In the next few months Americans are going to be treated to a propaganda blitz aimed at stopping any further construction of a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. A preview of one, The Wall can be seen on YouTube here. It opens up with a young man saying that the U.S. and Mexico are not at war.
Another film, The 800-Mile Wall, features a number of well-known players in the illegal immigration arena, including John McCain, Doris Meissner, Ted Kennedy, and Raul Grijalva. Probably least well-known is Jorge Bustamante.
In a March 27, 1995 column in Excelsior, a Mexico City Newspaper, Bustamante argued for dual citizenship for Mexicans who become U.S. citizens. The purpose, he said, was to stop people like California Gov. Pete Wilson from becoming President of the U.S. because of his support for Proposition 187, the California measure that denied taxpayer-paid benefits to illegal aliens.
"My Constitutional Reform proposal is valid because of what I see coming due to Wilson campaign... Therefore accepting that premise, anyone who wants to defend the interests of Mexico in whichever country they reside, augment their political power in order to make it within that country's rules," Bustamante said.
Mexico passed the measure and dual citizens can now vote to stop any effort by the U.S. to defend against a Mexican invasion.
Not at war?
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The Virtual Fence Debacle
In 2006 the Department of Homeland Security announced plans for the Strategic Border Initiative, including the construction of a "virtual fence" (SBInet) along the U.S-Mexico border. In July of 2006, Glenn Spencer said: "Nowhere does SBI spell out a goal that can be measured."
Today the Washington Times exposes the management debacle that was SBInet.
"Since February 2007, according to a review of federal records by The Washington Times, GAO has been telling Congress and Homeland Security that its high-tech border protection system needed better oversight and accountability, and that it lacked realistic measures of cost, timing and benefits." [...]
GAO was on this right from the start," Mr. Stana said of SBInet, which was launched in 2006. "The first problem was the government never came up with detailed requirements for the system; they never talked to the Border Patrol." [...]
"Glenn Spencer, president of the American Border Patrol, a private organization that uses airplanes and high-tech equipment to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border, said the virtual fence failed because Homeland Security "did not set measurable goals for the system." "Boeing didn't really know what to build and [Homeland Security] had no way of knowing if it was working or not," said Mr. Spencer, whose board includes two former Border Patrol chiefs. "The axiom reads: If you cant measure it, you cant improve it."
It turns out Spencer was right all along.
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