The American Spectator : 72 Coming to America

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72 Coming to America

Would it not be more compassionate to close the border?

You have heard the story before. You have read the story before. Indeed, you have your own story.

The particulars of my story are: About 1904 my 25-year-old paternal grandfather got on a boat and came to New York. He ended up in San Francisco where he married the daughter of an immigrant. His son, my father, married a Chicago woman whose grandparents had been immigrants. I married a Canadian woman who immigrated. She was the daughter of an immigrant to Canada. Although my father is a veteran of Iwo Jima, I am privileged to be a friend of a man whose Japanese parents immigrated and he is a member of our Foreign Service.

Yet, despite our stories, and despite the number of immigrants who day in and day out join us here, we are all tempted to be insular, to become used to America, to take America for granted, to think that America is not exceptional.

Consider, however, the illegal immigrants -- not the ones who enter lawfully, often by boat or plane, and who overstay their visas. Rather, consider those who enter unlawfully across our southern border. They leave their parents, their spouses, their children, their hometowns, and walk and walk and walk, often hundreds of miles. They risk death from asphyxiation in trucks, kidnapping and death at the hands of strangers, death from desert heat. We cannot but admire them. And we cannot but see America through their eyes: as the exceptional country it is.

We listen to Neil Diamond’s “America” (1980) and we see the star to which they travel:

Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star

* * *

Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America [copyrighted]

That said, we -- President Obama, the Congress, and the American people -- are responsible for the deaths of those who have died trying to cross the southern border.

These people from the south are attracted to America like moths to a flame, like children to a pool. If they knew that their chances of success in crossing the border were remote, they would not risk death. But we do not make their chances of success remote. Our border remains porous. We invite them to cross the way a landowner would invite children to swim in his pool if he had no fence.

And so they come.

Last week, 72 migrants from various countries, including Guatemala, Brazil, Honduras, El Salvador, and Ecuador, on their way to the United States, were kidnapped and then massacred 100 miles south of Brownsville, Texas, by the Zetas gang. (Warning: the picture is graphic.)

Many Americans think they are being compassionate when they encourage the Federal Government to stand down from its responsibilities to close the border and when they help illegal immigrants find work in this country. Many Americans think it would be racially discriminatory to close the borders to Hispanic persons from the south.

Would it not be more compassionate to close the border? To stop hiring illegal immigrants? To encourage Mexico and other countries south of ours to grow their economies? To change our laws to enlarge the number of temporary and permanent immigrants, including people of color from not only Mexico and Central and Latin America, but also people of color from Asia, Africa and the Middle East who cannot walk here and who wait years to enter lawfully?

I believe in the frog phenomenon. A frog put into boiling water will jump out. A frog put into lukewarm water that is slowly raised to boiling will cook. The number of kidnappings and the deaths of people coming to join us from the south over more than 30 years has risen in stages not sufficient to cause us to jump. The massacre of these 72 coming to America may finally cause us to act.

Let us recognize that America is an exceptional country and that people from all over the world are drawn to join us. We should not allow conditions that encourage them to risk death to do so. Our memorial to these 72 should be a closed border.

About the Author

James M. Thunder is a Washington, D.C. attorney.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (35) | Leave a comment

Ken (Old Texican)| 8.31.10 @ 7:02AM

Mr. Thunder,
A very compassionate take on this. Thank you.

I have added your thoughts to my permanent vocabulary.

arlo price| 8.31.10 @ 9:52AM

The obamagedon PIMP thugocracy chugs along.....

Break it down.....

To the open border proponents I ask:
Is there a fence around your yard? Or do you let the neighborhood and transients use your property as they will? Is there a lockable door on your dwelling? Or do you allow anyone and everyone unrestricted access to your abode?

Let's Roll!!!

Flit Andersen| 8.31.10 @ 11:35PM

Been using this analogy for years. "Why is it okay for you to lock these poor travellers out of your house? They're just looking for a place to sleep before moving on (hopefully!) in search of a job YOU'RE to good to do! Where is YOUR humanity?"

All I ever get is the old "What? Are you nuts?!" blanks stare.

Jocon307| 8.31.10 @ 7:11AM

Yes, I thought this too. It seems that very soon we WILL have to close the Southern border because it seems some kind of nihilistic total war is breaking out on the Mexican side.

Illegal immigration must be stopped. That must include visa overstayers, etc.

But the violence in Mexico is spiraling out of control. Hundred of women have been killed, hundreds of LEOs have been killed, now these poor migrants have been killed. What reason could there have been to kill them?

