Immigration/Borders: President Bush
Associated Press | April 28, 2006
Mexico is rapidly becoming a drug-consuming nation..."
I want to remind people that
family values do not
stop at the Rio Grande River."
People are coming to our country to do 
jobs that Americans won't do...."
~ George W. Bush | January 26, 2005
'nuff said!President Bush's Ever-Changing Position on Border Enforcement
As Texas Governor, Bush Sues Feds for Costs of Illegals' Education and Incarceration
In 1995, the Texas Governor's [yes, as in George W. Bush] press secretary, Karen Hughes, issued a statement regarding Bush's support of a legal appeal by Texas Attorney General Dan Morales [Texas v. United States, B-94-228 (S.D. Texas 1995) 95-40721 (5th Cir.) (pdf file)], to recover $1.34 billion spent by his state on the incarceration and education of illegal immigrants.
"It's not fair to the taxpayers of Texas to stick them with the bill when the government fails to enforce immigration laws," Hughes said to reporters then.
Karen Hughes wasn't speaking without authority. In 1995, when Gov. Bush sued the United States' Government for $5 billion, he said:
"If the federal government cannot do its job of enforcing the borders, then it owes the states monies to pay for its failure."
That's right, when George W. Bush was Governor of the State of Texas, he sued the federal government for reimbursement of the costs of incarcerating illegal aliens, yet there are millions more illegal aliens in the United States now than when Bill Clinton was president.
On the Campaign Trail
When campaigning for president in 1999, George W. Bush issued this statement:
[Federal expenditures would be more effective] "...at the front end, to stop people from illegally entering our country, not at the back end, by reimbursing states after it has failed to enforce the border." [I] "would allocate additional resources to enforcing the border, so states such as Texas and California would not have the huge expenses they currently do." (San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 9, 1999)
During his 2004 Campaign, the president said the following:
THIRD PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES' DEBATE
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ | October 13, 2004SCHIEFFER: Let's go to a new question, Mr. President. I got more e-mail this week on this question than any other question. And it is about immigration.
I'm told that at least 8,000 people cross our borders illegally every day. Some people believe this is a security issue, as you know.....
How do you see it? And what do we need to do about it?
BUSH: I see it as a serious problem. I see it as a security issue, I see it as an economic issue, and I see it as a human-rights issue.
We're increasing the border security of the United States. We've got 1,000 more Border Patrol agents on the southern border.
We're using new equipment. We're using unmanned vehicles to spot people coming across.
And we'll continue to do so over the next four years.
Bush Administration Actions
If the president is as serious as he claims about securing our borders and clamping down on illegal aliens coming by the droves into our country, then why do we have the following results from him and his Administration?Border Fence Not Built
"...according to the Appropriations Committee yesterday [June 13, 2007], there's $864 million cash on hand in the Department of Homeland Security right now for building the border fence. Now, in seven months since the president signed this bill -- that's October 26 -- they've only built, according to the schedule we got yesterday, 13 miles..."
Informing Mexican Government Whereabouts of Minutemen
Why is our own government informing Mexican officials as to the whereabouts of the Minutemen?
U.S.
tipping Mexico to Minuteman patrols
U.S. Government
telling Mexican Government the Whereabouts of Minutemen
Daily Bulletin | May 9, 2006
While Minutemen civilian patrols are keeping an eye out for illegal border crossers, the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping an eye out for Minutemen -- and telling the Mexican government where they are. According to three documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the U.S. Border Patrol is to notify the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen and other civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegal immigrants -- and if and when violence is used against border crossers.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants' rights are being observed.
* * * "Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time," said Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. "It's unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country. They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.
"They just basically endangered the lives of American people."
Troops Sent to Border with No Arrest or Detention Powers
Why did Bush send troops, with no arrest or detention powers, to the borders? Why were these troops rotated out every 3 weeks? Just as they could become effective at working at the borders, naive replacements were rotated in.Another Scam? (the troops have no arrest or detention powers - only for one year)
A Polipundit reader has reviewed the Goode Amendment - the "send troops to the border" provision and discovered some disturbing facts: The troops amount to one soldier with one current border patrol agent.
