In Loving Memory of Sophia

Summer 1992 - February 28, 2007

I'm gonna miss you, kitty. I love you.

On Border Security

February 10, 2007

To: President George Bush, Senator John Cornyn, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and Representative Lloyd Doggett, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Secretary Michael Chertoff, Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

Re: Border Security

While I support the efforts of this administration for maintaining our nation’s security through our military actions around the world, from Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Horn of Africa and the Philippines, I am dumbfounded by the lack of substantive actions in regard to securing our southern border.

Living in Texas, the cost of supporting illegal immigrants allowed to live here without consequence is very apparent. During my student teaching, I had a third grade student casually mention his father telling him stories of sneaking across the border from Mexico. Border towns’ hospitals are being overwhelmed by having to render services to illegal immigrants, especially pregnant women who cross the border solely for the purpose of birthing their child on American soil, making their child an American citizen, resulting in yet another burden on the American taxpayer. I have heard businessmen call in to radio talk shows, explaining how they have had to lay off their American citizen employees and close their doors because they are unable to compete with other, less ethical businessmen who hire illegal alien labor. The immigrants aren’t “doing the jobs Americans won’t do”. They are stealing American jobs performed by skilled American craftsmen. Even in Georgia, after a meat company was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Americans came to take those jobs the illegal aliens held – those jobs “Americans won’t do”. And guess what? Those new American employees were paid a higher wage than the illegal aliens were paid. Illegal alien workers drive down wages for American citizen workers. My points in regard to the costs doesn’t even begin to cover the unreimbursed costs to both state and federal governments that are incurred because of the large and growing illegal alien population in this country.

Equally important are the national security aspects for border security. I hear news reports over and over again of armed and armored persons crossing our border. The Congress has authorized, and the President signed, a fence along the southern border. Why was this project not fully funded? The President authorized the National Guard to assist the Border Patrol in border enforcement. Yet, those same National Guard are not authorized to use force against armed and armored invaders? When armed and armored persons cross our border without our authorization, that is a direct threat to our sovereignty; it is no longer a law enforcement issue – it becomes a national defense issue. The Border Patrol is not only catching Mexican illegal aliens. They have captured persons from terrorist nations, and to my shock, a large number of these persons have been released. Just last year, FBI Director Mueller testified before Congress that Hezbollah operatives had been smuggled into the United States. I cannot forget that Hezbollah is, for all intents and purposes, an arm of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who is not a friend of the United States. It wouldn’t be difficult for someone from an enemy, terrorist nation to blend in with Mexican, Central American or South American illegal aliens. In fact, according to a news report from December 29, 2006 I found on the Daily Bulletin (Ontario, California) website, a man was apprehended in New Mexico near the US-Mexico border. This man originally claimed to be Miguel Alfonso Salinas. However, it turns out this man was an Egyptian named Ayman Sulmane Kamal. How many more Ayman Sulmane Kamals have we not apprehended, and what are they intent upon doing while they are here?

We have good Americans protecting our borders. Yet, we have disgracefully imprisoned two Border Patrol agents for doing their job. Just today, there are reports of falsify evidence against these agents and Homeland Security personnel lying about the incident before Congress. Just this past weekend, one of these agents, Ignacio Ramos, was for some inexplicable reason was placed among the general population, which resulted in him being assaulted my fellow inmates. Reports I heard on the news stated the prison population was 27 percent illegal alien, and that while he was being beaten, the attackers were calling him “La Migra”. Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are wrongly imprisoned. How is it that American Border Patrol agents are in prison, for terms longer than most murderers, when the drug-running illegal alien was given amnesty for past and future crimes, as well as reportedly being given a green card. In addition, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton has also prosecuted and convicted Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez for shooting at a van full of illegal aliens that was trying to run him down. Sutton seems to be prosecuting the wrong people. He is wrongfully pursuing American law enforcement personnel instead of the criminal illegal aliens. The deputy sheriff has not yet been sentenced, but it would only be right and proper for President Bush to issue immediate pardons for these three patriots. The two Border Patrol agents should never have spent a single minute in prison and shouldn’t remain there a minute longer. Guillermo Hernandez should not step foot inside a federal prison as an inmate.

