After the success of the
Minuteman Project a new report shows that 36,000 troops or patrollers would effectively seal the southern border and stop the flow of illegal aliens. The report also slams the leadership of the Border Patrol as "lethargic" and "in total denial of the magnitude of the disaster". The report also mentions that there are currently plenty of National Guard reserves to handle the task and that if action was taken they could be deployed by state Governors within a month.
This action, along with laws restricting access to drivers licenses for illegal aliens, a significant crackdown on employers hiring illegal aliens and a system in place for employers to check workers legal status upon hiring them -- such as the bill proposed by David Dreier of California -- would put a serious dent in the continued illegal immigration problem we have here in this country and especially for the massive costs to the border states. After all isn't the National Guard around to Guard the Nation? And the nation starts at our borders.
Washington Times
The 33-page report, written by investigators for the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, said the Minutemen — who shut down a 23-mile stretch of the Arizona border last month — served as a model for a government effort to reclaim the southern border of the United States.
"The tide of illegal crossings on the borders of the United States is beyond unsatisfactory; it is catastrophic. It does not ebb and flow — it only grows. It is rising without measure and eroding the very fiber of our safety, life and culture," the report said.
"As we wage the war on terror in foreign lands, we have all our doors and windows open at home. ... The insanity of such a policy, or silent toleration of such a policy is almost criminal in itself," it said. "The Minuteman Project demonstrated that illegal immigration on America's southern border can be dramatically reduced to manageable levels."
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The report also called on Republican Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Democratic Govs. Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Bill Richardson of New Mexico to immediately request federal funding from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld for the mobilization of 36,000 National Guard troops within 30 days.
The report also debunked the leadership of the Border Patrol and open borders proponents who tried to attribute the reduction of illegals crossing the border during the Minuteman Project to other reasons.
The report also noted that Border Patrol supervisors said the Minutemen had little or no effect on illegal immigration, attributing apparent decreases during the vigil to increased enforcement efforts by the agency, along with the increased presence of Mexican military and police south of the border.
"However, nearly every individual Border Patrol officer who spoke off-the-record in the field to the Caucus team said that illegal immigration virtually stopped in the sector patrolled by the Minutemen as a direct result of Minutemen activity and publicity," the report said.
"The individual officers were highly appreciative of the impact the Minutemen made in the area, had good working relations with the project unofficially and felt the project had made a valuable contribution to the cause of the rank-and-file officer — protecting the border against impossible logistical challenges," it said.
Despite contrary claims by the supervisors, the report said, illegal immigration dropped significantly in the areas east and west of Naco, Ariz., targeted by the Minutemen. It said the decline "put to rest the historic immigration reform myth that it is impossible to stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border with any reasonable amount of additional manpower."
"The Minuteman Project demonstrated that illegal immigration on America's southern border can be dramatically reduced to manageable levels," the report said. "What is missing is not the means to control; it is the will. With a will, there is a way."
Tipped by: Say Anything
