most recently, the Mexican government has begun to strike back using the American judicial system and all too often greedy American lawyers. Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez wasted no time threatening lawsuits in response to Bush’s pledge to station National Guard Troops at the border.  The process is already underway in the case of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who had the audacity, in the Mexican government’s view, to enforce an anti-human smuggling law that went into effect in Arizona last August. 

So here we have a foreign country meddling in U.S. domestic affairs and threatening the safety and wellbeing of American citizens, yet none dare call it what it is. One might also wonder why the ACLU and other privacy rights advocates are not up in arms about the Border Patrol providing information about American citizens to a foreign government.  Apparently, they’re more worried about the “rights” of al-Qaeda contacts not to have their phone calls wiretapped by the National Security Agency than they are Minuteman Project volunteers.  The fact that the Minutemen have consistently come under fire from the ACLU and other liberal groups would explain the double standard. 

But the Minutemen are not taking this latest assault lying down.  Minuteman Civil Defense Corps national leader Chris Simcox recently announced that the group is looking into taking legal action against the upper management of the Border Patrol for violations of members’ “Constitutional rights…civil rights and [for] endangering [their] lives.”  In addition, several members of Congress have stepped forward to demand accountability on these leaks, Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Darryl Issa (R-CA) among them.

Unfortunately, others in our government are more interested providing a platform in for the Mexican government. California Governor Arnold Schwarzegger is going so far as to host an official state dinner for Mexican President Vicente Fox this week.  Fox will also address a joint session of the California Legislature and meet privately with Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles).  The same goes for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who Fox is flying down to meet a few days later.  Seeing as Schwarzenegger has come out publicly against Bush’s National Guard proposal and that both Nunez and Villaraigosa have proven themselves valuable assets to the open borders lobby, Fox’s attentiveness is hardly surprising.

But the timing of his visit couldn’t be worse for it happens to coincide with an intense period of what’s being labeled “immigration reform” in this country.  In particular, the U.S. Senate has been voting on a variety of amendments to its bill, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611).  Originally authored by Senators McCain and Kennedy, this is the bill that, if enacted, would provide amnesty for the estimated 23 million illegal immigrants already here as well as a guest worker program.  This in addition to the 66 million new legal immigrants over the next 20 years including spouses, children and parents, according to a Heritage Foundation report.

It seems that some in the U.S. government think that the country is blessed with unlimited natural resources and a national character that can somehow withstand an unprecedented influx of unassimilated immigrants into its midst.  Not to mention the threat of infectious diseases that would accompany such a migration and in fact already exists.  U.S. border states in particular have seen an increase in tuberculosis, chagas disease and even leprosy in the years since illegal immigration has spiraled out of control.

When it comes to media predictions, beltway bound pundits keep missing the point and insisting that a “Republican backlash” will occur should Senate Republicans fail to pass an immigration bill.  But in fact, the opposite is true.  The backlash will occur if Republicans in the Senate do pass a bill, or at least one involving anything other than border enforcement.

Actually, the backlash may already have begun. All across the nation, GOP incumbents who are soft on illegal immigration and perceived as liberal in general are being defeated by more conservative candidates.  Perceiving little or no difference between what are known as “RINOs” or “Republicans in Name Only” candidates and their left-leaning Democratic opponents, the GOP base is fed up.  In Pennsylvania, 14 Republican incumbents were defeated in primaries, while Congressman Chris Cannon of Utah and Tom Osborne of Nebraska, both seen as weak on illegal immigration, lost out as well.  In contrast, the Republicans who have chosen to break with their masters at the Chamber of Commerce are experiencing a surge in popularity.  

Democrats too have been hearing from their constituents and the result has been a split within their ranks.   On one hand you have Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid calling the amendment to the Senate immigration bill making English the official and “unifying language” of the country, “racist” even as 11 fellow members of his own party supported it.  On the other, you have California Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, neither of whom are known for being tough on illegal immigration, voting against a motion to table an amendment from Senator Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) that would kill the guest worker provisions of S.2611.  As poll after poll has demonstrated, this is an issue that crosses party lines and both Democrats and Republicans are on the spot.   

President Bush has certainly been feeling the heat when it comes to his plummeting approval ratings.  After his speech to the nation, Bush tried to implement further damage control with a public relations stint at the border.  Complete with rolled-up sleeves and an air of genuine concern, Bush applied his folksy populism to the illegal immigration disaster.  But he has lost all credibility on the issue. 

Whether through a craven attempt at securing Hispanic votes for Republicans or a fealty to Globalism and open borders, Bush has been ignoring the will of the people for far too long.  To act as if he’s suddenly concerned about an issue he himself has played a large role in furthering is pandering at its worst.

Yet when it comes to the much-coveted Hispanic vote, the future remains murky. Hispanic-Americans, either native born or legal immigrants, overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration and support further enforcement.  Those trying to frame illegal immigration as an issue of race are either being dishonest or delusional. 

But it could be a moot point if the open borders activist groups currently engaged in a determined effort to “register Hispanic voters” have their way.  Little or no discussion has gone into the citizenship status of such voters and seeing as a lack of ID or a fake ID already allows just about anyone to vote, registering illegals doesn’t seem like much of a stretch. Not helping matters is the fact that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission recently ruled against Arizona’s voter-approved Proposition 200, the first law in the nation to require proof of citizenship for voter registration.  

If Americans wish to rescue their country from the brink of oblivion, they will be ever vigilant about the integrity of the ballot box. Granting illegal immigrants the vote would be the final victory in the campaign to render American citizenship meaningless.  And with citizenship goes sovereignty. 

Cinnamon Stillwell is a staff writer for The New Media Alliance and a columnist for SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle online.  She maintains a website at www.cinnamonstillwell.com and can be reached at cinnamon@cinnamonstillwell.com.

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