"Border Betrayal"

Joseph Farah is right on target in his piece at WorldNetDaily calling out the high level Border Patrol folks for their apparent disingenuousness in the matter of discouraging arrests along the 23 mile stretch of border patrolled by the Minutemen. The entire piece is here:

It's bad enough Washington has denied Border Patrol agents the funds, manpower and tools they need to do their jobs effectively and safely.

What's worse are the messages they are sending the loyal, brave, front-line defenders of this country: Don't do your job!

In case you haven't heard, Border Patrol agents in the Arizona area guarded by the civilian Minuteman organization were told not to make too many arrests in the aftermath of volunteer, month-long effort to hold back the floodtide of invaders coming from Mexico on a daily basis. The message was clear to the rank-and-file Border Patrol agents – the government didn't want to prove the effectiveness of the Minuteman action.

As expected, there was a flurry of denials from Washington.

Yet there was something obviously disingenuous about the high-level denials. While they insisted the claims that direct orders had been given to agents not to be aggressive in making arrests of illegal aliens, not one official said what you would expect a responsible law-enforcement director to say if the accusations were false.

And I will issue a challenge to Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff and Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar right now: If you want aggressive enforcement of border violations, say so publicly.

Tell the American people and the heroic Border Patrol agents you want a zero-tolerance approach to law-breaking. Tell the American people and the hard-working, dedicated professionals in the field that you want aggressive enforcement of our immigration laws. Tell the American people and the undermanned, outgunned officers in the field that they are not to look the other way.

Mark my words: You will not hear those officials make any such statement.

The truth is that the immigration officials in Washington didn't even need to send a memo to their officers in the field for them to get the message they got.

That message comes across loud and clear every time the president of the United States opens his mouth on the subject. Every time he says America needs the "cheap labor" these immigrants provide, he's sending a message that the Border Patrol is obstructing America's economic growth by rounding up illegal-alien lawbreakers. Every time he floats another one of his amnesty program trial balloons before the public, he is insulting the dirty and dangerous work these men do. Every time he insults the Minutemen as "vigilantes," he sends the clear message that these particular laws are not meant to be enforced. Every time he suggests that the real solution for the quiet invasion of our country is for us to solve the economic problems of our neighbors, he may as well type the memo himself to those on the line that they are interfering in his plans for ending America's experiment in independence and sovereignty.

We hear you loud and clear, Mr. President.

And so do your treacherous lackeys in the misnamed Department of Homeland Security and their lackeys who run Immigration and Customs Enforcement and their lackeys who run the Border Patrol.

Your word has gone down the line effectively: Don't enforce the duly enacted laws governing our borders.

If I am wrong, come out and publicly encourage the Border Patrol agents to do their jobs. Come out and tell the agents in the field that they should disregard any order to the contrary. Come out and tell the American people you are going to secure the borders by whatever means necessary.

Until Bush and the rest of his ivory-tower Washington establishment do that, their denials of the credible claims of the Border Patrol agents will continue to ring false.

If the American people continue to stand for this kind of betrayal at the top, they're going to deserve the government they get.
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