Employer Sanctions Under Bush Have Dwindled
It is already illegal to hire illegals, however, the Bush Administration
refuses to properly enforce current laws. We don't need new laws, we only need to enforce
them. If an employer hid a few thousand dollars from the IRS, they'd track it down and
hunt him down years later. The government would get it back with stiff penalties. However,
if the same employer hires a few thousand criminal invaders, he can just keep on doing it.
If he gets caught, he gets a slap on the wrist and doesn't have to pay anyone back. Look at
the interior enforcement record since Bush took office:
U.S. Immigration Authorities, 1997-2003
|
Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 |
Arrests 17,554 13,914 2,849 953 735 485 445 |
Investigations Completed 7,537 7,788 3,898 1,966 1,595 2,061 2,194 |
Number of Fines Levied 778 535 297 180 78 13 124 |
removed from website on or about 7/2007]
Dept. of Homeland Security, 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics
September 2004. Table 39. (1997-2003)
Eleven to twelve million illegal immigrants currently reside in the United States thanks to this Administration's failure to secure our borders [article previously obtained from URL http://claireonline.com/issues/immigration.jsp; removed from that website on or about November 2007 and subsequently uploaded to nicmarlo.net].
The Bush Administration has refused to enforce the laws we have on the books and clearly did not make border security or immigration reform a priority until an election year. [In 2005], President Bush chose to only fund 210 extra Border Patrol agents after Congress authorized an additional 10,000 agents over five years. In addition, audits of employers who use illegals has declined from 8,000 under the Clinton Administration to 2,200 in 2003. In 2004, only THREE employers were fined for hiring illegal labor. This was down from 1999, when 417 businesses were fined. This failure is inexcusable.
...While the Bush Administration has neglected its duties, states and local government have borne the costs of cracking down on illegal immigration. In 2006, the President even proposed eliminating the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) which helps overburdened local municipalities deal with the costs of incarcerating illegals who commit crimes.
Bush Cuts Funds for Border Patrol
Bush budget scraps 9,790 border patrol agents
President uses law's escape clause to drop funding for new homeland security force
Michael Hedges, Houston Chronicle | February 9, 2005
...Officially approved by Bush on Dec. 17 after extensive bickering in Congress, the National Intelligence Reform Act included the requirement to add 10,000 border patrol agents in the five years beginning with 2006....
But Bush's proposed 2006 budget, revealed Monday, funds only 210 new border agents.
The shrunken increase reflects the lack of money for an army of border guards and the capacity to train them, officials said.
Bush Administration Halts Roundups of Illegals
Bush official slammed for stopping illegals sweeps
Asa Hutchinson refuses to say if popular California roundups will continue
July 13, 2004 | Ron Strom
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
Border Patrol agents who executed highly popular roundups of illegal aliens in Southern California last month – the first of their kind in recent memory – say they've been told to stop such enforcement action, and the Bush administration official in charge of the immigration enforcement has refused to say if there would be additional sweeps in the future.
The Minutemen
To those who argue that on March 23, 2005, the day when President Bush referred to "those people who are hunting migrant people" as "vigilantes"(1), was some nefarious group and was not referring to, instead, the Minutemen, you proffer a denial he himself did not give.(2) To make such a claim, it follows that the president was either ignorant of their formation or his comment was directed to lawless thugs at the border. Such a conclusion is neither credible nor convincing.
As to his ignorance, this would mean that President Bush was uninformed as to current events and was unaware of Mexico's then-recent denouncement of the Minutemen(3). As to the existence of lawless thugs who were gaining notoriety at the border, there were none.
So, who could have been "those people" about whom the reporter inquired of the president? The reporter's phrasing of the question was an implication that "those people" to whom he referred was "common knowledge" and, therefore, the president wouldn't require clarification. Indeed, the president did not request clarification.
It was, in fact, common knowledge and conventional wisdom by March 23, 2005, that the president was fully aware of "those people". After the Minutemen's formation in January of 2005(4), they announced their intention to launch operations on April 1, 2005. Prior to April 1, 2005, they scouted areas along the border and made plans about where, specifically, they would launch their operations.