People are having their heads chopped off, bodies left as "trophies", a cult of "St. Death". Sick, sick, sick stuff.

What will stop it?

Ret. Marine| 8.31.10 @ 7:51AM

When we start placing the use of , distribution of, and the connection to the use of illegal drugs in the same catagory as murder. Those who's appitite for the use of these illegal drugs are largely responsible for this mess alongside the progressives and their open border proponents. They are responsible for this mess. I have long wondered when it is the MEN of these southern States are going to man up and take a different direction regarding their politics, the social and general welfare of their own peoples to concern. Obviously they do not have the courage to take on their own countrymen and their responsibility of that which comes to a free people's demise. This and at the same time We the People are literally paying for their cowardness and putting these same traitors back into their powerful positions as leaders of these United States.

Joe Oliva| 8.31.10 @ 12:26PM

The folks living along our southern border cannot possibly fight the drug gangs because our corrupt politicans have prevented us from owning assault weapons. Therefore, it is impossible for people with shotguns and revolvers to fight against these criminals who possess AK47's among other types of weapons.

Our government has taken away our Second Amendment rights and then does nothing to protect the people. This is now beyopnd just a Second Amendment issue, it is becoming life and death and we accept the scam the corrupt elites have perpetrated upon us.

Texas Mom| 8.31.10 @ 12:41PM

Plus the Feds show no willingness to help but instead hinder border states with lawsuits and investigations while at the same time dropping deportation cases against 16k was leaked from ICE this week.

Eric Cartman| 8.31.10 @ 9:10AM

What will stop it? United States Marines. But don't look for any politician to have the balls to say it or use them (except Sheriff Joe). No, Jocan, as long as the fat ass Rob Riener types and the weaselly George Bush types can get their lawn work on the cheap or wallow in their compassion, more will die and we'll bleed money. The smug shall not be corrected. Aholes.

figus janus| 8.31.10 @ 7:38AM

I don't think you have the same eyes I do. We are not responsible for the illegals deaths when crossing to the U.S. Illegal immigrants are illegal immigrants. If they came by plane, train, automobile or walked. If they stay passed their visa date then they are illegal.
The illegals are bleeding the U.S. dry. Do you know how many get aid for their legal children? They have to get money to feed themselves so they can feed their LEGAL children. How many i do not know but my wife worked here in Charleston, SC in the Department of Health and Human Services and the office is constantly full of people without social security cards.
How many people can ride the wagon without pulling it? Hmmm? If everyone is in the wagon and no one pulling then it's going to go nowhere!
Do you need me to explain that to you? People like you and your whole extended family and friends are welcomed here in the U.S. The day laborers and uneducated have to be curbed or controlled.
I say amend the 14th amendment and stop the baby anchor law.
I say do a fair tax. This will stop people hiding their income. No more income tax. Every one goes home with their gross pay. Then everything they buy has a tax(everything!) going straight to the government. No one will be able to hide. All the illegals will now pay taxes also and contribute to the system.
Make all DMV's link their systems up and use them as national id cards. Since it won't be crime to be in the U.S. even illegals can get drivers licenses and insurance. Now they can be tracked.
Will this every be implemented no but there is a start!

respectfully yours,

Bob K.| 8.31.10 @ 10:01AM

Figus,
I think you missed his point. He probably agrees with everything you said. But since he is a Lawyer I will give you the benefit of the doubt. See more comments on this below. We, as a nation, have not been enforcing the rule of law in immigration matters. You have to start somewhere and closing the border is the first step. It may or may not be a good idea to change our laws to encourage more immigration but if we do we will at the same time have to clamp down on the visa restrictions in them. We will have to hire all the people necessary to enforce them and we will have to deport those who do not comply along with their entire families. If Mr. Thunder, a Lawyer and a member of a Profession that has caused much of this immigration mess, has a problem with that then he shouldn't be writing articles like this one. Canada does that. My sister in law is a citizen of Canada who has lived here for over 20 years. She makes sure her Visa requirements are always up to date. And she is married to my brother who is also a Lawyer in Washington DC, like Mr. Thunder.

Texas Mom| 8.31.10 @ 12:44PM

Here in the Houston area our emergency rooms are wall to wall on the weekends. Took a friend of my son to Texas Children's 5 years ago and we were the only ones that spoke English or had private insurance. Medicaid pays little of the expenses of the hospital so the cost of all these patients is passed onto those who do pay for insurance and their own care.

