President Obama Declares the Border is Secure

[sjr09 155]

In a speech given in El Paso, Texas, President Obama told Americans the border is secure. The President quickly followed these remarks by declaring that it is now time for Congress to pass “comprehensive” immigration reform.

The President first made his case that the border is secure: “n recent years, among one of the greatest impediments to reform were questions about border security…. And these concerns helped unravel a bipartisan coalition that we had forged back when I was in the United States Senate…. But over the last two years, thanks to the outstanding work of [Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano] and [Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin] and everybody who's down here working at the border, we've answered those concerns…. We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we've done.”

Having stated that the border is sufficiently secure, the President made the case that it was time for Congress to pass “comprehensive” immigration reform.

　

Chairman McCaul began by directly challenging the President’s claim that the border is secure. “While I am pleased that we have added more resources,” McCaul said, “the border is not secure and it has never been more violent or dangerous. Anyone who lives down there will tell you that.” (Statement of Rep. McCaul, May 11, 2011)

McCaul suggested that the statistics DHS and other agencies are using to deem the border as “more secure” are based on definitions that omit many border atrocities. For example, he noted that the federal definition of “spillover violence,” referring to the increase in drug trafficking-related violence spreading from Mexico to the U.S., is based on the [FBI’s] Uniform Crime Report, which does not include key data such as kidnappings, extortions, home invasions and smuggling that are directly related to cartel violence. (Id.; See also Congressional Research Service, Southwest Border Violence: Issues in Identifying and Measuring Spillover Violence, Jan. 25, 2011) In Texas, however, explained Congressman McCaul , the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) definition of spillover violence includes aggravated assault, extortion, kidnapping, torture, rape and murder. By this definition, Texas DPS Director Colonel Steven McCraw testified that there is “no question spillover violence is growing in Texas.”

Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Arizona, in which he said Mexican drug gangs literally do control parts of Arizona, arming themselves with radios, optics, and night-vision goggles. (Statement of Rep. McCaul, May 11, 2011) Zapata County, Texas Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez, Jr. also remarked that compared to the weapons used by the cartels, federal, state and local officers along the southwest border are not adequately armed. (Statement of Sheriff Gonzalez, Jr., May 11, 2011)

According to the witnesses’ testimony, the impact of drug cartels is not limited to the southwest border region. Amy Pope, Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General, testified that Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs) are present in at least 230 U.S. cities. This number has skyrocketed from the Mexican DTOs’ presence in roughly 50 cities in 2006. (Statement of Amy Pope, May 11, 2011) The violence in northern Mexico is in fact so severe, Ms. Pope reported that U.S. personnel are prohibited from driving from the U.S.-Mexico border to the interior of Mexico. The U.S. Department of State has also recently upgraded a travel warning to U.S. citizens,

[Pooky 3,355]

In a speech given in El Paso, Texas, President Obama told Americans the border is secure. The President quickly followed these remarks by declaring that it is now time for Congress to pass “comprehensive” immigration reform.

The President first made his case that the border is secure: “In recent years, among one of the greatest impediments to reform were questions about border security…. And these concerns helped unravel a bipartisan coalition that we had forged back when I was in the United States Senate…. But over the last two years, thanks to the outstanding work of [Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano] and [Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin] and everybody who's down here working at the border, we've answered those concerns…. We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. All the stuff they asked for, we've done.”

Having stated that the border is sufficiently secure, the President made the case that it was time for Congress to pass “comprehensive” immigration reform.

That, in a nutshell, is the problem. "The very Republicans" are not who the President should be listening to. It is the American people he should listen to. And their majority opinion, and a sizeable majority at that, is very different to the Washington GOP opinion.

[peejay 327]

Obama doesn't have any credibility concerning the immigration issue. His position is self serving for the Democrats and Obama is a partisan Democratic party hack. The only people that buy his bullshit on this issue are the usual illegal alien cheerleaders, the president's sycophants, and his worshipers that still think he is a man-god.

[sjr09 155]

Obama doesn't have any credibility concerning the immigration issue. His position is self serving for the Democrats and Obama is a partisan Democratic party hack. The only people that buy his bullshit on this issue are the usual illegal alien cheerleaders, the president's sycophants, and his worshipers that still think he is a man-god.