"Secure the border"

When someone harps on "securing the border", that's sometimes a clue that they're trying to fool people, as John McCain tried to do. After the border is "secure", some of them will push for an amnesty of some kind. We do need to secure the border, and not all those who harp on securing the border are being deceptive. Their other policies need to be taken into account.

For instance, if they say "secure the border first", you need to find out what's second and make sure it isn't some form of comprehensive immigration reform, aka amnesty.

Last modified Jan 31, 2009
Discussed in (click each link for the full post):

Susana Martinez is bad on immigration, supports amnesty and a DREAM Act plan (Mitt Romney, New Mexico) - 05/15/12

... issue. Martinez also wants to secure the border (in the "first" sense as discussed at the link). She wants to deport criminals, without explaining how she would deport hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens and without explaining why it is that she could deport them but not deport non-criminal illegal aliens. She wants a guest worker program; see the link. Her "guests" going "freely back and...

Mitt Romney now pandering on immigration reform - 04/03/12

... immigration laws step by step, secure the border, improve our legal immigration system, so we can keep people here and welcome people here who will make America a stronger nation," he said. The GOP front runner's comments came at a town hall meeting at the Moore Oil Company after an audience member, noting that his girlfriend would have to return to Spain soon when her visa runs out, asked about...

10 things Obama's "Blueprint for an America Built to Last" doesn't tell you (immigration) - 02/01/12

... partially the issue discussed on the secure the border page. 10. And, finally, Obama uses the system is broken canard; see the link. See Obama immigration for many of the other ways Obama has attempted to mislead you about this issue. ---------------------- [1] whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ blueprint_for_an_america_built_to_last.pdf

Rick Perry's unworkable immigration idea: work visas for illegal aliens (John King, CNN, secure the border) - 11/04/11

... both interviews he promised to secure the border within a year. Video of the Hannity appearance is at peekURL.com/vLPBrP2 and the transcript of the relevant parts of CNN interview is at [1]. Notes: 1. Perry said: ...you have to identify [all the illegal aliens in the U.S.], you have to be able to give them some type of identification. Here's how they pay their taxes and they become a...

2006: Gil Cedillo supports illegal immigration boycott, shills for cheap labor employers - 09/18/11

... respects border security" (see secure the border). Please send him your thoughts: @gilcedillo. He's not that active on Twitter, so send this link and the link to Gil Cedillo to his supporters, others involved in California politics, and reporters who discuss his bills.

CNN Teaparty GOP debate: September 12, 2011 (Rick Perry, Romney, Bachmann, Ron Paul) - 09/12/11

... for Rick to say that you can't secure the border I think is pretty much a treasonous comment. MALE: I didn't hear that. HUNTSMAN: Rick, we can secure the border. We can secure the border through means of fences, through technology, through the deployment of our National Guard troops, we can get it done. In fact, when the elected president of the United States, I would work with you and the other...

Public Religion Research Institute's misleading poll (immigration, DREAM Act, Brookings Institution) - 09/06/11

... result. And, of course, they're using secure the border and they aren't revealing the many downsides of comprehensive immigration reform. As with the DREAM Act, the mainstream media has avoided discussing those many downsides, and PRRI is piggybacking on that disinformation campaign.

George Will, Michelle Rhee, Mel Martinez, Jose Vargas all hype anti-American DREAM Act and mass immigration (Christiane Amanpour) - 07/03/11

... Both Will and Martinez supported secure the border as a sales tactic to sell Americans on amnesty. Will brought up his "line of buses bumper to bumper" article and continues to mislead with deportations false choice. 3. Will (as at the penultimate link) continues to fail to acknowledge his opponents' arguments: "If we are going to import, as we are doing, a portion of Mexico's poverty, and if we...

Newt Gingrich offers false choice, supports incremental amnesty, doesn't challenge CNN for misleading on immigration (GOP 6/13/11 debate) - 06/13/11

... into a "boob bait for Bubba" secure the border plan to send half the Department of Homeland Security to the Southwest U.S. and to presumably use large numbers of National Guard troops on the border. The first is a childish waste of time, the second would make sense just not to the degree that Gingrich presents. And, that's especially the case since the great majority of the problems at the...

