|
STATE OF EMERGENCY
469 Americans Kidnapped on Mexico Border
By Mike Blair
The failure of the Bush administration to act to secure America’s southern border with Mexico against an invasion by millions of illegal aliens is spurring governors of states along the border to take independent action.
Meanwhile the Minutemen, a citizens’ group that has assisted the Border Patrol and state authorities in patrolling the border and keeping aliens from entering the U.S. illegally, is mobilizing a force of 7,000 volunteers to expand its activities.
The governors of two states have declared states of emergency, and another is considering such action in order to deal with the myriad problems resulting from unprecedented immigration. In addition, the moves were an attempt to spur the federal government to take action.
They have declared the states of emergency after countless pleas to the Bush administration, and in particular the Department of Homeland Security, have gone unanswered. New Mexico’s Hispanic Gov. Bill Richardson (D) is the first to declare a state of emergency, not long after he had vetoed a bill that would have expanded state 
Now, Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) of Arizona has made a similar declaration.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican and the first chief executive of a state to criticize the administration’s handling of the illegal alien crisis, is considering declaring a state of emergency.
The governors are concerned about the growing number of U.S. citizens who have been kidnapped along the border regions. A total of 469 people were kidnapped in 2004.
Currently, 47 Americans are missing, and their abductors are demanding ransom in excess of $100 million.
Those Mexican police who have been attempting to stop the illegal border crossings have been threatened and, in some cases, murdered by alien smugglers and members of Mexican drug cartels.
The fact is, uncorrupted Mexican police are hard to come by. An honest Mexican police officer earns only $300 from the government, while those on the payroll of drug cartels and alien smugglers can make as much as $10,000 a month by helping them.
Thousands of trucks, most of which are never searched at the border due to the North American Free Trade Agreement and could be smuggling both illegals and drugs, are daily crossing the border from Nuevo Laredo, on the Mexican side, to Laredo, Tex. From there, they travel up U.S. Interstate 35 deep within the United States. There is no way to tell which ones may be smuggling illegal aliens or drugs or both.
Federal government statistics indicate that about 81 percent of illegal aliens come from Mexico and various Central American countries.
These statistics are another cause for concern because the other 19 percent come from areas of the world where prevailing wisdom says Anti-American terrorists reside.
Illegal aliens make up about 5 percent of the American labor force.
(Issue #36, September 5, 2005)
|
|