By March 23, 2005, it was already known that the Mexican government was poised to take legal action against the Minutemen, as was announced by the Mexican government on March 1, 2005(3). By March 23, 2005, it was already known, but perhaps less commonly, that Secretary of State Condi Rice had visited Mexico two weeks earlier (March 10, 2005), and that the Mexican Government informed her of its impending legal action against and anger with the Minutemen(3). One cannot assume that the Secretary of State would have neglected informing the president that our southern "neighbor" was poised to take legal action against the Minutemen. It was common knowledge that the Minutemen were, and continue to be, referred to by such other names as anti-migrant patrols. One cannot dismiss the fact that at the March 29, 2005, White House Press Briefing by Scott McClellan, six days later, that Scott McClellan refused to answer, point-blank if it was the president's intent to denounce the Minutemen and refer to them as "vigilantes"(5).
To claim that the president was NOT referring to the Minutemen, who had so enraged the Mexican government, as "vigilantes" is beyond credible.
(1) President Meets with President Fox and Prime Minister Martin
March 23, 2005 | Reporter: ...And, President Bush, I wanted to ask you about your opinion about those people who are hunting migrant people along the border.
President Bush: I'm against vigilantes in the United States of America. I'm for enforcing law in a rational way. That's why you got a Border Patrol, and they ought to be in charge of enforcing the border....
(2) August 2, 2005 | Reporter: We've got these groups on the border called the Minutemen. They think you've called them vigilantes. Do you think they are vigilantes?
President Bush: Well, this was -- I was in Waco when I decried potential vigilantism. I want to make it clear that this is before they even showed up, as I recall, and I wanted to make it clear that it was intolerable for people to take the law in their own hands, because we didn't want people showing up with guns.
[Note: In response to the reporter's direct question, the President did NOT provide a direct answer. He did NOT say "No."]
(3) Mexican migrant activists brace for Arizona anti-migrant patrols as Mexican goverment plans legal action
Associated Press | March 1, 2005MONTERREY, Mexico -- While the Mexican government develops plans for legal action against civilian patrols expected to descend on the Arizona-Mexico border in April, activists said Tuesday they will show migrants how to avoid the volunteers.
The Minuteman Project, headed by Jim Gilchrist, a retired accountant and Vietnam War veteran, has recruited nearly 500 volunteers from across the United States to patrol the Arizona border for illegal migrants.
The volunteers plan to patrol an 83-mile stretch of the southeast Arizona border from the ground and air throughout April, when the tide of immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border peaks....
Derbez said the Mexican government will use all the legal means at his disposal to protect the rights of Mexican migrants, adding that the Minuteman project will be one of the issues he'll discuss with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on her March 10 visit to Mexico.
(4) Volunteers set to monitor Arizona border crossings
Washington Times | January 24, 2005James Gilchrist, a combat-wounded U.S. Marine and Vietnam veteran, said the "Minuteman Project" will field volunteers from 37 states, many of them ex-military and law enforcement personnel, to man observation posts and a communications center, along with seven pilots from Arizona who will provide aerial surveillance.
Billed as "Americans doing the job Congress won't do," the project — which will begin April 1 — is intended to showcase inadequate border-and immigration-enforcement policies by the U.S. government, Mr. Gilchrist said.
"We hope to bring enough attention also that we can send a message to our leaders in Washington, D.C., that this is our country, too," he said. "This border issue is about all 50 states, not just Arizona or Texas. It's about our Constitution and how it applies to all of us.
(5) Press Briefing by Scott McClellan | March 29, 2005.
Reporter: Mexico's President Fox announced during his news conference that our border fence between San Diego and Tijuana, in his words, must be demolished. My first question: During their subsequent Waco summit, did President Bush in any way reply to this Fox demand, which Senator Kyl of Arizona called, downright insulting, other than Mr. Bush denouncing the American Minutemen as "vigilantes"?
MR. McCLELLAN: Les, a couple things. First of all, this goes to a much larger issue, this question, and the larger issue is making sure that we have a safe, orderly and humane migration system. [Ah yes....the HUMANE MIGRATION SYSTEM that is spoken of, as well, in the SPP. Sorry, but when we're being invaded, as we are and have been, the MAIN CONCERN OF government is NOT to maintain a MIGRATION SYSTEM.] We have worked closely with Mexico on issues relating to our borders. There is more that we can do to control our borders, and the Department of Homeland Security is working to do that every day. We have an increase in the number of agents along the border, they're working to address the situation in some of the areas where you're referencing, as well.
