This evening I received a number of e-mails and phone calls about the decision 5 to 3 by the United States Supreme Court to remand the decision by the lower federal court in Hazleton, Pennsylvania that had blocked immigration the ordinances passed by the government of that beleaguered city.
I am providing you with two links to the news articles that reported on the high court's decision. [Link one] [Link two]
As you may know, I was the final expert witness called at that trial in 2007.
My testimony was, as you probably expect, in support of the ordinances comprehended under the "Illegal Immigration Relief Act" that were intended to block the employment of illegal aliens in that small town in Pennsylvania and to also prevent illegal aliens from being able to rent housing in that town.
While the battle is far from over, this decision should encourage all of us that local governments do have the right to provide for the well being of the folks who live in communities and cities across the nation from the multitude of problems created by the massive influx of illegal aliens whose willingness to work for substandard wages under illegally substandard conditions for unscrupulous employers cause United States citizens and lawful immigrants to lose their jobs. Furthermore the massive influx of exploitable workers drive down wages and worsen working conditions for workers across our nation.
It is also important to remember that illegal aliens whose true identities, backgrounds, intentions and potential affiliation with criminal and/or terrorist organizations are unknown and unknowable threatens national security and the safety of citizens and, indeed, all who are present in our country.
This position is not "anti-immigrant" as the open borders advocates would have you believe. In fact, it is often the members of the immigrant communities who are at greatest risk of violence that is perpetrated by transnational criminals and cartel members from every country on this planet.
In considering the dangers that illegal aliens pose to the safety and well being of our nation and our citizens, you need only consider the categories of aliens whose admission into the United States is supposed to be prevented by the inspection process.
Here is a link to Title 8, United States Code, Section 212, the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that enumerates the various categories of aliens who are statutorily ineligible to enter the United States.
In reviewing the various categories of aliens who are supposed to be prevented from entering the United States include aliens who suffer from dangerous communicable diseases, aliens who suffer mental illness and are prone to violence aliens who are convicted felons, aliens who traffic in narcotics or human beings, aliens who are war criminals or who have committed human rights violations, are engaged in terrorism or in espionage. The list is far longer and you can read all of these reasons that under the law, aliens are supposed to be prevented from entering our country or may be removed (deported) from our country. This section of law is designed to protect our nation and all those who are present in the United States. This section of law is no mere technicality but is of extremely great importance.
It is also important to remember another serious national security issue to aliens who run our nation's borders- by evading the inspections process, there is no way of our government to know that these aliens are in our country. No record is made of their entry into our country. This not only creates a huge problem for national security but creates another important problem for us all, as well. When an alien runs our nation's borders he (she) is not fingerprinted as are all other aliens who enter the United States via the inspections process. This means that an alien who is arrested by local police or other law enforcement agencies may succeed in "getting over" and falsely claiming to be a United States citizen. This would enable such an individual who should be deported from the United States upon completion of serving out a jail sentence after being convicted of committing a felony, to simply be turned loose on the street where he may commit more crimes.
On May 24, 2011, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) issued a press release that announced that a citizen of Mexico who had been arrested in the United States for committing felonies was being turned over to Mexican law enforcement authorities so that he could stand trial for a murder he is alleged to have committed. That press release contained a number of disturbing statistics as to how many criminal aliens had been apprehended in the United States and deported (removed) from the United States.
Here is the link to that press release.
Here is that statistics-laden quote from that press release:
"Between Oct. 1, 2010 and April 30, ICE returned to their countries of origin more than 215,900 aliens, including 109,700 aliens with criminal convictions. Of those, 585 were convicted of homicide, 3,177 were convicted sex offenders, and 24,593 were convicted of serious drug offenses."
When I was growing up in Brooklyn, I remember my parents imparting so much of their wisdom that they acquired by the tough lives that they lived. They were wonderful parents who told me that the day would come when I would have to face the world on my own and that I better be up to the challenge. Tragically, they both died of cancer while I was still a college student- I was on my own far sooner than I would have wished!
Among the phrases that they used to provide me with guidance was a very simple one, "If you want something done right, do it yourself!"
The City of Hazleton along with the state of Arizona and other states and municipalities have understandably come to the conclusion that the federal government will not secure our nation's borders and will not mount a credible effort to enforce the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States. These failures by the federal government are costing the lives of our citizens and others who are present in our country virtually every day! While declaring that our borders are safer than they have ever been, Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Surrender, as I have come to call her agency, also acknowledges that hundreds of American cities are now infested by members of the highly violent Mexican drug cartels and still other transnational gangs and criminal organizations from the four corners of the globe have set up shop in cities across this nation, from coast to coast and border to border.
The actions of the political leaders of the City of Hazleton and other cities and states, run parallel to the sage advice I was given by my parents many years ago!
As potential candidates for the office of President begin to emerge and other candidates for other elected offices announce their intentions, it is absolutely essential that we do everything that we can to have our voices heard!
The effective enforcement and administration of our nation's immigration laws are, arguably, among the most important of all missions that are supposed to be carried out by our federal government.
Nothing less than the security of our nation and safety of our citizens hang in the balance!
A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!
If our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the "American Dream" the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!
We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm's way in defense of this nation and our citizens.
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