October 28th Radio Interview with Dr. Laura
Immigration Solution - National Security Issue
by Michael Douglas Carlin
There was dancing in the streets all over the Islam World when the planes hit the Twin Towers. Life changed that day. We know that many people in the world hate America and would love to see us attacked again. We also know that some of our enemies possess nuclear weapons and some are working hard to obtain them or to create them. We are unclear about the real intentions of Nuclear Power Pakistan but we know that Iran has threatened our way of life and would love nothing more than to wipe Israel off of the map. They fear a reprisal from the United States and would garner tremendous acclaim within the world of Islam by launching an attack upon American soil. North Korea has nuclear capabilities and has also threatened America.
I don't want to be an alarmist but nuclear explosions are not difficult to manufacture with the availability of the proper ingredients. Dirty bombs are even easier to make and could have an enormous effect if detonated in a populated area. In this dangerous world does it make any sense that our border is porous and allows people to come through undocumented? Who are the people that are in our country? We really have no clue.
Letting the wrong person through could have disastrous ramifications. And yet we are paralyzed in creating a meaningful immigration policy that all can buy into. America has become polarized on this issue and this polarization is exactly what creates opportunity for our enemies. Closing the gates after the livestock have left the barn isn't a good strategy. We need a comprehensive plan that deals with all aspects of this issue in a way that protects all legitimate interests. We need that plan now.
We have between seven million and twenty million illegal immigrants in the United States. There is no solid figure on this group because they keep a low profile and are not easy to identify. They pick our crops, work in our factories, clean our homes, and landscape our gardens. However, as stated before a single bad apple could infiltrate their numbers and do serious damage to the infrastructure of America with a single nuclear device.
This isn’t simply an immigration issue. It has become a National Security issue and it needs to be addressed immediately. One of the additional benefits of sealing the border is that we will curtail the drugs from coming into the United States. This additional benefit will also have an enormous positive impact on life in America.
If Cocaine, Heroin, and other drugs were $2000 a gram on our streets demand would fall sharply. This would decrease the amount of drug related health care costs and cost of housing inmates paid for by cities, counties, states and the federal government. The cost of social services provided to illegal immigrants would also fall, over time.
Even before we had soldiers in Muslim lands America was a target for terrorists and we need to prepare for further attacks on our soil. Closing our border is just sound policy.
1. In the interests of National Security we must seal our borders.
• National Security - we must know who is coming into America. We are at war with Radical Islam, we also have other enemies and we need to cull "Would Be" suicide bombers from the herd.
• Drug Trade - we must stop drugs from polluting our streets.
Who Are These People In Our Country?
It is estimated that between seven and twenty million people are in America illegally. Many of these people are working below minimum wage picking our crops, working in factories, cleaning houses, cooking our food or landscaping our gardens.
I am a big believer in the Promise of America. I can’t blame the people that risk their lives crossing the border to come into America. They want access to opportunity. We have laws on the books that we selectively enforce so they feel that we want them here. And who can blame them for this perception.
In contract law, if I enter into a contract and choose not to enforce my rights after seven years I no longer have any rights in that contract. Crimes have a statute of limitations. Clearly those that have been working in the United States for a number of years have earned rights, especially when the laws have been selectively enforced.
America is addicted to cheap products that we import and we are also addicted to cheap products or services produced by the cheap labor of illegal immigrants. This addiction fuels our selective enforcement of the laws. In our War on Terror we can no longer afford to have millions of illegal aliens running freely around our country. We have to assume that some of these illegal aliens are here to destroy our way of life. We have to assume that after our border is closed we have already allowed our enemies to enter America.
Rounding up what may be twenty million people and deporting them has severe implications as well as substantial costs. As a practical matter, replacing the labor would cause a shock to the supply of so many products that we are not prepared to pay the associated high prices. America is struggling to pay for basic services right now so funding the capture, prosecution, incarceration, and deportation of so many illegal aliens would further add to the mounting debt we are already struggling to pay.
The time has come for us to entice all that are here illegally to come to the surface and become documented with identification cards, fingerprints, and DNA. The promise of a path toward amnesty is really the only practical answer. Our need to know who is in our country and cull out the criminals makes this a necessity. Picture a program that rewards those that surface quickest and only grants work visas to those without a criminal record. If you become documented in the first month then you are able to obtain a valid work visa within two years and gradually obtain minimum wage. If you become documented in month two then you can obtain a valid work vista within three years and so on until the sixth month, which takes seven years to obtain a work visa.
Those that miss the cutoff are assumed to be criminals and all laws from that point will be enforced and criminals will be arrested, prosecuted, incarcerated and deported. The process of documenting illegal aliens would create a minimum of 200,000 jobs in America at a time when jobs are needed to get America moving again.
2. We must document the men, women and children that are in our country illegally.
• We must separate those that are here for opportunity from those that are here to do us harm.
