By FAIR Intern, FAIR research department
On this, the 12th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, there is much solemn and appropriate remembrance of those who lost their lives on that terrible day. In addition, 12 years later there is much debate over whether or not the United States should intervene military in the Middle East.. One issue that was, and still is, glaringly missing in the continuing debates over foreign policy and national security is immigration policy and border security.
If true immigration reform is ever to be achieved, tragedies such as the Boston Bombing and 9/11 attacks would seem to be the most rational starting point for a national dialogue on what to do about potential terrorists entering our country and attacking us due to the lax nature of the enforcement and screening provisions of American immigration law. You would think that would be the case, but, you would be wrong.
In the more than a decade that has passed since the 9/11 attacks not only are our immigration laws not being meaningfully enforced, but many national political figures are seeking amnesty for millions of illegal aliens and more immigration into our country, despite our proven inability to identify potential terrorists. In the theater of the absurd, that often passes for our Congress, the threat of terrorism is often cited as a justification for amnesty. In the aftermath of this year’s Boston Bombing attack, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham asserted,
“We have 11 million people living in the shadows, which leaves this nation
vulnerable to a myriad of threats. That is all the more reason why comprehensive
immigration reform is so essential. By modernizing our system of legal immigration,
identifying and conducting background checks on people here illegally, and finally
securing our border, we will make America more secure”
So, to Senators Graham and McCain, when a pair of terrorists sets off explosives at a major American sporting event, the response is not to secure our nation’s borders and rigorously pursue enforcement, but rather to help, “the undocumented come out of the shadows,” through what they term a, “modernized” immigration system. To those of us, across the political spectrum, who are able to look at issues such as national security and immigration from the perspective of the broad national interest, the proper course of action is clear:
- We should secure our border with a physical fence and secure the interior through cooperative enforcement efforts.
- Illegal aliens who come into contact with law enforcement should be detained and put in removal hearings.
- We should implement mandatory E-Verify and institute sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. Such policies enjoy consensus support from the American people, who demand legitimate enforcement to take place before any discussion of amnesty.
Too bad virtually no one in Washington, has the political will to carry out the sort of common sense policies that might avert another tragedy, perhaps even more horrendous than the one we suffered 12 years ago.
5 Comments
We know Graham and McCain put the welfare of illegal aliens before their fellow Americans. Let’s vote them out ASAP, as well as all those in charge who feel the same way. We have ag worker permits that are ignored because farmers find them too time-consuming, so they hire illegals. How about another “Industrial Revolution?” This eliminates the need for foreign labor. Let’s turn our attention to finding more sources of oil here and not have todepend on the Middle East. Let them go back to a desert wasteland. Then, let’s elect those who put America and its people first. Reduce legal immigration with none from third world nations and needless to say, put the military on our borders. Stop the money handouts to the world. We are not the babysitters and by all means, let’s stop intervening in foreign wars. Perhaps then we might rescue our nation from the destruction it has undergone for the last three or four decades.
It is time for the untied states to close its gates. On this anniversary we need to remember that those people lived in this country and they killed how many.we have so many foreigners living here who don’t like us and dont pay taxes. They r collecting welfare and all. They do not want to become american citizens. My gore fathers were proud to become americans. We let everyone in and we don’t really know who they r. We should learn from 9/11 and the Boston marthon that it is time for us close the gates and look at deporting a lot of the foreigners. Tired of hearing many saything they don’t like us and they will take from our country and life like kings and queens in their country. U had a muslim church in albany ny funding the terrorists groups in tIraq. Americans need to stand up and tell the goverment close the gate and look closer at the people they uave let in.
While the article stipulates facts it forgets to mention most domestic attacks have been done by home grown individuals………….so immigration or the border will not deter these crazy individuals…..
That’s a contradiction. 9-11 and the Boston bombings were done by people who should not have been here.
More needs to be done to modernize the way the United States looks at and treats immigration laws. We cannot live by the same standards our ancestors did. The world has changed for the worst in a lot of ways and we need to enforce our immigration laws for the good of all Americans, not just to benefit the persons wishing to immigrate here.