Redstate

By haystack Posted in Border Fence | Congress | Immigration | Immigration Reform — Comments (13) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

We have ALL gotten bundled up in angry exchanges over the immigration reform debate. Some have articulated their cases poorly, others have used shrill and false accusations as a means of self-defense. But whatever lies ahead for our immigration problems and whether/how they'll be solved, no one can faithfully argue that laws currently on the books shouldn't be enforced while we wait for them to be changed...immigration law or any OTHER laws for that matter. So how is it that something like THIS can happen in this day and age?:

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent was killed Saturday when he was struck by a car driven by a suspected narcotics smuggler, officials said.

Luis Aguilar, 32, who was assigned to the Yuma, Arizona, border patrol station, died Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner W. Ralph Basham said in a statement.
[...]
Aguilar was trying to place spike strips in the path of two vehicles believed to have illegally entered the country from Mexico when one of the vehicles hit him, agent Michael Bernacke, a spokesman for the agency's Yuma sector, told The Associated Press.

Both vehicles drove back across the border into Mexico, the AP said.

The fatal incident occurred in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area near Andrade, California, Basham said. Andrade is just over the California state line from Arizona.

The area is popular with off-road vehicle enthusiasts but also is frequently used by smugglers carrying people or drugs, the AP said.

I just can't help wondering why our Political heroes don't see that a border fence they have already approved should have long ago been financed and built. These are simple matters...they don't require years of researching, hundreds of polls, and dozens of election cycles to figure out.

More below the fold...

There is an inherent value and benefit in making people actually have to WORK at coming and going between America and Mexico. And, now? A man is dead, leaving behind a wife and 2 children, solely because Washington fears negative backlash from people who DO NOT COME HERE LEGALLY or abide by our laws when they GET here.

Add to that the countless stories more well-known, such as Ramos and Compean [item 2, partway down] that go under reported and/or misrepresented, and there's little wonder why nothing is getting done...and Agents keep dying, or going to jail, and more illegals enter the country. This is just ridiculous, and does not hold any signs of hope for improvement any time soon.

According to The American Conservative Union's coverage of the Aguilar murder (and that's really what this is):

If our elected officials had actually allowed the construction of that fence... if they were really serious about securing the border, there would be no way to tell if it would have made a difference in the specific case of Aguilar.

But make no mistake, our elected leaders' lack of resolve when it comes to securing the border sends an unmistakable message to illegal aliens and drug smugglers.

Until our elected leaders get serious, law enforcement agents and innocent Americans WILL DIE NEEDLESSLY!

How many of our law enforcement agents will have to die or be falsely accused of crimes before our elected leaders get the message?

How many indeed...