Category: Illegal Immigrants

Bill O’Reilly almost nightly calls for the militarization of our southern border, but he never has any guests to explain how this could be done. So, Bill, since I agree with you, here is a rudimentary plan worked out by someone with a working knowledge of both our military capabilities and the geographical area in question. Mind you, I have no information regarding military training budgets, but as we withdraw from large-scale overseas operations, our leadership should consider applying funds no longer needed for those to the mission of defending our currently defenseless southern border.

I have driven the border from San Diego to Brownsville, even much of the unpaved segments of it in my Jeep, and I can tell you two things: it’s huge in terms of ground coverage, and there are significant segments of it where you can drive for endless miles without any evidence of an American policing authority. My visits to those military facilities near our southern border, as well as to those positioned but a few hundred miles north of that boundary, always had me mentally gaming the situation as to where and how our military could best be employed to assist our Border Patrol in enforcing our laws, so I’m not new to this.

Our recent combat experiences have been in desert environments and a cursory look at the hottest of hot spots around the globe reveals that the likelihood of that continuing is substantial. That being the reality, why do we not focus on training our troops in the vast desert environments that extend north from our border with Mexico – those that offer the major pathways illegals follow north to our metropolitan areas?

We have but two significant Army posts on this border: Fort Bliss, in El Paso, which is huge and is home to a number of combat arms units, and Fort Huachuca, a much smaller Army intelligence base southeast of Tucson. Fort Bliss is home to the First Armored Division, which has multiple brigades, battalions, and squadrons which could be rotated in and out of close border operational areas from El Paso west to the Arizona-New Mexico line just east of Douglas, Arizona, and deployed to the east to Sanderson, Texas, just east of the Big Bend.

From the Arizona-New Mexico line west to Nogales, the duty should fall upon the more distant 4th Infantry Division based at Fort Carson, CO which could forward-stage its units at Fort Huachuca. While Fort Carson is 850 miles north, that distance is almost completely interstate highways, and Huachuca’s adjacent Libby Army Airfield has 12,000-foot runways to accommodate our largest air transports.

From Nogales westward, the border area could be the operational area of the First Marine Division, headquartered at Camp Pendleton just a few miles north of the border in coastal California. The temporary bases for Marine battalions rotating in and out of Pendleton could be Marine Corps Air Station Yuma or the much roomier Yuma Army Proving Ground just a few miles north, where Laguna Army Airfield can accommodate C-130s and, because Google Satellite shows a C-17 on the apron, apparently that larger aircraft as well. MCAS Yuma has 13,000-foot runways that can handle the largest air transports. There are also old abandoned WWII Army airfields at Dateland, Ajo, and Gila Bend that could be used for staging smaller unit operations. Farther east is Marana Field, a more active Air National Guard base.

Getting back east, from Sanderson, Texas, just east of the Big Bend, to Rio Grande City could be the operational area of the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, some three hundred-plus miles to the north. The only border-situated active military facility between El Paso and Brownsville is Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, which is actually well-sited for a border protection base of operations. There’s enough open land east of the active runways to accommodate battalion-sized bivouacs of the 1st Cav for rotational tours of operations in that South Texas brush land, which, by the way, looks much like Mid-Eastern riverine environments where most of the populace of those regions congregates. Downriver from Del Rio is the old Laredo AFB site, which is now commercialized but still contains open land suitable for bivouacking troops and vehicles. And anchoring the eastern end of this region is old Moore AFB, just north of Edinburgh, TX, which is now under the control of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, also with sufficient land for troop bivouacs and what appear to be runways sufficient to handle C-130 transports.

Now comes the rub: liberals will scream to high heaven that our federal military cannot be used to police law violators on American soil, a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. However, troops in federal service have sworn an oath to protect this nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Consider if you will that some of those poised on the south side of the U.S.-Mexican border intent on illegal entry into this country, in violation of clearly promulgated immigration laws, are foreign enemies determined to cross that border, subject to military capture and incarceration. Whether or not our military has legal standing to determine illegal border crossers to search for terrorists embedded within their masses is a legal issue that will no doubt rise to the level of our Supreme Court.

A thought to keep in mind is that much of the border land I’m referring to is ranchland, much of it in the same families for decades. My wife’s extended family once held almost two hundred thousand acres right smack in the middle of the area being discussed, so we are sensitive to the ownership rights of the families there now. And as a firm admirer of those brave men and women who pioneered those lands, I believe we should respect their proud heritage. The federal government should negotiate generous leasing agreements with these ranchers and other landowners to permit military operations on their properties, with reparations for any damages.

