thedrifter
01-18-04, 07:40 AM
01-14-2004
The Illegal Immigration Threat?
By Matthew Dodd
“We has met the enemy, and he is us.”
Cartoonist Walt Kelly’s famous 1971 “Pogo” quote appears to be true today. When it comes to our homeland security, our inexcusable and ineffective border control efforts form a hazardous combination with our virtually non-existent enforcement of immigration and deportation laws to present a blatantly clear and present danger to our country.
To make matters even worse, President Bush’s recent illegal alien work incentives proposal seems to encourage even more illegal and undocumented persons to enter our country.
The facts and the laws are clear. People who have not entered the United States through official means have entered the United States illegally. Those illegal, one-time lawbreakers who forge or steal official identification credentials then become two-time law-breakers. Should those illegal, two-time law-breakers then use their bogus identification credentials to obtain work or any sort of public or government services, they become three-time law-breakers. In this case, three times is no charm.
As I wrote in an article last year about states wanting to give illegal aliens driver’s licenses (“Security Threat from the Maryland Legislature,” DefenseWatch May 8, 2003), we are rolling the dice with our collective homeland security when we grant any sort of official status to foreign undocumented people.
I think conservative talk-show host Sean Hannity said it best in his book, Let Freedom Ring:
“Are all illegal immigrants dangerous? Of course not. Are all immigrants who overstay their visas terrorists? No. But do we have any idea which are and which aren’t? Apparently not. We must do a much better job of protecting our coastlines and borders. We need to screen all visa applications more effectively – particularly those from countries known or suspected to be harboring terrorists. We need to cross-check all visa applications against the FBI’s terrorist watch list. We need to take special care with those who are granted temporary entry to our country. We need our colleges and universities to help us track foreign students and make sure they’re really showing up in class. We need to deport illegal aliens, particularly those who commit additional crimes while on our soil. And that’s just for starters. This is not racist. It’s common sense.”
Even if you are not a Hannity fan, you surely must remember that the 9/11 hijackers were all from foreign countries. Some had expired legal visas, some had legal visas despite being on terrorist watch lists, and two even had Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) student visa application approvals sent to their flight school six months after they flew their hijacked planes into New York’s Twin Towers.
As a career military officer, the president’s new proposal reminded me of nationally syndicated columnist and author Michelle Malkin’s frightening article in The Washington Times on Oct. 11, 2003, in which she exposed that the Army was going to allow a 19-year old illegal alien, who used a $50 bogus green card to enlist, to stay in the Army. Not only will the Army allow him to stay, but because of President Bush’s executive order allowing non-citizen soldiers to obtain expedited naturalization benefits, the service will actively assist him in becoming a legal citizen.
For that illegal alien soldier, three times is more than a charm, it is a cleaning-of-the-slate reward for easily and knowingly breaking our laws.
One basic premise of leadership, whether it be civilian or military, is fairness. Being fair does not mean treating everyone the same, or giving everyone the same exact things. Being fair means giving people what they deserve based on effort, character and performance, whether it is a friendly pat on the back or a swift kick in the butt. A leader’s job is to be able to determine what is needed and then to deliver what is determined. Leaders strive to live up to established standards and accept the responsibility to enforce those standards.
From all I see, hear, and sense with respect to how our great country is dealing with (or, more accurately, refusing to deal with) the illegal alien issue, our senior civilian and military leaders for some reason seem to embrace unfair leadership practices.
What a perverse twist it is when leaders condone the breaking of rules and regulations for individuals or small groups and try to rationalize their actions by claiming they are being fair and not hurting anyone. What about those individuals who also knew the rules and decided to play by them?
Subordinates get hurt by leaders’ actions or inactions when leaders apply different standards to or refuse to enforce the same standards on other individuals or small groups. Once a leader proves that he or she is willing to show preferential treatment to certain individuals or small groups, to be unfair, that leader has become untrustworthy. Once a leader cannot be trusted, he or she remains a leader only in title or billet, and not where it counts most: in the hearts and minds of all of his or her subordinates.
Failing to protect our borders and enforce our immigration laws is a part of our ever-present terrorism problem, and not a part of the solution. Not only does it allow terrorists to infiltrate and assimilate into our culture, it erodes the ability of our collective senior leadership to effectively deal with all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Lt. Col. Matthew Dodd USMC is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at mattdodd1775@hotmail.com.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=329&rnd=795.1227267409599
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
The Illegal Immigration Threat?
