Border force not new idea

The president of the United States has a responsibility to secure the borders of the country. Additionally, our country’s sovereignty must not ebb and flow with the cultural and political machinations of the day.

Tuesday, President Trump explained to reporters that he was taking a new tack on securing the U.S.-Mexico border. “We’re going to be doing things militarily. Until we can have a wall and proper security, we’re going to be guarding our border with the military.”

We should applaud the Commander in Chief’s willingness to mobilize every resource at his disposal, (in this instance, the National Guard) to defend our borders. Their role would likely be supplemental as federal law prohibits the use of active-duty military for law enforcement inside the U.S., unless they get the go-ahead from Congress.

Though critics of the president are tossing terms like “authoritarian” all over social media, deploying our military assets to the border is not a maneuver unique to Trump.

In 2006, President George W. Bush sent the National Guard to the southern borders of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for operation “Jump Start.” They conducted surveillance and constructed roads and fences, among other things.

Similarly, in 2010 President Obama sent over a thousand troops to the border in response to increased drug smuggling and the murder of a prominent Arizona rancher.

Border security is crucial to preserve any civilization and not so long ago this was the consensus among our elected leaders of all political stripes.

In 2006, then-Sen. Obama declared on the Senate floor, “Those who enter our country illegally and those who employ them disrespect the rule of law ... and because we live in an age where terrorists are challenging our borders, we cannot allow people to pour into the U.S. undetected, undocumented and unchecked.”

Indeed, in his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama emphasized the need for border security. “Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made — putting more boots on the Southern border than at any time in our history and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years.”

In 2009, Sen. Chuck Schumer’s resolve was on display. “First, illegal immigration is wrong,” he stated, “and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration.”

In 2013, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi listed her priorities on the matter of the border. “The bipartisan task force of seven has been hard at work on legislation that echoes the spirit of the Senate bill and upholds our basic principles: to secure our borders, protect our workers, unite families and offer an earned pathway to citizenship.”

In 2015, candidate Hillary Clinton told voters at a New Hampshire campaign event, “Look, I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in, and I do think that you have to control your borders.”

Going back a little further to President Clinton’s 1995 State of the Union speech, we heard very strong language and determination from the Democratic Commander in Chief. “All Americans, not only in the states most heavily affected but in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers. That’s why our administration has moved aggressively to secure our borders more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens . ... We will try to do more to speed the deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes.” He continued, “We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in recent years, and we must do more to stop it.”

We must put our feelings for the current president aside and endeavor the return to common sense on border security.