By Dr. Harold Pease
Customs and Border Protection arrested about 52,000 illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico in 2009. This number included countries known to export terrorism and the numbers from each actually caught, such as Afghanistan 4, Egypt 14, Iran 15, Iraq 16, Nigeria 29, Pakistan 41, Saudi Arabia 1, Somalia 19, Yemen 13, and North Korea 10. So much for national security. These numbers reflect only those caught, and who knows how many succeeded undetected. Border security is national security. If Mexicans can get in illegally, so can everyone else.
This is nothing new to the government. Their own 2005 study A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border, admitted that “aliens were smuggled from the Middle East to staging areas in Central and South America, before being smuggled illegally into the United States” and that “members of Hezbollah have already entered the United States across the Southwest border.” In light of the need for greater border security exhibited by our failure to stop the September 11 attacks, it is difficult to believe that the Federal Government really cares.
With over one million illegal immigrants crossing the border each year (the government document cited above gave the number between 4 and 10 million in 2005 alone) how can anyone argue that this does not constitute an invasion and a threat to our language, economy, culture, and now even our security? A major purpose of the Constitution noted in the Preamble is to “provide for the common defense.” Common Defense is again given as one of the four powers of Congress in Article I, Section 8 wherein eight qualifiers dealing with what was meant by common defense are mentioned–all with a military aspect. The indisputable collective intent is to protect this people. Is intentionally failing to do so treason?
Illegal immigrants from terroristic countries already declared war by destroying the Twin Towers and damaging the Pentagon. Treason is defined in the Constitution as consisting of one of two things: “levying War” and “adhering to their enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” It appears that the Government’s position is intentionally not sealing the border; are they then guilty of giving the enemy “aid and comfort?” Proving intent on the part of the President or Congress might still be difficult, but it is time someone suggested such. We identified Iraq, Afghanistan, and Al-Qaida as responsible and went to war on them as a result. Yet we have done virtually nothing to keep other terrorists from entering the country at will on our very vulnerable under belly.
Without “common defense” one ceases to be a nation. The Federal Government has relinquished its most important function. Instead of being sobered by a state attempting to enforce already existing Federal law to protect its people and border, the Government is attacking its own states and people. The Federal Government reacts as though it is threatened by the national popularity of the Arizona law (now over 60%), and by the list of over a dozen states contemplating doing the same thing. Strangely, the Government sees Arizona as the national threat, not the illegals, who may include those from terroristic countries wishing to blow up our buildings filled with legal American citizens.
Some argue that the border is too big to protect. China successfully kept out barbarians many centuries ago with the Great Wall and they had no razor wire, drones, machine guns, motion detectors, cameras, helicopters and gigantic earth moving equipment as we do. It is the will to do so that does not exist in either party but more especially the Democratic Party. The money we spend in defending other countries’ back yards could build and secure ours many times.
But there seems a deliberate attempt somewhere in government not to protect us. Mr. President, would you please stop fighting your own people and protect us as the U. S. Constitution demands? And please, no more half-hearted efforts like finally giving us 150,000 National Guardsmen when we need 750,000, and new amnesties that only encourage an extension of our current invasion. Please seal our borders, or resign so someone else can.
Dr. Harold Pease is an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He has taught history and political science from this perspective for over 25 years at Taft College.