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 Bush
Immigration Policy Disappoints Conservatives
State of the Union...
[Jm
Kouri] 2/2/06
Two years
ago, Border Patrol agents began to voice what many believed
were legitimate concerns about "armed incursions" into
the United States from Mexico-based assailants. Now these invasions
occur routinely putting federal agents' and law enforcement
officers' lives in jeopardy.
They reported
that heavily armed Mexican army units and federal police, called
federales, had infiltrated US territory and fired upon them,
in some cases because – federal agents would later discover – Mexican
drug lords had put prices on the heads of American law-enforcement
agents strung out along the border. Where was the outrage by
our political leaders and the mainstream media over this blatant
violation of our national sovereignty?
Contributor
Jim
Kouri
Jim
Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National
Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at
a New York City housing project in Washington Heights
nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering
the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as
director of public safety at a New Jersey university. He's
also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained
police and security officers throughout the country. He
writes for many police and crime magazines including
Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus
Law Enforcement Journal, and others. He's appeared
as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news
and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN
Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume
The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com,
and can be ordered at local bookstores. Kouri holds a
bachelor of science in criminal justice and master of
arts in public administration and he's a board certified
protection professional. [go to Kouri index]
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Many of our
political leaders and most in the news media ignore these violent
attacks
on our national sovereignty while more
and more Americans are saying, "This has got to stop!"
While tens of millions of Americans watched and listened to
President George Bush's much anticipated State of the Union speech,
many were disappointed at the lack of emphasis on the biggest
threat to national security today: unmitigated illegal immigration
and porous US borders.
President
Bush continues to maintain a contradictory and perilous position
regarding
illegal immigration, claiming his plan does
not amount to amnesty. Standard American language usage contravenes
the President’s specious explanation in that his plan clearly
overlooks the offense of illegal aliens who entered this country
in violation of law and would not seek prosecution; a full amnesty
within contextual and explicit meaning.
The current position of the Administration on illegal immigration
is demonstrative of a flawed public and enforcement policy which
undermines national security by encouraging future mass illegal
immigration. Additionally, the intention of the President sends
contradictory signals to agencies tasked with securing our borders
as well as police commanders across the nation.
In a recent
The Washington Times article in which the President attempted
to justify his
position on illegal immigration, the
President stated the current immigration situation is a “bureaucratic
nightmare” and the Border Patrol is “overstressed” due
to “people [illegal immigrants] streaming across [the border].”
Further evidence
of the Administration’s contradictory
position on illegal immigration are statements made by political
appointees charged with protecting the public. In September of
2004, in an effort to build support for the Administration’s
Amnesty proposal, Asa Hutchinson, former Homeland Security Undersecretary,
publicly stated it is “not realistic” to arrest or
deport illegal aliens already in the country.
More recently,
budget problems within the Department of Homeland Security
further
called into question the priorities of the Administration
as agents are forced to release illegal aliens and curtail operations
due to ongoing financial constraints. These circumstances all
contribute to a “bureaucratic nightmare” and “overstressed” Border
Patrol.
The position of the Administration on illegal immigration has
had a profound and negative effect not only on law enforcement
operations, but also border patrol agent morale. The impact on
agent morale was measured in a survey conducted by independent
Hart Research Associates during the summer of 2004.
The survey
found a majority of agents were demoralized and were not getting
the
full support needed to protect the country, clearly
indicating a conflict between the view of professional field
agents and the Administration in regard to national domestic
security. The Administration’s current immigration plans
will exacerbate, not alleviate, that problem.
For those tuning in to hear President Bush address the problems
faced as a result of rampant illegal immigration and Mexican
military incursions, the speech was a major disappointment.-CRO-
Sources: Santa Ana, CA Police Department, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, US Attorney's Office, California Highway Patrol,
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, National Association
of Chiefs of Police, American Federation of Police
copyright
2006 Jim Kouri
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