Lastly, I apologize to the troops involved for suggesting that they be separated from their loved ones in peacetime for deployment to our lawless border. The truth is that this is not peacetime; America is under continual assault from the south by the Mid-East fanatics – those who would do us great harm, yet who easily slide through in the midst of that illegal migratory flood. Were I a serving soldier once again, I would see my duty of enforcing my nation’s borders as at least as relevant a goal as pursuing Afghan religious fanatics, the latter representing a lesser direct threat to my family’s life than do those terrorists embedded in the uncontrolled masses of illegal immigrants.

An additional issue will be the increased troop presence in the civilian community and the daily inconveniences their movements may cause. All I can say to that is that the Germans and South Koreans have put up with it for decades. If Americans can’t tolerate the active presence of our own troops defending us, then shame be upon them; it’s better to have troops than terrorists and deadly smugglers of people and drugs.

And that, folks, is my O’Reilly Plan to militarize the border.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Earlier we talked about the militia members who are closing on the border to augment border patrols there. My San Antonio got a look at their leader’s military records. His name is Chris Davis;

The Texas militia, known as “Operation Secure Our Border,” is being led by Chris Davis, a 37-year-old truck driver who was discharged from the Army in 2001 “under other than honorable conditions in lieu of trial by court martial,” according to a summary of Davis’ military service obtained by the San Antonio Express-News.

The details of Davis’ discharge are protected from public view through the Privacy Act of 1974. Davis, originally from Florida, served in the Army from 1996-2001 as a mechanical systems operator-maintainer and was ranked as a private at the time of his discharge.

I don’t know if that’s the truth or not, but I’ll take the media at their word. Not to defend Davis’ record, but I wish the media was this diligent checking on the current President’s background as they are checking on everyone else.

I think they’re talking about a Chapter 10 discharge, though, and those aren’t uncommon especially for lesser crimes that the Army really doesn’t want to prosecute. Again, I’m not making excuses for Davis, you certainly wouldn’t find me among the folks who would allow themselves to throw in with him, but you should know the whole story. From Fox News;

But Gilchrist distanced himself from Chris Davis, a 37-year-old Texas truck driver and leader of a militia group that had promised to deploy along the border to confront and intimidate illegal immigrants. Davis, who posted a 21-minute YouTube video last week, has since removed the clip in which he reportedly said: “You see an illegal. You point your gun dead at him, right between his eyes, and you say, ‘Get back across the border or you will be shot.’”

Yeah, he doesn’t sound unbalanced at all.

The Washington Times reports that that an “armed militia” of the civilian variety are setting up along the Mexican border near San Antonio, Texas to “fight for national sovereignty”. A couple of years ago, I might have supported the idea, but now with the Airsoft Grads of the Open Carry Texas movement acting childish, I’m sure they see this as an opportunity to strut around with their loaded long guns slung over their backs in front of cameras.

“CBP appreciates the efforts of concerned citizens as they act as our eyes and ears. Securing our nation’s borders can be dangerous. Interdicting narcotics and deterring and apprehending individuals illegally entering the U.S. requires highly trained law enforcement personnel,” the statement said.

According to the Patriots Information Hotline, there are 4 credible militia operations on the ground currently in Texas.

“We only have contact with one. We hold an open invitation for all active or potential groups on the ground to contact us for any help we have to offer,” the website said.

Of course, I fully support their intent – the federal government isn’t doing their job and Americans have the right to make their views known on the subject. But, only to the limit of being eyes and ears for the law enforcement officers. If they use their guns for personal protection, I understand that, but when they start trying to force the will of illegal immigrants and start waving their guns around like they’re at the OK Corral, that’s where they’ll lose me.

The federal law enforcement officers also have the responsibility to respond to citizens’ reports in a timely manner, largely to protect the US citizens from themselves. This has the potential for being very, very dangerous.

But, yeah, this is totally the Obama gang’s fault for not responding to the situation while doing their level best to hide details of the crisis from Americans…you know, like they do for everything else that has happened in the last five years. Well, them and their willing accomplices in the compliant media.

