Divide and Conquer

By Michael W. Cutler
June 16, 2010

Advocates for open borders and amnesty under the aegis of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” have long understood that they had a serious problem with their agenda. The law, the facts, common sense and fairness all contradict their position. The only way they could push their agenda was to engage in tactics that were deceptive and divisive.

The use of name calling by the open borders advocates became widespread. Anyone who advocated the securing our borders against illegal immigration and the effective enforcement of the immigration laws were labeled as being “racist”, xenophobic”, “nativist” and even worse.

Under the administration of President Jimmy Carter, employees of the former INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) were given an edict to stop referring to aliens who were illegally present in the United States as being “illegal aliens.” Under the Carter administration’s “Newspeak”, illegal aliens were to be referred to as “undocumented workers”, a term that is often used to this very day. In point of fact, the term “alien” is not a pejorative. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the all inclusive body of laws that govern the entry and presence of aliens in the United States, defines an alien as simply being any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States. The problem the open borders advocates have with that definition is that it possesses clarity. It is not that there are millions of illegal aliens living in the “shadows” it is that advocates for open borders and massive amnesty programs for millions of illegal aliens have been, for decades, attempting to hide the truth in those shadows.

President George W. Bush, the president who often touted his “War on Terror” sent United States Border Patrol Agents to Iraq along with the troops he deployed there in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Our military understood the need to secure the borders of Iraq against insurgents and terrorists while the administration did nothing to secure the borders of the United States of America!

President Bush often claimed to have an understanding of the issue of illegal immigration because he had been the governor of Texas, a border state. Actually, illegal immigration significantly impacts each and every state in our nation. It is estimated that some 40% of the illegal aliens who are present in our country did not run across our nation’s borders but, in fact, entered the United States through the inspections process and either had visas or entered the United States under the ever-expanding Visa Waiver Program. The 19 terrorists who attacked our country on 9/11 entered the United States with visas–although they committed visa fraud and then violated the terms of their admission once inside the U.S. This is why any state that has a seaport or an international airport is really a border state. Unbelievably, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) claims to have just 272 special agents assigned to seek and apprehend millions of aliens who have violated the terms of their admission into the United States!

Furthermore, when illegal aliens cross our nation’s borders they do not simply set up tents along the border on the U.S. side. They spread throughout the country via cars, vans, buses, trains and airliners. Indeed, Janet Napolitano, the Secretary for Homeland Security, has stated that some 230 American cities, from coast to coast and border to border, are infested by members of the pernicious and violent Mexican drug cartels.

Advocates for open borders and many of the journalists who cover the immigration crisis routinely refer to those who desire to secure our nation’s borders as being political “Conservatives” and “Right wing extremists”.

Illegal immigration impacts everything from national security and criminal justice to the economy, the environment, healthcare and education, to name the most prominent public goods damaged, by our nation’s failures to secure its borders and create an immigration system that has real integrity.

Why would any American irrespective of political persuasion or regional affiliation not be greatly concerned about those issues? An effective “War on Terror” cannot be waged with open borders and millions of illegal aliens whose identities are unknown and unknowable present in our country. Their presence compromises national security and endangers the lives and livelihoods of our citizens.

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said that the enforcement of the immigration laws is “Un-American!” Those laws were specifically enacted to protect our nation and our citizens from foreign nationals whose presence in our country would be harmful to our nation and our citizens.

It is time for a reality check!

Michael Cutler is a Senior Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS | CAPSweb.org) and a retired Senior Special Agent of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service. in his 30 years of service, he rotated through all of the squads within the Investigations Branch of the New York office of the INS. He has testified at numerous Congressional hearings on the nexus between immigration and national security and is often invited to speak about immigration related issues on many television and radio programs.