Put Up Or Shut Up

When it comes to immigration, I've always been in the "Tall fence, wide gate" camp; make the nation difficult-to-impossible to enter illegally, while making the byzantine INS immigration process - designed to make the IRS and city building codes look rational - simpler and more transparent (while, I must emphasize, making English the official language as well). I've always felt that this nation took an absurd amount of pride in the openness of our borders; too many Americans, I think, mix up the blessings of a demilitarized border with those of a functionally-nonexistant one. The open border, in this age of asymmetric warfare, is an anachronism.

Some say that stance makes me a "wimp on immigration"; others say it makes me a racist. They're all wrong, of course.

I noted with relief - after Bush's awful performance earlier this week - that Congress is rapidly moving to toughen up Bush's plan, adding fences, roadblocks and sensors to the border.
Hugh notes that it's now time for the anti-immigration crowd to deliver, and deliver big:

Two Democratic incumbents facing re-election --Maria Cantwell of Washington State and Robert Menendez of New Jersey-- voted against the Sessions Amendment which mandates 370 miles of fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers.

So if the Minutemen spokespeople are correct, the opponents of Cantwell and Menendez should not only sweep to victory in the fall, they should also be gathering enormous support from the rank and file.

Those opponents are:

Mike McGavick in Washington State (you can contribute online here)

and

Tom Kean in New Jersey (you can contribute online here.)

If the "toguh [sic] on illegal immigration" caucus is as strong as its proponents say it is, McGavick and Kean will be attracting thousands of new supporters in the next couple of days.

Let's hope so. I've been a fan of Keane in particular for almost twenty years (although his performance on the 9/11 commission disappointed me); he'd be a huge improvement for the Jersey delegation.

So, closed-border folks; time to pony up. It's your turn.

Oh, OK. Our turn.

Posted by Mitch at May 19, 2006 08:00 AM | TrackBack