The Obama Administration is having trouble hiding the illegal immigrants who arrived in the most recent influx. According to the Washington Times, the Pentagon had initially agreed to take on 3600 of them for 120 days, but I guess they’re adjusting those numbers upwards.

The number of children seeking shelter at the three of the Pentagon’s military facilities is in flux, but close enough to the limit of an interagency agreement Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel signed onto that the Defense Department has to start making plans for exceeding that cap, according to Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren.

The other day we talked about the possible use of Fort Drum to house the little fellas, but according to Syracuse.com, that wasn’t suitable;

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and General Services Administration will send a team to Syracuse this week to assess the feasibility of housing the children at the 10-acre Franciscan campus at Court Street and Grant Boulevard.

[…]

The Syracuse site was selected for an initial assessment after federal officials conducted a similar study at Fort Drum, near Watertown.

The sources said the sprawling military base at Fort Drum and several other Upstate New York sites have been ruled out as unsatisfactory for the housing needs.

The only thing I can think of that would make Fort Drum unacceptable would be if they planned on putting the little dears in the old World War II wooden barracks. Everything else is brand new (relatively). And 120 days takes the whole experience into November – not a good time to be in Upstate New York if you’re from a Central American shit hole.

But, I’m guessing that this administration wants to get these folks out of sight until after the midterm elections so the attention-deficit voters to forget those images of protests along the border.

The UN is pushing the Obama Administration to designate the little fellas as “refugees” who are fleeing armed conflict instead of just illegal aliens in order to give them all due process rights;

Many of the migrants, in fact, stay for years as their cases wend through overloaded migration courts. Those who say they are fleeing criminal violence generally are not eligible for political asylum, which is reserved for groups persecuted for their beliefs or identities. U.N. officials say there is no way of forcing the U.S. and Mexico to accept Central Americans as refugees, but a broad-based change in terminology could bring pressure on the two countries to do more.

“Unaccompanied children and families who fear for their lives and freedoms must not be forcibly returned without access to proper asylum procedures,” UNHCR official Leslie Velez said in testimony submitted to the House Judiciary Committee late last month.

Ya know what I remember? When we were demonized for deporting parents while their kids stayed here. I guess deporting kids to go back to be with their parents somehow makes us demons, too.

The National Review reports that the health and safety director of National Border Patrol Council Local 1613, Ron Zermeno, has been given a cease & desist letter from his superiors because he’s been talking to the media about the shoddy health conditions that agents are being forced to endure in the continuing crisis along the border;

“As a union officer, I feel it’s my job to expose when management is putting people at risk,” he says. “They violated their oath as Border Patrol agents.” Before receiving the cease-and-desist letter, Zermeno wrote Paul Beeson, the San Diego Sector’s chief patrol agent, to explain that two agents at the Brown Field Border Patrol Station contracted scabies after processing illegal immigrants transported from Texas last week, according to a letter obtained by NRO.

Yeah, that’s pretty bad, but here’s the clincher;

“I’m willing to lose my job over this because I know I’m doing the right thing,” Zermeno says. “I’ve been in this agency for 20 years and this is the worst I’ve seen it. It’s similar to the VA.”

I’m guessing that he means the environment for whistleblowers and not the health environment. But, hey, at least “similar to the VA” is part of the current vernacular and everyone knows what he means about the seriousness of the situation.

Oh, and if the health situation doesn’t scare you, there’s the Townhall report that there are MS-13 gang signs mysteriously appearing on the walls of the processing centers;

[From an internal Border Patrol executive summary obtained by Townhall] “Border Patrol Agents (BPAs) and Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPOs), assigned to The Nogales Placement Center (NPC), discovered that 16 unaccompanied alien children (13 El Salvadoran males, two Guatelmalan males and one Honduran male) currently being held at the NPC are members of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). The MS-13 gang members admitted to their gang associations following a discovery of graffiti at the NPC. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) were notified,” the summary states.

Simply “a dazzling, sparkling array of God’s children”.

We are told that the children from Central America invading our southern border are seeking a life free of political persecution with opportunities to advance their educations. OK, I can understand that. What I can’t understand is why these children have to undergo the travails of threading their way through the iniquity and corruption of Mexico to attain their goals in the United States when there exists a very attractive alternative right in their own backyard.