With millions unemployed, Ag Secy Tom Vilsack demeans American workers, promotes amnesty, opposes enforcement, uses bogus talking points, opposes eVerify - 05/27/11

... also: * Continue efforts "to secure the borders." * Hold accountable "businesses that break the law by undermining American workers and exploiting undocumented workers." The first is secure the border. The second is what boils down to the immigration wage floor. See both links. Vilsack also used the deportations false choice, saying "The reality is, if you tried to deport all 12 million it would...

Obama misleads about immigration yet again (May 10, 2011 El Paso version) - 05/10/11

... immigration tradition fallacy, and secure the border. How many more can you spot? A (360kb) screengrab of my Twitter feed where I pointed out in real time additional ways he was misleading or promoting bad policies is here. If anyone believed anything Obama said in his speech, leave a comment on this post and I'll try to change your mind. ADDED: Another bogus talking point Obama used is living...

Richard Marosi of LAT pretends: Obama has secured the border so much, Border Patrol agents are falling asleep - 05/02/11

Richard Marosi of the Los Angeles Times offers the sleepy "Plunge in border crossings leaves agents fighting boredom/ Arrests of illegal crossers along the Southwest border dropped more than two-thirds from 2000 to 2010, from 1.6 million to 448,000" (link). The correct title of the false impression the LAT is trying to give would be something like: "Obama has secured the border so much, agents...

Obama misleads on immigration at Facebook; Zuckerberg and incompetent/corrupt GOP, Teaparty leaders help - 04/21/11

... desert to get here (NOTE: see secure the border). Let’s make the legal immigration system more efficient and more effective so there aren’t huge backlogs. This is all part of what we call comprehensive immigration reform (NOTE: See that link for the huge downsides). And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to achieve a system that is fair, is equitable, is an economic engine for America...

Haley Barbour lobbied for Mexican government, now misleads about amnesty - 02/15/11

... amnesty." 1. As it says on the secure the border page, when someone harps on securing the border *first*, you have to ask them what comes next. Thankfully, in his case he's making it clear: some form of legalization program. See #4. 2. He's using the reform not amnesty canard. His "reform" would be perceived by millions of potential illegal aliens as amnesty, no matter what he wants to call it....

Newt Gingrich supports some parts of DREAM Act; supports guest workers; uses false choice; sounds like Hoffenblum - 12/06/10

... other hack, Gingrich supports secure the border: Gingrich said he is in favor of deporting illegals who are gang members or arrested for a felony, and is “committed 100-percent” to enforcement of the US border, noting his past accomplishment as Speaker when he helped enforce the first control of the San Diego border. He also said he committed to having English as the official language of...

Utah Compact would encourage illegal immigration (Mark Shurtleff, Chamber, Sutherland, Catholic Church) - 11/11/10

... "protect our national borders", see secure the border. Their second point: We respect the rule of law and support law enforcement’s professional judgment and discretion. Local law enforcement resources should focus on criminal activities, not civil violations of federal code. In other words, they're against the 287g program. Considering that the Department of Homeland Security does relatively...

Rupert Murdoch testifies for amnesty, massive immigration (using two CAP studies) - 09/30/10

... of amnesty, he throws out the secure the border bone. "While supporting complete and proper closure of all our borders to future illegal immigrants, our partnership (the Partnership for a New American Economy) advocates reform that gives a path to citizenship for responsible, law-abiding immigrants who are in the U.S. today without proper authority..." It is nonsense to talk of expelling 12...

Obama thinks illegal aliens are Americans; forgets about massive unemployment; promotes massive immigration - 09/29/10

... let's secure our borders"; see secure the border. Making a false claim about policy, he thinks if we made legal immigration easier we'd reduce illegal immigration. He ignores the fact that there are about 6.5 billion people outside the U.S. (and about 5 billion of them are poorer than Mexicans). And, a large percentage of those people would come here if they could. So many would want to come...

Sharron Angle is weak on amnesty: won't come out strong against anti-American DREAM Act - 09/18/10

... She appears to now be taking a "secure the border first" posture which begs the question of what exactly she'd support after the borders are secured. If she won't oppose a smaller anti-American amnesty now, exactly what would she support if she makes it into the Senate? Angle was interviewed about various topics yesterday by Bret Baier; a video is at peekURL.com/vxhfdig Comments after the...

