National Guard ‘Photo Op’ at the Border is Not a Substitute for a Comprehensive Immigration Enforcement Strategy

National Guard ‘Photo Op’ at the Border is Not a Substitute for a Comprehensive Immigration Enforcement Strategy
Real Reductions in Illegal Alien Population Must Be a Prerequisite to Any Other Immigration Policy Changes

Washington, DC— President Bush’s widely anticipated announcement that National Guard troops will be sent to patrol the border is a “welcome, but a baby step toward the type of comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy that the American public is demanding,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR, in reaction to the President’s Monday night speech to the nation. “After five and half years of complete inaction on the part of this administration to control America’s illegal immigration crisis, we will need more than a photo opportunity for National Guardsmen at the border,” Stein said.

With American public opinion running overwhelmingly against President Bush’s proposal to grant amnesty for 12 million or more illegal aliens and create a massive new guest worker program, the White House is clearly attempting to establish some measure of credibility for its promise that it will enforce immigration laws in the future. FAIR sees the president’s decision to send National Guard troops to the border as a transparent and transitory gesture.

“We welcome this modest step toward enforcing our borders, but a real strategy to control illegal immigration to the United States and convince illegal aliens who are living here to leave, must have many more components to it,” said Stein. “There needs to be a real effort to enforce laws against employers who hire illegal aliens, an end to non-essential service and benefits to illegal aliens, and better coordination with state and local law enforcement agencies.”

“Immigration enforcement with demonstrable results must be a prerequisite to any other policy changes, not a media event designed to make the American public swallow an unpopular amnesty and guest worker program,” continued Stein. “After years of doing absolutely nothing to deal with this problem, the American public needs to see a real strategy implemented which results in illegal aliens getting discouraged and returning to their homelands in significant numbers.”

FAIR stressed that enforcement cannot be tied to amnesty for illegal aliens and a new guest worker program to satisfy the cheap labor lobby. “Amnesty is forever; immigration enforcement has been sporadic to nonexistent for too long for anyone to have confidence that the administration will carry through over the long haul. We have no reason to believe that when the television cameras and reporters leave, that the National Guard won’t be far behind them,” said Stein.

“If President Bush is serious about dealing with the illegal immigration crisis, he will get behind the House of Representatives’ enforcement bill, commit his administration to carrying out laws against illegal immigration, and drop his call for granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. If he does that, polls show that he will have the support of the American people behind him. If all he is planning to do is send a few weekend soldiers down to the border for a few months, the American public will see it for what it is: an elaborate and expensive photo op,” Stein concluded.

From http://tinyurl.com/fnnav fairus.org

We already know what Bush said and what he wants to do!

It's time we tell the politicians what we have to say and what we are going to do. This is our country damn it! It does not belong to political hacks, their cronies, or to illegal invaders.