Dakota Beacon

The United States’ southern border leaks like a sieve threatening our loss of national sovereignty. In the latest iteration, tens of thousands of children from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala guided by “coyotes” assault our southern border. They cross the Texas border from Mexico sent ostensibly without their parents. The pro-amnesty crowd, including groups like LaRaza, thinks it is cruel to stop the flow and return the kids to their parents.

It’s weird. Back in 2000 we had a case of a 6 year-old Cuban named Elian Gonzales living with relatives in Florida. Under the pretext that families should be together, he was removed by armed force from his Florida home under orders from Attorney General Janet Reno and reunited with his father in the Cuban communist workers paradise.

The larger issue of illegal immigration is that of slowing or stopping all forms of alien intrusion including the usual adult traffic of people from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and especially drug cartel couriers and terrorists.

A very large number of American citizens fear new waves of illegal immigration and that fear is not irrational. We are losing our sovereignty. What to do? How does the United States radically reduce a future influx of illegal aliens?

Should employer sanctions against hiring illegal aliens be in place? Maybe. But that is not a reliable fix for those who come here seeking benefits and not employment. Or worse still, those working for drug cartels smuggling drugs. Or, terrorists seeking to establish themselves and do us harm.

Do we really need more legislation? To what end? We already have sufficient laws on the books to solve the illegal immigration problem. What good are those immigration laws if they are reformed but not enforced? Attorney General Eric Holder has chosen not to enforce existing immigration laws. Nor is “executive action necessary if congress won’t act on immigration reform.” Just enforce the laws we have!

There is a solution that is too often pooh-poohed without considering the evidence. Build a barrier. Construct a fence. Construct two fences with a road in between for patrols both mounted and dismounted.

Building a fence around your house controls access to your property. You control who enters, who eats, who sleeps and who uses the facilities. The same is true of our nation.

Anyone with military experience knows that any defensive barrier is useful only if it is kept under surveillance and generates an appropriate response. That is why the necessity for patrols supplemented with cameras and sensors.

This is exactly what Israel did to counter the suicide bombers during Yasser Arafat’s Intifada. Israel’s fence essentially kept out infiltrators who were much more determined to breach the barrier than are illegal aliens.

South Korea has had a fence for 50 years to thwart North Korean infiltrators. South Korea’s experience has been a success with very few North Koreans penetrating the barrier.

Concrete barriers blocking approaches to our federal buildings and military installations are a standard feature in thwarting truck bombs.

If fences don’t work, why is the White House surrounded by a fence?

No barrier is fail-safe. A fence may not be one-hundred percent effective all the time, but it will slow the flood of illegal immigrants to a controllable trickle. After that, discussion can be opened as to what to do with the 11 million illegals already here. Many options may be considered legislatively once the border is sealed.

However, no legislation should be considered without first sealing the border.

Cost? Of course a barrier will cost. But so does processing and resettling thousands of aliens in the current surge. President Obama has asked congress for two billion dollars to cover processing and resettlement costs. That same money could buy a lot of barrier.

If immigration legislation is needed, fine. First stem the tide and secure the border. Argue about the legislation later.

Do it right and we will not be a nation divided.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).