CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, May 16, 2005

Murder here, run for Mexico and be safe

The recent assassination (there is no other word for it) of a Denver police officer by an illegal Mexican alien highlights the special need for the United States to get control of its border with Mexico. Why? Because, even if the Mexican government wanted to catch the killer (which it will not do), Mexico refuses to permit extradition of its citizens for trial in U.S. courts. Another job for Mad Dog?

During the Vietnam War, we had a similar problem. The North Vietnamese Army would come across from Cambodia or Laos, murder Montagnard or Vietnamese village leaders and then melt back into the sanctuary of Cambodia or Laos. Thanks to the stupidity of Washington politics, we weren’t allowed go into Cambodia or Laos to hunt them down. Moreover, neither of the “sanctuary” governments would extradite them.

Currently, some of our own left-leaning cities have “sanctuary” policies ordering their government agencies to turn a blind eye to the presence of illegal aliens, even those suspected of committing serious crimes. Denver is one of those. Now, one of its finest police officers has been assassinated and his killer has apparently fled to Mexico. Never to be punished for his crime.

That said, this observer is for the immigration into this country of folks who are willing to work. But we need to know who they are. We need to know for whom they are working and where they are going to work. We need to set reasonable conditions for how long they are going to stay. We need to set reasonable standards should they seek permanent residence or even U.S. citizenship. We need to deport those who refuse to obey our laws, to include our immigration laws.

The Mexican Government is of no help. But we should be able to make them help. Mexico’s number one source of income is the sale of oil to the U.S. Mexico’s number two income source rests on the money orders sent back to Mexico by both documented and undocumented workers in this country. Tourism is Mexico’s third source of income, and most of its tourists are American.

Ergo: the U.S. has enormous leverage to use. But neither Democrat nor Republican administrations have been willing to face down U.S. employers who want to use cheap, undocumented labor or face down the ACLU and the Lefties who cry racial discrimination when we try to control our borders.

Interestingly, the Left wants the U.S. to model itself after the old European powers in everything but border control and immigration policy. Try moving between any countries on the European continent without a valid passport and/or visa. You’ll be in jail in a New York minute. Moreover, if you overstay your visa or work permit, the police will hunt you down, and eject you from their country, forever.

Having worked as a houseboy washing dishes, waiting on tables, and digging for survey makers for the Oklahoma Highway Department, I have enormous respect for people willing to start at the bottom of the economic ladder and work their way up. And, I even have a grudging respect for those clever enough to manipulate our laws.

For example, in a Denver hospital lobby, I met a matronly, documented, resident alien whose business is to meet pregnant illegal aliens at the border and escort them northward from U.S. hospital to U.S. hospital until they give birth in some emergency room. The newborn is, of course, an instant U.S. citizen. The mother, of course, must be allowed to stay here and raise her U.S.-citizen child. Then, they send for the father and any siblings.

So, if we can’t control our own borders, how can we expect to control the border between Syria and Iraq? Yet, it is not a matter of can’t. It is a matter of having the political will to do what is right, both for the U.S. and for those who want to work here – legally.

William Hamilton, a syndicated columnist, a featured commentator for USA Today and self-described “recovering lawyer and philosopher,” is the co-author of The Grand Conspiracy and The Panama Conspiracy – two thrillers about terrorism directed against the United States.

©2005. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com