Pelosi in la-la-land on immigration

Hillary, Pelosi in la-la-land on immigration
James L. Lambert - Guest Columnist - 3/30/2009 6:45:00 AM

Last week Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) described the law-enforcement activities of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as "un-American." Which triggers the question -- since when is enforcing federal law by a federal agency "un-American"?





Addressing a crowd that included both illegal and legal immigrants at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in San Francisco, Pelosi commended those in attendance for being willing "to take responsibility for our country's future [because] that makes you very, very patriotic." (See related story)

Condemning the ICE raids, she asked: "Who in our country would not want to change a policy of kicking in doors in the middle of the night and sending a parent away from their families? It must be stopped. What value system is that? I think it's un-American."

Pelosi's comments reveal just how out of touch she is -- like most of her party's leadership -- with most Americans. Polls indicate that more than 70 percent of Americans want immigration law enforced. They don't want employers to violate federal law and hire illegal immigrants...they don't want people to falsify their IDs...and they don't want them to use phony Social Security numbers. Furthermore, as taxpayers they don't want to subsidize people who openly disrespect and violate our immigration laws -- no matter where they come from.

Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas) noted recently that "more than twelve-and-a-half-million U.S. citizens and legal immigrant workers are looking for work...and there are seven-million illegal immigrants working in the U.S., according to the most recent Pew estimates."

Not to be outdone by the Speaker, fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton is pandering to our neighbors to the south. On Wednesday, our illustrious secretary of State blamed Americans who use drugs for the increased violence in Mexico and the border region.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers, and civilians," said Clinton. (See related story)

Radio talk-show host Rick Roberts (KFBM-760 AM, San Diego) claims Clinton's comments were way out of line. "Hillary is just adding to the unrest that many Americans feel right now," says Roberts. "It's completely outrageous to 'blame America first' for the blood Mexican drug cartels have spilled....I find it really hard to swallow when Hillary says we are responsible for 90 percent of the problem...."

I guess Hillary doesn't know, too, about the 400 American citizens who have been kidnapped by Mexicans nationals while in this country -- that's according to reports from the Phoenix and Tucson police departments. And apparently the former first lady has forgotten as well that the Mexican government has long had a problem with corruption that stretches from the local police to high-ranking Mexican government officials. Now that same government is fighting for its very survival.

Drug cartels are aggressively waging war against the government in Mexico -- a war that will ultimately determine the fate of that nation. Things have gotten so bad in Mexico that the State Department, the U.S. Marines Corps, the University of Arizona, and others have issued warnings for those who are thinking about traveling to Mexico. Retired Marine and founder of the San Diego Minutemen, Jeff Schwilk, said this week that "Americans are demanding immigration enforcement and secure borders to preserve our generous legal immigration system."

In light of the recent comments from House leader Nancy Pelosi and Obama State Department leader Hillary Clinton, Americans will have to, again, take action and demand that their voices are heard above those who don't care if our border security is compromised.