Could Obama declare an immigration amnesty by executive order? - 07/30/10

[See the updates too] Back in Feb. 2009 we offered Could Obama and Napolitano enact a mini-amnesty... without Congress? about a scheme cooked up by two immigration lawyers under which the president could in effect give amnesty to large numbers of illegal aliens. Now, some inside the USCIS are proposing their own workarounds and loopholes under which Barack Obama could give thousands (or more) of...

Sharron Angle goes after Reid on issues outside his control, won't press hard on immigration - 07/23/10

... law). She, of course, supports secure the border but so does everyone else. She also says our legal immigration system needs to be streamlined; finding out exactly what she would do would definitely be of interest. Of illegal aliens, she says "it's time for them to go home". Asked how she'd do that, she makes a good argument in support of attrition. She then says that her daughter-in-law is the...

Chris Christie supports immigration "reform" (aka amnesty) - 06/30/10

... him on, just starting with his secure the border and safe legal orderly rhetoric. It's too bad there were no real reporters around to walk him through what he supports. [1] politico.com/news/stories/0610/39208.html The "reporters" were Ben Smith and Maggie Haberman and, while we're informed what they and Christie had for breakfast, neither of them bothered to call Christie on the downsides of...

Partnership for a New American Economy: Murdoch, Bloomberg, CEOs, mayors, (Fox News?) to push amnesty - 06/24/10

... main immigration goals are to secure the borders, develop an easy system for employers to verify work eligibility, hold companies accountable for breaking the laws and improve the use of technology to prevent illegal immigration. The group also wants more opportunities for immigrants to join the U.S. work force and a path to legal status for all undocumented immigrants. Big business joining to...

Kyl: Obama says he won't secure the border without comprehensive immigration reform (UPDATE: backtracks?) - 06/20/10

... The problem is, he said, if we secure the border, then you all won’t have any reason to support comprehensive immigration reform. In other words, they’re holding it hostage. They don’t want to secure the border unless and until it is combined with comprehensive immigration reform. There isn't much reason for Kyl not to be telling the truth, and his claim matches the actions of the Obama...

Claim: under 50,000 troops and $3 billion a year would secure the border (Rep. John Carter) - 06/19/10

... Texas offers a long article about secure the border (for real) here. Bottom line: Taking all the data into consideration, a deployment of somewhere between 25-to-50,000 troops would secure our 2,000 mile southern border immediately. Cost estimates range around $3 billion per year, a small fraction of the current $78 billion taxpayer cost of illegal immigration, even after counting tax payments...

Mickey Kaus on immigration: not as bad as most Democratic Party leaders - 06/01/10

... supporting attrition he wants to secure the border first, then pass comprehensive immigration reform: "Tell undocumented immigrants living here that they will have to wait. Amnesty isn't happening anytime soon. Get control of our borders first..." Illegal aliens (not "undocumented immigrants") have already shown an ability to wait, and if they think "reform" is coming they'll definitely wait for...

Obama wants $500 million to send National Guard to secure the border (prelude to amnesty) - 05/25/10

Barack Obama wants Congress to allocate $500 million in order to send up to 1200 National Guard troops to the border. Per an unnamed administration official (link): "[The troops will] provide intelligence; surveillance and reconnaissance support; intelligence analysis; immediate support to counternarcotics enforcement; and training capacity until Customs and Border Patrol can recruit and train...

Millions unemployed, Harry Reid wants several million new legal workers to compete against Americans (fairly) - 05/11/10

... points like system is broken, secure the border, immigration line, and the (more rare) immigration wage floor. However, American workers - especially voters in Nevada - might want to take a closer look at this paragraph: Fixing our broken immigration system is also important to strengthen America’s economy. We need to protect American workers. Workers in Nevada and across America are often...

John McCain backs (but not endorses) Arizona's tough new immigration bill (from Russell Pearce); border security plan - 04/19/10

... lesson is clear: First we have to secure the border... If you want to enact some other reforms, how can that be effective when you have a porous border? ...So we have to secure the border first." While his plan might have some merit, "secure the border" (see the link) is in many cases just a cover to get comprehensive immigration reform. UPDATE: Per this, "U.S. Sen. John McCain on Monday called...

Amy Chance of SacBee misleads about "amnesty" (Steve Poizner's anti-Meg Whitman ad) - 04/10/10

Sacramento Bee Political Editor Amy Chance offers "Ad Watch: Poizner launches largely misleading attack on Whitman" [1]. Referring to a recent anti-Meg Whitman ad from Steve Poizner which claims that Whitman "supports Obama's amnesty for illegal aliens", Chance writes: "Amnesty" is a hot-button term that exaggerates Whitman's views on illegal immigration. She said in October she supports a policy...

