 By Michael Reagan November 26, 2004
Instead of shutting down those borders to illegals and terrorists, the government has done everything but put up welcoming signs along our southern borders, and provide relief stations every mile or so to refresh tired and thirsty illegals as they wend their way across the borders into the U.S., where politicians from both parties strive to help them feel wanted and give them driver's licenses and all kinds of welfare goodies. As the media have gone out of their way to publicize the efforts to block a bill to revamp our intelligence services, misinforming the American people by blaming Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld for allegedly using his influence to block the bill a totally unproven allegation - the reasons why some top Republicans are fighting to prevent the bill's passage as currently written are all but ignored. Standing firm against the Senate-House Conference Committee report on the bill in its current form are Representatives James Sensenbrenner - R-Wis., Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Duncan Hunter -R-Cal, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. They killed a last-second deal last Saturday to pass stalled legislation to create a new national intelligence director and national counter-terrorism center. The overhaul was supposed to help the intelligence community track terrorist threats and was one of the biggest legislative priorities of this year. According to the Boston Globe, Rep. Hunter cited Pentagon concerns that the realignment of intelligence authority could interfere with the military chain of command and endanger troops in the field while Sensenbrenner demanded that the bill also deal with counterterrorism laws and illegal immigration. Sensenbrenner opposes the current bill on the wholly legitimate grounds that it does not include measures to prevent states from giving driver's licenses to illegal aliens, among other equally objectionable gestures to political correctness. He points out the fact that 19 of the 9/11 hijackers had a total of 63 driver's licenses among them generously handed out by various states, which allowed them to move freely around the country plotting their deadly mission. According to a memo from the House Armed Services Committee, the bill threatens to disrupt the critical relationships between the intelligence services and our combat troops. It would render our troops vulnerable by not providing clear and unambiguous delineation of authority between the intelligence bureaucracy in Washington and the existing chain of command. Sensenbrenner warns that the U.S. must toughen our asylum laws to prevent people from entering the U.S. and claiming asylum which would allow them to be free to live here while at large and free to plan terrorist attacks while awaiting an immigration hearing, which can take years to process. The fact is that this bill does nothing to protect our borders which it originally did in compliance with page 390 of the 9/11 commission report before the Senate got its delicate fingers on it and stripped the provisions from the bill the House passed. The House bothered to read that report but the Senate threw it away because of politics. They want an open border policy because they are still kowtowing to political correctness which is going to end up killing Americans it's now past the time to be just plain correct, and forget the political part. Anybody who thinks the U.S. can be safe with an open border policy must be smoking strange substances. To listen to the liberal media you'd think that America's safety depends upon getting this bill passed now. What's the hurry? Can't we wait until the new Congress convenes in January, when the newly elected members of the House and Senate will get a chance to consider the measure? After all, even if the bill went through now it would not have any impact until January or later anyway. The real issue here, distorted
by the media, is that the Senate stripped out everything the
House of Representatives put in to protect our borders as demanded
by the 9/11 Commission report, essentially leaving our borders
wide open to terrorists. The provisions must be put back and
until they are, the bill must be kept in limbo.
Mike Reagan, the eldest son of the late President Ronald Reagan, is heard on more than 200 talk radio stations nationally as part of the Radio America Network. Look for Mike's new book "Twice Adopted".  All Rights Reserved. Distributed exclusively by Cagle, Inc. www.caglecartoons.com to subscribers for publication.
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