• The estimate is that there are between 7 and 20 million illegal aliens in our country.
• To get them to surface we must offer a path to amnesty and citizenship over a protracted period of time that includes becoming documented with DNA samples.
• Those that do not surface must be thought of as criminals and deported.
• Path to amnesty, work visas, and ultimate citizenship will not be immediate.
Mexico makes money from illegal aliens, smuggling, drug trafficking and corruption. The government of Mexico will tell us anything and then do what is in their best interests. They are complicit in aiding illegal immigration and many other activities that are bad for the United States.
I had the opportunity to interview a former Mexican Federales who told tales of extortion, bribery, drug trafficking and all types of illegal activities that were part of the job. Each day he would run a regular route to collect stacks of hundred dollar bills and a portion of that money was kept and the rest was fed up the chain in the form of suitcases that were filled with cash and sent off to Mexico City. As an official representative of the Mexican Government he witnessed counterfeiting operations, cartel activities, murder for hire, and torture. In the ten years since this interview the only thing that has changed is the escalation of violence. Lawlessness and corruption rule the day just south of the border and all of it is beginning to spill over the border. As a National Security issue we need a meaningful treaty with Mexico.
NationMaster.com lists Mexico as a “major drug-producing nation; cultivation of opium poppy in 2007 rose to 6,900 hectares yielding a potential production of 18 metric tons of pure heroin, or 50 metric tons of "black tar" heroin, the dominant form of Mexican heroin in the western United States; marijuana cultivation increased to 8,900 hectares in 2007 and yielded a potential production of 15,800 metric tons; government conducts the largest independent illicit-crop eradication program in the world; continues as the primary transshipment country for US-bound cocaine from South America, with an estimated 90% of annual cocaine movements toward the US stopping in Mexico; major drug syndicates control the majority of drug trafficking throughout the country; producer and distributor of ecstasy; significant money-laundering center; major supplier of heroin and largest foreign supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine to the US market.”
Does this sound like a country we want as a neighbor? Mexico enforces the drug laws the way we enforce immigration laws: selectively. They may operate the largest eradication program in the world but they also allow much of the drugs to pass through our border and make no mistake about it, they profit from it.
How do we entice them to help us curb immigration and enforce drug laws all of the time? We pursue a policy of “love thy neighbor” giving them the promise of America within their own borders. I have driven on the 10 freeway thousands of times along the border in El Paso. There is a stark difference between the Mexican side and the American side. The land is the same but the ideology is quite different. The corruption and lawlessness stops Mexico from blossoming into drinking from the cup of liberty. This same lawlessness and corruption could also pose a National Security Threat.
What would keep our enemies from creating weapons that could be launched from Mexico into border cities in America? We need a partner in the War on Terror along all of our borders. How much more secure would we all feel if we had a 50-mile buffer along our Southern border?
Picture a 50-mile “Honor Zone” where the rule of law provided security to all that live, work or invest there. In the “Honor Zone” America would have the right to have our EPA, FDA, and other government agencies monitor all agriculture, products, and livestock produced there. Mexico could provide low cost labor to U.S. Companies and these workers would no longer need to cross our border to benefit from U.S. markets. Mexico would see their GDP and taxation base grow from legal markets and this zone would not tolerate lawlessness. Within the “Honor Zone” a stable and secure market would replace the current corrupt model. Shipments would be searched randomly and any smuggling found would jeopardize certification. America would invite our farmers, manufacturers, meat-packers, and assemblers to utilize low cost labor to keep cheap goods coming to market for the American consumer. This zone would grow jobs on both sides of the border. Mexico and America would become partners controlling who entered this zone and what products were allowed to enter the zone. Drugs, implements of war, or fissile material would not be tolerated within the “Honor Zone.”
The negotiations begin with us informing the Mexican government that we are serious about the war on drugs and that we intend to stop the flow at our borders. We also intend on launching an all out assault on the demand of side of the narcotics issue. Profits from the drug trade are about to cease. Also, our porous border is going to stop all who would enter illegally. However, as a good neighbor we have an idea that could replace the income their country garners from illegal aliens and drugs. We then pitch them on the “Honor Zone.”
3. We must negotiate a meaningful treaty with Mexico
• Mexico is complicit in the drug trade because they profit from it.
• Mexico gets huge sums from illegal aliens sending money home.
• Mexico has a drug war that is beginning to spill over our border.
• Mexico is path of least resistance for terrorists to do us harm.
• We need a buffer of 50 miles to protect U.S. Border Cities.
Closing our border, documenting illegal aliens, and creating an “Honor Zone” will provide more security, identify criminals, help our neighbors, keep cheap products flowing into American stores, and create jobs. This is the policy that we need in America.
The dancing on the streets can happen every day in America and Mexico. It might just be salsa dancing. 