Posted by
Always To The Right on Monday, October 08, 2007 6:02:32 PM
From Michelle Malkin's blog always an excellent source for news on the immigration battle, you should check it out daily.
Are we a sovereign nation or a sanctuary nation?
I often remind you: It’s your choice.
You can choose to get involved in immigration enforcement efforts in
your backyard. Or you can choose to do nothing and allow the sanctuary
brigade to have its way.
A lot of media attention has been paid to the veteran who ripped down a Mexican flag. I prefer to focus on the efforts of people fighting the unglamorous fight in the trenches
to ensure that criminal illegal aliens are not turned loose, that
employer sanctions are enforced, that Congress does not pile on more
illegal alien incentives, and that the plethora of immigration laws
already on the books are enforced.
Fighting for sovereignty is much more than just a battle over symbols.
Look what we’re up against:
The Mexican government is giving its consulates in the
U.S. wide latitude to ramp up a campaign to toughen their defense of
immigrants and plans to give them more resources as well, officials
familiar with the strategy said.
The move comes as deportations reach an all-time high in the
toughest crackdown in decades by the U.S. government and police
authorities.
Among the actions under discussion are the creation of an
anti-defamation league similar to that focused on protecting Jews;
budget increases for some of the 47 consulates, especially in regions
such as North Texas, where Mexican migration has been swift and
plentiful; and a media campaign aimed at counteracting groups opposed
to illegal immigration and sometimes legal immigration.
The effort underscores the tension in U.S. communities grappling
with problems created by illegal immigration. And it is sure to further
incense groups demanding a crackdown on immigration, both legal and
illegal.
“Our fight is no longer inside the Beltway,” said one senior Mexican
official, who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity. “We have
been forced to change our strategy.”
… Nearly two dozen U.S.-based immigrant leaders, including North
Texans, flew to Mexico City recently to meet with senior officials of
the Foreign Ministry and the Interior Ministry to discuss the strategy.
The Foreign Ministry and its Institute for Mexicans Abroad, or IME, is
carrying out the government’s plan.
Mario Ramírez, a Dallas businessman and Mexican immigrant who
attended the meeting, said he knows his loyalty to the U.S., as a
naturalized citizen, will be questioned.
But “as descendants of Mexicans and citizens of the United States,
we feel it is our responsibility to create bridges of understanding
because the anti-Mexican mood in the United States is causing us – and
both countries – much harm,” he said. “What do we have to lose anymore?
We’ve been beaten up to the point that all we can do is fight back. …
Things will get worse before they get better.”
Foreign Ministry officials called the meeting part of a strategy by
President Felipe Calderón to “reinforce consultations and
communications with organizations dedicated to the defense of the
rights of migrants.”
The Mexican consulates are well-funded, well-organized, and
everywhere. Thanks to their influence, the Bush White House ignored
homeland security warnings about the illegal alien Mexican matricula consular cards and allowed the phony baloney cards to proliferate as Treasury Department-approved ID. Mexican consular meddling has dangerously hampered border enforcement. Heather Mac Donald
has reported exhaustively on the Mexican government’s growing power and
influence in working to sabotage immigration enforcement efforts.
You can yank one Mexican flag down. But it’s an empty victory
without the sustained energy and will to work within the law, and for
the law, and hold our government accountable for its immigration
enforcement failures.
Mexico is doing the job the American government won’t do: Putting
its people first. If Washington won’t look after our interests, we have
to take control in our own neighborhoods, counties, and states. That
was the lesson of the summer that the Newark murders should have taught
us.
The Newark Effect is taking hold in some areas:
In Pennsylvania, state lawmakers–invoking Article IV, Section IV of
the Constitution, have introduced an illegal immigration reform
package, National Security Begins at Home, to address threats posed by illegals to national security and personal safety.
In Benton County, Arkansas,
local officials have signed onto the 287(g) program, the cooperative
arrangement with ICE to train law enforcement in immigration/detention
procedures.
The sheriff in King George, Va., is also on board.
So’s the governor of Kentucky.
And the governor of Missouri.
And law enforcement officials in Beaufort County, SC.
And Mesa, AZ. And Bedford County, TN.
These efforts don’t make it onto the nightly news.
But if the war with the open-borders meddlers is to be won, it will
be on these battlefields…not on the drive-by, cable TV shoutfests.