By Matthew Dodd
“We has met the enemy, and he is us.”
Cartoonist Walt Kelly’s famous 1971 “Pogo” quote appears to be true today. When it comes to our homeland security, our inexcusable and ineffective border control efforts form a hazardous combination with our virtually non-existent enforcement of immigration and deportation laws to present a blatantly clear and present danger to our country.
To make matters even worse, President Bush’s recent illegal alien work incentives proposal seems to encourage even more illegal and undocumented persons to enter our country.
The facts and the laws are clear. People who have not entered the United States through official means have entered the United States illegally. Those illegal, one-time lawbreakers who forge or steal official identification credentials then become two-time law-breakers. Should those illegal, two-time law-breakers then use their bogus identification credentials to obtain work or any sort of public or government services, they become three-time law-breakers. In this case, three times is no charm.
As I wrote in an article last year about states wanting to give illegal aliens driver’s licenses (“Security Threat from the Maryland Legislature,” DefenseWatch May 8, 2003), we are rolling the dice with our collective homeland security when we grant any sort of official status to foreign undocumented people.
I think conservative talk-show host Sean Hannity said it best in his book, Let Freedom Ring:
“Are all illegal immigrants dangerous? Of course not. Are all immigrants who overstay their visas terrorists? No. But do we have any idea which are and which aren’t? Apparently not. We must do a much better job of protecting our coastlines and borders. We need to screen all visa applications more effectively – particularly those from countries known or suspected to be harboring terrorists. We need to cross-check all visa applications against the FBI’s terrorist watch list. We need to take special care with those who are granted temporary entry to our country. We need our colleges and universities to help us track foreign students and make sure they’re really showing up in class. We need to deport illegal aliens, particularly those who commit additional crimes while on our soil. And that’s just for starters. This is not racist. It’s common sense.”
Even if you are not a Hannity fan, you surely must remember that the 9/11 hijackers were all from foreign countries. Some had expired legal visas, some had legal visas despite being on terrorist watch lists, and two even had Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) student visa application approvals sent to their flight school six months after they flew their hijacked planes into New York’s Twin Towers.
As a career military officer, the president’s new proposal reminded me of nationally syndicated columnist and author Michelle Malkin’s frightening article in The Washington Times on Oct. 11, 2003, in which she exposed that the Army was going to allow a 19-year old illegal alien, who used a $50 bogus green card to enlist, to stay in the Army. Not only will the Army allow him to stay, but because of President Bush’s executive order allowing non-citizen soldiers to obtain expedited naturalization benefits, the service will actively assist him in becoming a legal citizen.
For that illegal alien soldier, three times is more than a charm, it is a cleaning-of-the-slate reward for easily and knowingly breaking our laws.
One basic premise of leadership, whether it be civilian or military, is fairness. Being fair does not mean treating everyone the same, or giving everyone the same exact things. Being fair means giving people what they deserve based on effort, character and performance, whether it is a friendly pat on the back or a swift kick in the butt. A leader’s job is to be able to determine what is needed and then to deliver what is determined. Leaders strive to live up to established standards and accept the responsibility to enforce those standards.
From all I see, hear, and sense with respect to how our great country is dealing with (or, more accurately, refusing to deal with) the illegal alien issue, our senior civilian and military leaders for some reason seem to embrace unfair leadership practices.
What a perverse twist it is when leaders condone the breaking of rules and regulations for individuals or small groups and try to rationalize their actions by claiming they are being fair and not hurting anyone. What about those individuals who also knew the rules and decided to play by them?
Subordinates get hurt by leaders’ actions or inactions when leaders apply different standards to or refuse to enforce the same standards on other individuals or small groups. Once a leader proves that he or she is willing to show preferential treatment to certain individuals or small groups, to be unfair, that leader has become untrustworthy. Once a leader cannot be trusted, he or she remains a leader only in title or billet, and not where it counts most: in the hearts and minds of all of his or her subordinates.
Failing to protect our borders and enforce our immigration laws is a part of our ever-present terrorism problem, and not a part of the solution. Not only does it allow terrorists to infiltrate and assimilate into our culture, it erodes the ability of our collective senior leadership to effectively deal with all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Lt. Col. Matthew Dodd USMC is a Senior Editor of DefenseWatch. He can be reached at mattdodd1775@hotmail.com.
http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=329&rnd=795.1227267409599
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: