Posted on Friday, 20th October 2023 by

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Throughout the year I occasionally stray from retirement planning and discuss issues that impact everyone. Some readers appreciate my commentary, while others wish I would keep my observations and opinions to myself.

This is one of those subjects that everyone should be concerned about. A recent poll found that “Seventy-one percent of registered voters surveyed said that current levels of security at the U.S. border are not strict enough, with a majority of Democrats and Biden voters saying that more needed to be done to secure the border with Mexico. Eighty-two percent of independents voiced their disapproval with current border policies.”

The president’s address to the nation Thursday evening proclaimed strong support for Israel and additional support for Ukraine but didn’t mention tightening security at our borders. I understand Europe and the middle east needs our assistance and intervention, how about America’s security interests. Can’t we do both, especially when they could be interrelated.

American’s welcome immigrants that come to this country legally, follow our rules, learn our language, add value to society as a whole, and assimilate into the communities where they live. My grandparents, on both sides, immigrated to the United Stated in the early 1900s. They came to participate in the great American experiment and succeeded in doing so.

Strange But True

Someone forces their way into your home. You don’t know who they are or where they came from; they have no regard for your personal property or our laws. Yet, you give them free room and board, pay for their healthcare, educate their children, and let them apply for benefits, all at YOUR expense.

If they choose to reside elsewhere, you pay their plane or bus fare to wherever they wish to go. When they arrive at their destination, they are provided housing and in some cities like New York, a stay in a five-star hotel, food, and everything that many Americans are struggling to obtain.

All of this is happening while there are over 582,000 homeless Americans nationwide on any given night according to The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), many are veterans that served this country. Our working poor need similar support, but they are left to fend for themselves while resources dry up, due to the massive influx of immigrants flooding our support systems.

The current administration and the head of Homeland Security proclaim our border is closed! Watch the news feeds, mass border crossings, thousands sleeping on the streets and shelters bursting at the seams across the country. Then tell me with a straight face our border is closed and secure. The facts and news reports speak volumes and proclaim the truth. America is under siege.

Descending Into chaos

Millions are streaming across our border because our government offers unrestricted access and rewards illegal entrants with travel to their destination of choice, food, lodging and healthcare! Who wouldn’t want to come to America or take the risks to life and limb to get here?

When they arrive and call family and friends back home, others soon join the ever-growing caravans heading our way. When there aren’t penalties, only rewards, for violating our laws it’s no wonder why we have a problem. It’s insane. Those who choose to apply for a visa are pushed further back in the line!

This attitude is systemic today in America. We encourage the plundering of stores and there shelfs striped clean while many district attorneys release repeat offenders back on the street to do it over and over again without consequences or restitution. Car jackings are increasing and overall crime is rampant due to lack of civility and again without a cost to the criminals committing these crimes.

Civilization is predicated on following society norms, why are we abandoning law and order and allowing anarchy to prevail and fester?  Justice is designed to be blind for a reason. There are no acceptable reasons for committing a criminal act. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, what your religion, race or gender is, citizen or illegal immigrant; if you commit an unlawful act, you deserve the prescribed punishment by law, period.

Just the Numbers Please!

Illegal immigrants, frequently called undocumented immigrants, are foreign-born individuals who lack a valid visa or other necessary immigration documentation due to entering the U.S. without inspection, exceeding the allowed duration of their temporary visa, or breaching the terms of their admission.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports 6,319,669 southern land border encounters since 2021, the vast majority were single adults. During fiscal year 2023, 2,202,039 were encountered at our southern border!

Does this sound like a closed border? This doesn’t count the encounters at all other borders and the million plus gotaways that crossed the border unencountered over the past three years and headed for this country’s interior unfettered.

Border Crossings/Encounters

The DHS separates border crossings into three categories:

  • Apprehension: The arrest of a potentially removable noncitizen by DHS where they are temporary detained after crossing the border illegally between ports of entry. They can be arrested under Title 8 and they can file for asylee status.
  • Inadmissible noncitizen: A foreign national who has not been inspected and admitted to the United States who is subject to the grounds of removal specified in INA Section 212. These individuals are ineligible for entry under Title 8.
  • Expulsion: Noncitizen expelled under Title 42 authority to their country of last transit or, if a person cannot be returned to the country of last transit, to their country of origin (see Title 42). This was rescinded this year and no longer applies.

The encounters recorded by DHS don’t necessarily correspond to the number of people attempting to cross the border. Many illegals cross the border after being expelled multiple times. Plus, they totally ignore the million plus gotaways that CBP doesn’t encounter.

One border encounter can incorporate groups of different sizes, ranging from a single person to an entire family, and they are listed as only a single incident (encounter).




The Jackels at Our Gate

Security should be first and foremost considering what happened on September 11, 2001 and what is happening worldwide today! With the escalating Mideast crisis and the fact that many terrorist groups have a vendetta against America, our borders must be secured.

The U.S. State Department issued a worldwide travel advisory on October 16th urging Americans overseas to exercise increased caution. The advisory cited “increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests.”

This too should be a concern for all Americans. We have no idea what radicals are already here or soon to come and what their plans are in times like this. Foreign insurgents could be participating in demonstrations now, in America, to spur discontent and push crowds to riot.

Is the FBI and other security agencies investigating this or are they too pre-occupied with silencing parents that express their concerns, at school board meetings, about what is being taught in their children’s schools!

Dozens of terrorist groups including Islamist extremist networks such as al-Qaeda, and the Taliban still want to exact revenge on America. Add to this list, China, Russia, and Iran; and many others may already have cells established throughout the country due to our open border policy. This puts our infrastructure and personal safety at risk.

The Sleeping Giant

We are the sleeping giant allowing this to happen, and it won’t be without consequences.

Border patrol releases many thousands each day into the country without fully vetting them, not counting the thousands of gotaways. It is costing billions of dollars to care for those entering the country illegally.

Not to mention the increased crime this is fostering and instability as cartels, crime syndicates, and potential terrorist cells take hold in all corners of this country. Around 100,000 Americans die from drug overdoses each year, many from the fentanyl that is coming across our southern border.

As noted above, the definition of an illegal immigrant is “one that lacks a valid visa or other necessary immigration documentation…” They can claim to be anyone from anywhere, apply for asylum and be sent to the destination of their choice. Border patrol has no way of confirming the information they provide.

The current administration wants to increase spending on the border, not to stop the flow of migrants but to accommodate more illegals, by building additional processing centers and hiring more CBP agents to process them! Enforce the laws on the books now and change the immigration laws that foster this fiasco.

Remembering 9/11

We were attacked on 9/11 and just around three thousand died, this country rose up and fought back. Yet, we ignore the drug deaths, lawlessness, and the potential for terrorists to enter this country that our open border perpetuates. This too is a war that must be fought.

Most of those crossing our border can’t be vetted, they have no paperwork and there isn’t time or the resources to check records in their proclaimed country of origin. Many are simply processed and released into the country to go wherever they please. Single males and families alike are released and provided a date, years down the road, to appear for a hearing which most never attend.

Border Patrol reports that illegal immigrants from over 100 countries have entered America over the past three years! Many from counties that foster terrorism around the globe including Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Saudia Arabia, and many others.

I’m not suggesting that many of those crossing our borders illegally aren’t good, hardworking people. However, we know little to nothing about them and criminal elements: cartel members, gangs, potential terrorist cells, and illegal drugs are also entering at an alarming rate. We encourage this invasion by not returning them to their country of origin and making them file for entry like everyone else on the waiting list.

This isn’t just one administration’s problem, in September of 2022 Newsweek reported, “The U.S. Border Patrol is reporting more than three times the number of encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border than it experienced under the former President.” The previous administration’s numbers were much lower but still too high. All presidents over the past 50 years and congress have let America down by not passing updated immigration legislation years ago.

The attack on 9/11 woke America up to the terrorists that were out to do us harm. Did we learn nothing from the experience?

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