CAPS Goes to Washington to Join Other Patriots; Our Message: Secure the Border

During the first weekend of October, Californians for Population Stabilization Chairman of the Board Marilyn Chandler DeYoung, Executive Director Jo Wideman and Marketing Communications Director Gretchen Pfaff convened in Washington D.C. to attend a four day series of immigration reduction and population stabilization meetings. The events were hosted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, U.S., Inc., the Population Media Center and Progressive for Immigration Reform. Also in Washington for the conferences were CAPS Senior Writing Fellows Michael Cutler, Leon Kolankiewicz and me. Over the years, I’ve been a regular attendee. This year, with only weeks to go before the crucial mid-term elections, I was heartened to see that the speakers represented a broad cross section of Americans from different states, professions and backgrounds who share our common goals: to dramatically restrict legal immigration, to end illegal immigration and to promote personal and government policies that curb population growth. The early October annual meetings are the only time during the year that like-minded population and immigration realists can interact and draw strength from each other’s commitments. In the coming weeks, I’ll blog about many of the topics presented in Washington. Since Arizona dominated the news over the summer, I’ll start with Patrick Bray, the Executive Vice President of the Arizona Cattlemen’s  Association. Bray and his influential organization stand firmly with us to end illegal immigration. Each year, Bray reported, he enlists more new recruits to our cause. The ACA website established a Robert Krentz Memorial Fund. Krentz is the rancher who was murdered on March 27 by a suspected illegal alien. Here’s a portion of the ACA’s statement regarding Krentz: “We hold no malice towards the Mexican people for this senseless act but  do hold the political forces in this country and Mexico accountable for what  has  happened. Their  disregard  of  our  repeated  pleas  and  warnings of impending violence towards our community fell on deaf ears shrouded in political correctness.  As a result, we have paid the ultimate price for their negligence in credibly securing our Borderlands.” These simple sentences reflect the feelings of most immigration reform patriots. We blame the United States and Mexican governments for not only Krentz’s murder but for refusing to work together to end illegal immigration. In a positive sign, the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to donate $25,000 toward the reward effort to capture the alien perpetrator who killed Krentz. Despite Homeland Security’s gesture, the U.S government continues to look the other way at border violence including even the most blatant acts of aggression that end in the killings of innocent American citizens. As more and more Americans like Bray speak up, it is becoming harder to ignore the people’s wishes for stronger enforcement. Steve Brophy, ACA President summarized Americans’ sentiment this way: “It is also important that we send a clear message to those who choose to enter the United State of America illegally and wreak havoc on our southern Arizona border that we will not stand for this foreign invasion any longer. We must secure the border now.”