And the President put forward an initiative, his temporary worker initiative, to address some of these issues, because we have a problem in this country where now I think it's some 10 million undocumented immigrants working in this country. And they oftentimes are coming here simply to support their families back home. And they're also filling jobs that otherwise are not being filled by American citizens. So there is an economic need that we can address.
And there is also -- by addressing this situation, the President believes we can do a better job of enforcing our borders and going after those who are coming here for the wrong reason -- whether it's terrorists or people intent on criminal activity. This will free up our border patrol and border agents to go after those who should not be coming into this country in the first place.
Reporter: The Washington Times has listed nine countries who have either built or are building border fences. Has President Fox, to your knowledge, condemned any border fence, beside our border fence? And why is denouncing the Arizona Minutemen any better than denouncing neighborhood crime watchers?
MR. McCLELLAN: A couple of things. I mean, the President spoke to this issue last week and I think he addressed it very clearly for you all.
In terms of President Fox, I'm not going to try to comment for him -- you might want to direct those questions to his office. But I know that the Department of Homeland Security, regarding the question you're bringing up, tomorrow is going to be having an announcement in Tucson, Arizona, about an initiative they're undertaking along the Arizona border to better control the border there.
In terms of the issue of the Minutemen that you bring up, again, the President spoke to that issue last week. And it's one thing if people are working along the border, simply to report suspicious activity, and that activity should be reported to the proper authorities -- the Department of Homeland Security officials, who are there to enforce our borders. If people are operating outside of the law, that cannot be tolerated. That's a different --
Reporter: Well, that's my point. That's what they're doing -- they're neighborhood crime watch.
Mr. McCLELLAN: Hang on. Hang on. That's a different matter. People cannot take things into their own hands. But if they see suspicious activity, they should report that suspicious activity to the proper authorities and --
Reporter: And that doesn't make them vigilantes, does it?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, if you're talking about a group of armed, untrained individuals roaming around the desert [Amendment II : A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed], that would be something that would concern us and it would increase the chance that someone could get hurt. And we don't want people operating outside the law [NOTE: ILLEGALS ARE "operating outside the law" and so is the United States government by not enforcing the law] -- the President made that very clear last week. So if you're talking about people reporting suspicious activity, that's one thing. If you're talking about people operating outside the law, that's another matter and it's one that cannot be allowed to happen.
There are numerous articles which state that Bush, in fact, called the Minutemen "vigilantes":
1. An April 7, 2005 Fox News Report: Groups Decry Renegade Border Guards.
Two weeks ago, President Bush, who supports a guest worker program that would allow illegal immigrants to stay in the United States, called the Minutemen "vigilantes."
2. An April 7, 2005 Washington Times Op Ed:
How ironic that the people who President Bush derided as "vigilantes" are acting as much-needed extra eyes and ears for law-enforcement officials. The Minutemen have all but sealed the U.S.-Mexico border in the 23-mile stretch they patrol. Their success suggests that, organized in larger scale with a cooperative federal government, groups like Project Minuteman could be a substantial contribution to border security.
3. An April 13, 2005 USA Today Op Ed:
Certainly, the "Minutemen" have scored a publicity coup that has put burrs under the saddles of the Border Patrol and even President Bush, who has called them "vigilantes."
4. An April 22, 2005 article on Front Page Magazine by Mark Landsbaum
President George Bush called them “vigilantes.” Self-appointed “civil rights” activists called them “racists.” The U.S. Border Patrol fretted that they might injure someone or be hurt themselves. And Mexico’s president threatened to haul them into international court.
5. An April 20, 2005 Op Ed by Cal Thomas
Instead of praising this peaceful assembly, President Bush has called them “vigilantes.” They are no such thing.
6. An April 18, 2005 Border Patrol article:
Border Patrol Union Supports Minutemen
Excerpted Statement from the U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544:
If only President Bush were so supportive of the rank-and-file agents," the site states. "While President Bush hangs out thousands of miles away in the White House, these people are willing to give up their time and energy to actually do something. While President Bush entices millions of illegal aliens to keep coming with his amnesty proposals and his demoralizing statements that he doesn't want Border Patrol agents chasing 'good- hearted people just coming here to take jobs Americans won't do,' the Minutemen are trying to get our laws enforced.
The Minutemen have made it very clear that they fully support rank-and-file Border Patrol agents. If only we had such support from the politicians we have to work for (aren't we really supposed to be working for the citizens of this country anyway?)"
