National Guard needs to be deployed to secure border

MATTHEW VERITAS TSIEN

America is in dire need of all the “legal” immigrants it can get to reinvigorate its ailing economy, but the most pressing issue is how to stop “illegal immigration” into our country. We are just a few weeks removed from the passage of the controversial Arizona immigration bill that sparked riots throughout Arizona and protests across the country. However, what most of the critics of the law conveniently ignore is the fact that it primarily restates the need for the enforcement of existing Federal law.

It is imperative that all states adopt a similar bill that enables state law enforcement agencies to proactively interdict persons who enter into this country illegally. We’ve seen the rioting in Arizona, where thousands of these illegal immigrants and their supporters are shown assaulting innocent civilians and police officers by throwing rocks, bottles and whatever they can find that can be used as a projectile. Why should any sympathy be shown for people who have such contempt for the rule of law here in America — specifically, immigration laws that are in place in almost every country in the world, including Mexico?

For those of you that are curious, here’s Mexico’s current immigration law: if you are arrested in Mexico and found to be there illegally, you face a fine and up to two years in jail. If you re-enter the country illegally and are caught again, you face up to 10 years in jail. By the way, the police will ask for your ID in Mexico. Our federal immigration law states that non-citizens must carry their Visa or their green card with them at all times or face a fine or arrest. Taking all of these facts into consideration, on what basis do Mexicans or Americans have to protest this law? Zip, zero, nada.

To reiterate, this novel idea is a states’ rights issue. As we have seen before in past national disasters and public riots, state governors have the sole power to activate the National Guard and command them to protect the citizens of their respective states.

With 2010 set to be one of the most important elections in our nation’s history, it will be interesting to see how many other states will follow Arizona’s lead in passing a bill that will mandate the enforcement of Federal law to address the issue of illegal immigration to curtail the subsequent problems that non-enforcement has caused for well over two decades. Critics of the bill are also concerned that racial profiling of Hispanics is a relevant issue that will lead to violations of human rights. First of all, criminal profiling is necessary to help protect the rights of all U.S. Citizens both at home and abroad.

And yes, criminal profiling takes into consideration who one is, and where somebody is from, for example, their race and nationality. It has proven to be a successful tool used against Islamic extremists in the global war on terror. But who you are is also part of a larger criminal profile that also takes into consideration what you are doing and what a criminal’s likely motives and mindset are.

These bills are necessary to protect the lives of Americans of all color, including the lives of gay people. In fact, polling shows that all American minority groups – - including Hispanics — support the Arizona law to curtail illegal immigration. Along with Democrats, they strongly disagree that Arizona can somehow be compared to the former apartheid nation of South Africa or the civil rights marchers of the 1960′s in Montgomery, Alabama.

These bills are crucial to fighting radical Islamic Jihadists as well as interdicting the flow of contraband and crime that occurs everyday because of our porous borders. The drug war that ravaged Mexico over these past several years, has made its way to the streets of Arizona and other states. In California alone, tens of thousands of Illegal immigrants who committed crimes have ended up in the jail system. — a great drain on the already bankrupt state budget.

Border state Governors need to deploy their National Guard elements with all of their capabilities, immediately, while other measures are put into place. National Guardsmen have to report one weekend a month and commit to two weeks out of the year for drilling and briefing purposes. Instead of reporting to a military installation, these soldiers can be deployed to the border to enforce federal law and protect the country they swore to protect upon enlisting into the armed forces.

As far as legal immigration goes, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich may have one the best proposals. The U.S. should increase their quota for Asian immigrants who would bring capital and a proven entrepreneurial spirit to our troubled economy. Just look at Canada where Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal are teeming with jobs because of the massive influx of legal Asian immigrants, while nearby Detroit and Buffalo are wrecked with high taxes, horrible unemployment, broken state budgets and abandoned factories.