Way back in the late 1940’s Costa Rica disbanded its army and promulgated laws to ensure that all of its young people were entitled to a free education. That national edict now extends to a college education at state expense. And these are national directives that the good people of Costa Rica take quite seriously. Drive down any highway in that beautiful country and you will quickly become frustrated with the too frequent Zonas Escuealas that crop up every few kilometers. But each and every one of those rural school zones are the seed beds for greater educational growth and national development.

So let’s look at a few positives for those youngsters abandoning say, Honduras or El Salvador, for a future in the United States. Costa Rica is much, much closer and you do not have to cross the lengthy and predatory state of Mexico. And, hey, you speak the same language so that huge linguistic barrier no longer is a factor. Then there is the cultural adaptation that will be considerable in the U.S. but will be negligible in Costa Rica, a country seriously Americanized while still maintaining its Tico culture. The food is still rice and beans.

So, if your goal is self-improvement through education free from governmental oppression, Costa Rica presents a very workable alternative. But wait: does that lovely little country down there in Central America offer you the opportunity to live on welfare, food stamps, subsidized housing and free medical care from the time you enter the country until the day you die?

Um, well no; that would be the U.S.A. that freely extends that greased life-style from the time you cross the border until we plant your free-loading butt in a potter’s grave. “But wait,” as those TV sleaze-bags say, “There’s more,“ and that’s true because the taxpayers of America will end up paying Social Security survivor benefits to your family in Central America who never contributed one minute’s effort to improving this country but who will receive endless monetary beneficence from American taxpayers.

What started out as a piece on why Costa Rica should be a much more attractive asylum than the U.S. simply ended up being yet another demonstration of liberal lunacy.

Crossposted at American Thinker

Customs and Border Protection commissioner, Gil Kerlikowske told America that those scads of illegal aliens flowing across our southern border are not dangerous and we don’t need to worry about them, according to the Washington Times;

“These are family members,” he said, during an ABC “This Week” broadcast. “These are not gang members. These are not dangerous individuals. I think that we all need to work through this problem together as Americans.”

He should reassure the Philadelphia doctor who was raped last month by two-time illegal 28-year-old Milton Mateo Garcia;

Living and working in sanctuary, Mr. Garcia last month, according to police, approached a 26-year-old Philadelphia doctor who was walking to her home in the city’s fashionable Rittenhouse Square neighborhood after a night out with friends. He is accused of forcing the woman into her apartment and raping her repeatedly.

Police said Mr. Garcia then stole the victim’s cellphone and rode away on his bicycle. In perhaps not the smartest of moves, Mr. Garcia kept the victim’s smartphone in his possession. Police said they found him, in part, by calling the phone and locating its signal.

Philadelphia, by the way, became a “sanctuary city” for illegal aliens in April.

Meanwhile Jeh Johnson, Secretary of the Homeland Security Department, assures us that he will be able to “stem the tide” of illegals rushing into this country according to the Christian Science Monitor.

Three times, host [of Meet the Press] David Gregory tried to pin down Secretary Johnson on whether most of the 52,000 undocumented children who have crossed the border illegally and alone since the beginning of October will be deported. And three times, Johnson turned to his talking points.

“There is a deportation proceeding that is commenced against the child,” Johnson said when asked the first time. “Now that proceeding can take some time, and so we’re looking at options – added flexibility to deal with the children in particular.”

Mr. Gregory acknowledged the process, but pressed for a more direct answer: “Are they going to be departed or not?”

Johnson gave an answer almost identical to the first: “There is a deportation proceeding that is commenced against illegal migrants, including children. We are looking at ways to create additional options for dealing with the children in particular consistent with our laws and our values.”

Whenever they say “our values”, I cringe because that’s how they’re going to frame their eventual solution – those of us who oppose keeping thousands of criminals in this country are going to be called heartless cretins who don’t give a shit about the children. Actually, I care more about those children than their parents did when they sent the little fellows out on their hundreds-of-miles journey into the unknown based entirely on a rumor.

As far as who owns the blame for this, absolutely, it’s the President. He’s been sounding like he’s going to throw open the flood gates for months. And these people who were waiting for the end of the world because the Mayans said so and they fear the chupacabra, of course they’re going to believe the rumors. They’re the lowest of low-information folks. And the sudden appearance of over 50,000 people appearing on the north side of our border is dangerous.

This administration’s lackadaisical approach to every crisis only threatens to deepen the danger. Like I said the other day, the riots at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas happened after only a month of indecision on their disposition. And there were only half as many immigrants.

But this administration isn’t very good at learning from past lessons.