RNC's Michael Steele supports amnesty at meeting with far-left, Mexico-linked groups - 04/01/10

... some cases those who harp on secure the border are just using it to mask how weak they are on amnesty. [1] I posted that to FreeRepublic (and got the expected unhelpful responses: freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2483320/posts), Reddit (+2, -2), and a couple blogs. Needless to say, this is yet another example of how it's difficult to get people to do things that are effective. If I'd suggested...

Sarah Palin goes bogus: "It all comes down to securing the border" - 03/26/10

... activity, she simply harped on the secure the border talking point. As discussed at the link, that's frequently a misleading charade by those who support massive or illegal immigration; that's true of McCain and it's true of Palin as well, even if she doesn't realize it or doesn't care. [1] video.foxnews.com/v/4126467/mccain-and-palin-reunite?playlist_id=87249#/v/4126468/mccain-and-palin-reunite...

Whatever else, Steve Poizner is better than Meg Whitman on immigration (California Republican governor candidates) - 03/11/10

... "business-friendly" also, and he harps on secure the border. The latter is sometime a sign that someone isn't serious, but Poizner gets points for bringing up immigration terrorism. In his case - unlike Whitman and most leading Republicans and Democrats - he might actually be mostly serious about securing the border. However, he's also in the "illegal bad, legal good" orbit, extolling the...

"Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles": pro-amnesty, pro-guest worker fantasy from Robert George - 02/22/10

... country. This is boilerplate; see secure the border. 2. Prioritize Internal Enforcement. Federal immigration enforcement resources and actions should focus on immigrants involved in criminal activity rather than workplace raids and "audits" that harm both workers and employers. That is, of course, quite "business friendly". It's also not far from the actual position of the far-left, whether...

SOTU 2010: Barack Obama State of the Union open thread - 01/27/10

... go to the wall for them. See secure the border, and note that when he refers to playing by the rules, he means after amnesty, when a magic wand will be waved and those who didn't play by the rules before will become model legal residents and eventually citizens.

BRIDGE House Resolution calls for no amnesty, border security, mandatory eVerify - 01/21/10

Earlier today, Rep. Jason Chaffetz introduced H. Res. 1026, called the "Bipartisan Reform of Immigration through Defining Good Enforcement" or BRIDGE Resolution. It seeks to (press release here, no bill text yet): * make E-Verify mandatory for all employers, and hold employees accountable as well; * provide sufficient border infrastructure and manpower to secure and control our borders; and, *...

Martha Coakley immigration position: ignored status as DA; supports massive immigration - 01/16/10

... similar mistake. 4. She wants to secure the border, but they all do. As discussed at the link, sometimes they mean it, sometimes they don't. She's leaning towards the latter group. 5. She wants "appropriate visa policies for workers that we need in particular parts of the country", i.e., guest workers. 6. She says "we're always going to have open borders", which doesn't mean what the video...

How weak is Scott Brown on immigration? (Massachusetts senate race; Ted Kennedy seat) - 01/02/10

... Every politician wants to also secure the border, and even the latest Luis Gutierrez amnesty supports some form of employment verification system. And, instead of simply stating that he welcomes legal immigration, he needs to state how much, of what kind, from what countries, and so on. Would he support limited legal immigration, or would he support even more than we have now? Would he seek to...

Marco Rubio supports attrition, seems to actually oppose amnesty (but: probably still supports massive immigration) - 11/17/09

Speaking earlier today, Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio supported attrition (enforcing our immigration laws in order to encourage illegal aliens to leave on their own) and made statements that seemed to indicate that he opposes amnesty (aka comprehensive immigration reform). That's definitely a far better position than that of those in his general network, such as Karl Rove and Jeb Bush. And...

Janet Napolitano falsely says she needs immigration "reform" to do her job; says border more secure; sounds like Chertoff - 11/13/09

... stock talking points such as secure the border and living in the shadows. She also gave a shout-out to John Podesta of CAP and specifically mentioned the National Association of Evangelicals as one of the groups supporting "reform"; most of that group's member organizations are actually neutral or opposed to "reform". It's extremely unfortunate that I was unable to get anyone else that I know of...
 
 
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