I am sick and tired of the “catch and release” of illegal aliens. I am disgusted that my government is consulting with Mexican officials about how Americans can fix the enormous problem of illegal immigration. The Mexican government is hypocritical for telling us to continue to allow this invasion. Their treatment of illegal aliens is much more harsh that we have ever been. We have allowed illegal aliens to publicly gather and demonstrate in favor of amnesty. According to Title I, Chapter III of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico “foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country,” and the executive can compel a foreigner to “abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action”. Chapter II, Article 32 states “Mexicans shall have priority over foreigners under equality of circumstances for all classes of concessions and for all employment, positions, or commissions of the Government in which the status of citizenship is not indispensable. In time of peace no foreigner can serve in the Army nor in the police or public security forces. In order to belong to the National Navy or the Air Force, and to discharge any office or commission, it is required to be a Mexican by birth. This same status is indispensable for captains, pilots, masters, engineers, mechanics, and in general, for all personnel of the crew of any vessel or airship protected by the Mexican merchant flag or insignia It is also necessary to be Mexican by birth to discharge the position of captain of the port and all services of pratique and airport commandant, as well as all functions of customs agent in the Republic.” Even naturalized Mexicans are second-class citizens: there are Mexican Nationals, and then there are Mexican Citizens. To be a citizen, you must have “an honest means of livelihood”. Yet the Mexican government wants us to forgive their citizens for entering our nation without our permission. Mexico is fine with exporting their poor to the United States for us to take care of. Title I, Chapter I, Article 11 states “everyone has the right to enter and leave the Republic, to travel through its territory and to change his residence without necessity of a letter of security, passport, safe-conduct or any other similar requirement.” The way I read this, the Mexican government thinks it is perfectly legal for their citizens to enter the United States whether we want them here or not, because “everyone has the right to enter and leave the Republic”, “without necessity of a letter of security, passport, safe-conduct or any other similar requirement”.

The Mexican government, through its consulates here in the United States, issues matricula consular cards. The only Mexicans who would need this identification are those who are in the United States illegally. Any entity within the United States should be forbidden from accepting these cards for transacting business of any kind – not for opening bank accounts, not for receiving government services, not for receiving a state-issued driver’s license. If the United States even talked about enacting immigration legislation identical to what Mexico has on the books, we would be decried as bigots and racists.

While there may be illegal aliens who do truly wish to become part of the “American Dream”, too many are refusing to assimilate into the American culture. They do not learn English; they create insular communities and seek to restore the American Southwest to Mexico. To ignore this faction of illegal aliens is to potentially commit national suicide. Illegal aliens who think this way, but begin to have American citizen children to whom they teach these ideas is dangerous to the sovereignty of the United States. My research has shown Mexican government claims its nation “extends beyond… its border”, and to do this, they have contributed Mexican textbooks to America school districts with large Hispanic populations. These books apparently teach Mexican history from the Mexican perspective. If the Mexican government wants to teach it’s nationals about their nation’s history, they need to make it more desirable to stay in Mexico, not encourage them to illegally enter the United States. In addition to those who do not want to assimilate, there are common criminals. I have heard too many news stories in recent months of illegal aliens committing murder and other violent crimes against innocent Americans. This doesn’t even get into the issue of the violent gang, MS-13.

We were supposed to have secured borders with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Instead, all we got was the amnesty part. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was done to stop the flood of illegal immigrants coming over our border, and the flood has only gotten worse over the past twenty-one years. I will not accept anything that even smells of amnesty until we have physical control over our borders, and know exactly who is already here or entering the United States. I want a border fence constructed from Border Field State Park in California to Brownsville and South Bay in Texas. I want our National Guard who have been deployed along the border to be armed and allowed to confront any illegal aliens they encounter. I want our United States Attorneys to prosecute those who are breaking our laws by sneaking into the United States with illegal cargos of drugs or humans, and not our brave law enforcement officers who are trying to stem the tide. Groups such as the Minutemen should be welcomed and encouraged for the assistance they can provide, and not be written off as vigilantes. We need to enforce the immigration laws on our books before we create more of them. I want to see employers who hire illegal aliens to be heavily fined. Until the cost of hiring illegal aliens significantly outweighs the benefits, unethical employers will continue to hire illegal aliens for a lower wage than an American employee would demand. I want an end to anchor babies: if, and only if, the parents are legal residents within the United States should a child be granted United States citizenship. My interpretation of the 14^th Amendment was to grant citizenship to former slaves. The time for that necessity has long past. I want illegal aliens to be denied public assistance. I want it to be as unpleasant as possible for those in the United States illegally. I want it to be so unpleasant that they self-deport. I like that there are still people who want to come to the United States, but I want those people to follow the rules to get here: we cannot allow an unregulated flow of a poor, uneducated people to enter our country and become a permanent underclass. I will not support any politician who does not support these issues.

