Politics Must End At Our Borders

The Washington Times reports today: "Border Patrol told to stand down in Arizona"

An excerpt:

U.S. Border Patrol agents have been ordered not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where protesters patrolled last month because an increase in apprehensions there would prove the effectiveness of Minuteman volunteers, The Washington Times has learned.
More than a dozen agents, all of whom asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said orders relayed by Border Patrol supervisors at the Naco, Ariz., station made it clear that arrests were "not to go up" along the 23-mile section of border that the volunteers monitored to protest illegal immigration.

If this is true, we should all be concerned. The border issue isn't a political issue. It is a National Security issue. Politics should not come into play when it comes to protecting the American people. It is our government's primary function.

Here's more:

"It was clear to everyone here what was being said and why," said one veteran agent. "The apprehensions were not to increase after the Minuteman volunteers left. It was as simple as that."
Another agent said the Naco supervisors "were clear in their intention" to keep new arrests to an "absolute minimum" to offset the effect of the Minuteman vigil, adding that patrols along the border have been severely limited.

This reeks of politics. These agents are basically saying that the higher-ups are feeling the pressure that was brought to bear by the success of the Minutemen, whether they will admit it or not. If this is true, then they are obviously more worried about their own job security than they are about National Security. That is absolutely pathetic!

Continuing:

Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar at the agency's Washington headquarters called the accusations "outright wrong," saying that supervisors at the Naco station had not blocked agents from making arrests and that the station's 350 agents were being "supported in carrying out" their duties.
"Border Patrol agents are the front line of defense against terrorism," Chief Aguilar said, adding that the 11,000 agents nationwide are "meeting that challenge, head-on ... as daunting a task as that may sound."

I sincerely hope that the above statement is more than mere lip service. The Border Patrol must do it's job to make sure those coming into our country are doing it legally and are highly scrutinized. This all starts with the leadership within the agency and must not be swayed by any political agenda whatsoever. Do it right, or get out of the way! Peddle your politics elsewhere.

Michelle Malkin runs an immigration blog that covers these issues in-depth. In it, is a quote by President Reagan that is especially appropriate here:

"This country has lost control of it's borders. And no country can sustain that kind of position."
-Ronald Reagan

If this country does not take the steps necessary to control it's borders, we will pay a price for it at some point in time, and that price will be one we can ill afford to pay. I, for one, don't want to wake up one day to find that we have been attacked again on our soil by terrorists who slipped through border control on the way to do us harm.

If you think for a minute the same devastation as 9/11, or even worse, can't be done just as easily with an automobile as with an airliner, then you are sadly mistaken. The Murrah Federal Building bombing should serve as a reminder that massive devastation can occur using little more than a fertilizer filled rental truck. I pray that the powers-that-be within our government figure this out before it is too late.