Criminals and Vigilantes
Some people have trouble with complex concepts, as illustrated in a Denver Post article.
There are liberals who find it difficult to understand that people who enter the U.S. illegally are breaking the law and are, therefore, criminals. They remain criminals every day they are in the U.S., even if they work for 20 years, at starvation wages and off the tax rolls, tending the lawns of liberal elites and washing dishes in trendy restaurants.
Some conservatives have trouble understanding that 1,000 yahoos patrolling the U.S. border in Arizona to stop these criminals from penetrating further into the U.S. are vigilantes. Decked out in store-bought cammies and carrying firearms, as almost all will, these drugstore cowboys and weekend hunters may learn the hard way that hunting people can be a bit more dangerous than blowing away hapless deer.
The vigilante campaign to patrol the southern Arizona border, which starts this weekend, is reportedly intended to do nothing more than find criminals who have illegally penetrated the U.S. and report them to the U.S. Border Patrol. However, the criminal latino gang MS-13, which specializes in cross-border crime and mayhem and includes many illegal immigrants, has indicated it may take to the desert, too.
For their part, the Border Patrol has assigned an additional 500 agents to the area. Of course, as the Border Patrol says, that has nothing to do with the vigilantes' plans. Since the Border Patrol habitually does such a poor job of stopping criminals from entering the country, one wonders what they have in mind.
The ACLU has announced they will send monitors to ensure no one breaks the law. Of course, they're referring to the legal American citizens out in the desert, not the criminals pouring across the border.
Dangleberries who favor illegal immigration are also speaking up. In their view, Americans who don't like illegals flooding into their country are racists and xenophobics, and the criminals creeping through the desert are merely undocumented:
"It's an inherently dangerous mix," said Jennifer Allen of the Border Action Network, a pro-immigrant group in Tucson. "You've got racism and xenophobia mixed in with undocumented immigrants."
And guess who else has turned out to be pro-vigilante?
Although organizers say they are screening out members of hate groups, the project has been highlighted on the Aryan Nations' website, and human- rights groups say a neo-Nazi organization, the National Alliance, has been handing out fliers in support of the event.
Sounds like another instant made-for-TV movie. Or maybe several. Liberal Hollywood elites may make one that paints the poor criminals as victims of right-wing fanatics, with their gardeners serving as technical advisors. Maybe Mel Gibson and Charlton Heston will team up to make a flick about the heroes of the desert, reporting illegals to the Border Patrol while they blaze away at gang members charging through the desert in low-rider souped up Chebies. Or there could be a Lifetime movie, with some minimally famous latina starring as a pregnant mom in her eighth month rallying her group of criminals to victory over the vigilantes, just in time to give sweaty birth to a new American citizen with the help of a heroic ACLU monitor.
Here's how complex the concept really is: It is the job of the United States government to keep illegal immigrants from penetrating our borders, and they should do it. Would-be vigilantes, including an undoubtedly large number of gun-nuts and extremists, should stay home. There are still enough dangerous deer out there to keep them busy.
There are liberals who find it difficult to understand that people who enter the U.S. illegally are breaking the law and are, therefore, criminals. They remain criminals every day they are in the U.S., even if they work for 20 years, at starvation wages and off the tax rolls, tending the lawns of liberal elites and washing dishes in trendy restaurants.
Some conservatives have trouble understanding that 1,000 yahoos patrolling the U.S. border in Arizona to stop these criminals from penetrating further into the U.S. are vigilantes. Decked out in store-bought cammies and carrying firearms, as almost all will, these drugstore cowboys and weekend hunters may learn the hard way that hunting people can be a bit more dangerous than blowing away hapless deer.
The vigilante campaign to patrol the southern Arizona border, which starts this weekend, is reportedly intended to do nothing more than find criminals who have illegally penetrated the U.S. and report them to the U.S. Border Patrol. However, the criminal latino gang MS-13, which specializes in cross-border crime and mayhem and includes many illegal immigrants, has indicated it may take to the desert, too.
For their part, the Border Patrol has assigned an additional 500 agents to the area. Of course, as the Border Patrol says, that has nothing to do with the vigilantes' plans. Since the Border Patrol habitually does such a poor job of stopping criminals from entering the country, one wonders what they have in mind.
The ACLU has announced they will send monitors to ensure no one breaks the law. Of course, they're referring to the legal American citizens out in the desert, not the criminals pouring across the border.
Dangleberries who favor illegal immigration are also speaking up. In their view, Americans who don't like illegals flooding into their country are racists and xenophobics, and the criminals creeping through the desert are merely undocumented:
"It's an inherently dangerous mix," said Jennifer Allen of the Border Action Network, a pro-immigrant group in Tucson. "You've got racism and xenophobia mixed in with undocumented immigrants."
And guess who else has turned out to be pro-vigilante?
Although organizers say they are screening out members of hate groups, the project has been highlighted on the Aryan Nations' website, and human- rights groups say a neo-Nazi organization, the National Alliance, has been handing out fliers in support of the event.
Sounds like another instant made-for-TV movie. Or maybe several. Liberal Hollywood elites may make one that paints the poor criminals as victims of right-wing fanatics, with their gardeners serving as technical advisors. Maybe Mel Gibson and Charlton Heston will team up to make a flick about the heroes of the desert, reporting illegals to the Border Patrol while they blaze away at gang members charging through the desert in low-rider souped up Chebies. Or there could be a Lifetime movie, with some minimally famous latina starring as a pregnant mom in her eighth month rallying her group of criminals to victory over the vigilantes, just in time to give sweaty birth to a new American citizen with the help of a heroic ACLU monitor.
Here's how complex the concept really is: It is the job of the United States government to keep illegal immigrants from penetrating our borders, and they should do it. Would-be vigilantes, including an undoubtedly large number of gun-nuts and extremists, should stay home. There are still enough dangerous deer out there to keep them busy.
2 Comments:
Ahhhh....Tom,
Let's see, the law of the land is ignored (immigration), neither party will touch the issue with a ten foot pole. Folks decide to force it to be addressed by doing the job police/border guards should be doing. They might be called "Vigilantes", but it seems to me this always happens when the state does not maintain order as it should.
What other route have folks when the state does not observe its own law, but to take matters into their own hands? Certainly if some one robbed a store and the police did not even try to apprehend the criminals you would soon have gangs formed by shopkeepers to fulfill this function. Not ideal, but is that not the natural order of things?
Since the model of our union is that the sovereign powers lie "with the people" and the current political types are not enforcing the law, why do you see this band of “private police/vigilantes” as so bad? What are police but folks employed by the sovereign power of the people to maintain the law? Is it simply you dislike of armed folks who are not employed by the state or is there another principle involved that I have missed? This is a serious question, I am not trying to make an argument, and perhaps there is something I am missing.
Tom,
Great post! Thanks for bringing up this issue. It needs more attention because it is VERY serious. I read an article some time ago about unmanned drones scanning the border and I thought that was interesting. The issue has to be delt with with Fox too. He needs to deal with Mexico's own economy to persuade his people to stop fleeing the country. Why does this fall completely on our hands? Building walls to keep them out only encourages their illegal activity. Once they are in - well that's a whole nother story. Keep up the great blogging. ~ Jiggity
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