Border security has both national security and economic implications. If we cannot maintain our own sovereignty through maintaining border security, we, as a nation, are doomed to fade into history. We will no longer be the United States of America. I hope to never see that happen in my lifetime, but if you in Washington to not do what the Constitution demands of you: Congress shall have the power to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.

Sincerely,
Miss Ladybug

Updated 2/13/07:

Grim, of Grim's Hall, posted a link to this letter. One commenter over there, will_b, took issue with what I had to say, all but calling me a racist (didn't I say something about being called a bigot and a racist in my letter...) (will_b has retracted the accusation of racism). I said I would respond to will_b, but now that I'm done, I think it is too long to put in Grim's comments, so I am posting it here:

My opening statement was more of an acknowledgement that while I support the administration in one area, in another, I cannot agree with their actions in regard to illegal immigration, particularly as it related to the flood of illegals coming over our southern border.

When I was still in school last spring, when all the demonstrations in support of illegal aliens, I was listening to a local radio talk show out of San Antonio on my way home one night. One caller was a businessman from Corpus Christi, in something like plumbing or electrical. His employees had been American citizens with licenses within their field. He had to lay off his entire workforce and close his business because he could not compete with other businesses who would do jobs with one licensed American citizen employee to supervise while the grunt work was performed by unlicensed illegal alien labor. I’ll admit that this caller’s story is purely anecdotal. However, one of commenter over bthun here on my blog left a link to this similar story of a man in Atlanta whose entire family had been in framing/construction. It sheds a little light on how unethical businesses, or at least construction companies, go about paying illegals.

You can believe that border security has nothing to do with national security all you want. You want examples? Well, here you go:

A man caught near the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico back in December September who told Border Patrol agents his name was Miguel Alfonso Salinas when in fact his name is Ayman Sulmane Kamal. He’s an Egyptian-born Muslim. Egypt is one of the countries suspected of sponsoring terrorism.

A Representative from Texas has been told by sheriffs along the U.S.-Mexico border “that illegal aliens of Middle Eastern descent have been able to blend into the culture south of the U.S. border and pass themselves off as Mexicans.” Generally, people from the Middle East and people from Mexico, Central and South America are dark complected and have black/dark hair. If a Middle Easterner wanted to sneak into the U.S., it they would look far less out of place coming over from the southern border than the northern one. If they also spoke Spanish, it would be even easier to “blend in”.

The FBI broke up a ring that attempted to smuggle members of Hezbollah into the U.S. from Mexico

Another look at the connection between Hebollah and illegal immigration (and a mention of Muslim groups’ open support of illegal immigration) Some of those armed and armored persons crossing our border are suspected of being Mexican military. When another military crosses our border, to assist drug runners and other criminals, that is a national defense issue.

Here’s one MSNBC article about one such incident in January 2006, and another one from The Daily Bulletin, a paper out of Ontario, CA.

Since the two border patrol agents have been sent to prison, the Department of Homeland Security has not been very cooperative about sharing evidence with Congress about the agents’ purported confession to being “out to shoot Mexicans”. Also, there has been refusal to share transcripts from the trial. The two agents convicted were not the only agents present during the incident, but no one else was prosecuted.

I heard the “27% illegal alien” prison population either on TV or the radio, so I haven’t been able to find that specific statistic anyplace I can show you. However, I did find this article stating the federal prison population is “roughly 17 percent” illegal alien, noting that illegals are only “about 3 percent of the total population.” The 27% I quoted could have been for the Yazoo facility specifically or an incorrect report. I can’t recall the exact news program that stated that statistic, which makes it hard to source now. Regardless, Ramos should have been segregated from the general population – he could have been killed. For additional information about illegals and the Federal Justice system, you can go here.

Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila ran after abandoning a van with 700 pounds of marijuana. Sutton gave this drug runner immunity and medical treatment in exchange for his testimony. I don’t know about you, but I’ll believe the Border Patrol agents over a drug runner. This man is now suing for $5 million. I hope that suit gets tossed. The least he should get is a one-way ticket back to Mexico, if not an extended stay in a federal penitentiary.

I also think that an van full of illegals and their coyote trying to run over a Texas sheriff are the ones doing wrong, not the sheriff trying to defend himself from what is in essence a deadly weapon.

People who ignore and break our laws should not be entitled to the same rights and privileges that American citizens, and even legal residents, are entitled to. I don’t “hate brown people” and I am not a racist. I am related to “brown people”, if you must know, and they are treated no differently than anyone else that has married into my extended family.