Bush Betrays Border Patrol

The Christian Science Monitor recently published a report that noted that U.S. Border Patrol agents are demoralized and feeling betrayed by their own government.

This is because President Bush — the Enron Kid, as I call him (Enron had contributed more than $600,000 to his political aspirations) — has increased the incentive for more illegal immigrants to cross our borders with his proposed stupid guest-worker program.

No wonder the agents are down in the dumps. They literally risk their lives and work long and hard hours trying to protect our borders while Mr. Know-Nothing tells people the world over that we are prepared to reward law-breakers by giving them legal status. Of course this is the same Know-Nothing who recently signed an official economic report that said the loss of American jobs to cheap-labor countries was a good thing.

We need to do three things. One, Congress must reduce the number of legal immigrants admitted to the United States. The number (around 600,000 a year) is way out of kilter in the year 2004. Two, the Border Patrol should receive 100-percent support from the U.S. government, which is not likely with the Bush administration. Instead of support, it is scheming to gut the Patrol’s union, now that the Border Patrol is part of the so-called Department of Homeland Security. And, three, the United States needs to get tough with Mexico.

The ruling elites in Mexico have for decades failed to provide opportunities for the great mass of the Mexican people. It’s no surprise. These relatively few families own practically the whole country and live the luxurious lives of the old conquistadores. The Mexican government encourages its poor to cross the U.S. border. Better they violate American laws, change our culture and send money back to Mexico than fester in Mexican poverty and perhaps one day rebel against their exploiters.

Instead of speaking out against this wrong policy on the part of Mexico, the U.S. government has insanely rewarded it. First, it established the maquiladora program, which encouraged American companies to put their factories on the Mexican side of the border and distribution facilities on the U.S. side. This allowed corporations to exploit Mexican workers and pollute the Mexican landscape while laying off thousands of American workers.

As if that weren’t bad enough, the United States signed the North American Free Trade Agreement. This allowed the American big three in the grain-export business to impoverish what was left of the small Mexican farmers as well as encourage more American corporations to move their jobs south, where, for the price of a few bribes, they need not concern themselves with such bothers as decent wages and health, safety and environmental regulations.

Americans should not worry about terrorists. Our own corrupt politicians and greedy corporations are gutting the nation from within, while much of the corporate media do a poor job of informing the American people, except of course in the area of entertainment.

The Enron Kid likes to talk about national security. Well, the first and foremost task of national security is to protect the borders of the United States. This he is miserably failing to do. And the Congress, so riddled with lobbyists’ influence, is failing with him.

If you’ve never seen a great nation commit national suicide, stick around. You’re watching it. The United States today is already unrecognizable from the United States I grew up in, and I fear it will be even more so, in a negative way, for my grandchildren.

Everything that made America great — a government people could trust, the work ethic and frugality, high moral standards, a fine education system, and patriotism based on America’s historic values — is being undermined by the present-day corporate and political elite.

Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years, reporting on everything from sports to politics. From 1969—71, he worked as a campaign staffer for gubernatorial, senatorial and congressional races in several states. He was an editor, assistant to the publisher, and columnist for the Orlando Sentinel from 1971 to 2001. He now writes a syndicated column which is carried on LewRockwell.com. Reese served two years active duty in the U.S. Army as a tank gunner. Write to Charley Reese at P.O. Box 2446, Orlando, FL 32802.