Jim O'Brien| 8.31.10 @ 7:42AM

Of the 20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., how many thousands (a small fraction) are actually terrorists planning more attacks to kill American citizens, disrupt our economy (even more than Obama has), and destroy freedom? Why is Obama insistent on preventing Arizona from enforcing the law? Why is Obama undermining our national sovereignty by complaining about Arizona to the UN? Is Obama charged with upholding the law, or subverting it?

Ret. Marine| 8.31.10 @ 7:55AM

He's going a fine job at subverting all of them. This is one poor excuss of a human being, a traitor, seditious interlooper and a rather good example of the term, fraud.

Gerard| 8.31.10 @ 8:39AM

Illegal Immigration should be stopped for many reasons.
1: Things like this article. Murder of innocents in lawless Mexico.
For Human rights,we need to close the border to discourage this murder,rape and extortion of prospoective illegals, preyed upon by drug cartels.
2: It is ILLEGAL, meaning, against our LAW to come here this way. We are supposed to be a nation of LAWS. The rest of us must follow the "law" or suffer the consequences.
3: Illegals take jobs AMERICANS can use. Especially our yougsters,oldsters, and lesser skilled Americans. You can't go into a restaurant in New Jersey without seeing almost the entire staff that is likely illegal. Ditto for landscapers and other labor type jobs
4: Illegals send Billions out of our country.That money leaves permanently and does not get recycled in the USA for goods and services
It also escpaes the tax man, so we all get to pay "higher taxes".
5: They strain municipal and social services such as healthcare, especially in emrgency rooms.
In NJ, we have a 15% surcharge applied to our bills to cover the "uninsured"...
6: Narco Terrorism.. self explanatory
7: Terrorists can, and likely have, come across the border. One day they may have real nasty stuff with them
8: A Nation without borders and control of who enters, is no longer a nation. It becomes a mish-mash of who knows what eventually
9: Democrats love them as potential voters..
Republicans love them for the same reason PLUS low wage workers for small business.
I fear for our future if this problem, among many others, is not addressed firmly, and in the spirit of a sovereign nation protecting and controlling it's borders.

Louis Jenkins| 8.31.10 @ 9:20AM

Yes it would be best to close the border! But why? All those wonderful voters pouring across the border. And they'll vote democrat! And do it in time before the next election. ACORN will be pleased.

Eric Cartman| 8.31.10 @ 9:45AM

Sorry folks, but Mexico uses America as its dumping ground for people it doesn't want. As long as it is better in America to hang off the back of a garbage truck in 100 degree heat with flies laying eggs in the sweat dripping from your face for 12 hours a day than it is to live in Mexico, they will lie cheat and steal to get here. And as long as American politicians love cheap yard work, nannies, trash pick up and child prostitutes then they will let the hordes come. And as long as the Republicans remain a gutless testicle-free zone, the Democrats will help plan the invasion. In other words, start leaning Spanish, amigo!

Al Adab| 8.31.10 @ 10:27AM

The analogy here is not the immigrants who helped grow our nation into the world leader it is (was?). The analogy is Pancho Villa. Study up. Our response should be the same. Maybe Arizona and Texas can call out the militia and begin to grip the problem. The Feds won't act since the Left wants the dependant class votes.

Richard| 8.31.10 @ 11:48AM

Another example of compassion vs. standards. Compassionate liberals wring their hands at the thought of poor people risking all to sneak into America so they refuse to enforce our immigration laws. The conservative knows that allowing anarchy on the border will invite all criminals to participate even the Zetas. And the result is at the least kidnapping and murder.

buckeyeman| 8.31.10 @ 12:18PM

They are not "immigrants", they are illegal aliens.
My great grandfather Ole immigrated legally in 1890. My father served in the US Navy from 1939 to 1949. My uncle took a Jap hand grenade on Saipan, and, yes, my best friends Dad was in the 442 and lost his leg at the hip in Italy while his wife was in a US concentration camp. So what the hell does any of this have to do with the onslaught from the southern border??? No, I don't admire criminals whose first act in the US is entering it ILLEGALLY. To hell with them. They are ruining the country that my dad, my best friends Nisei dad, and millions of others fought for. If they won't stay home then we have to STOP them from attacking our country.

Stan Redmond| 8.31.10 @ 12:30PM

"If they knew that their chances of success in crossing the border were remote, they would not risk death."

Money quote right there.

One really sad thing is that politicians on both sides of the aisle tolerate a Mexican civil war, chaos and murder at the border in a vain hope that they will secure the illegal vote.

wolflen| 8.31.10 @ 1:49PM

hmmm...i see it as modern day slavery...we love slavery..take millions of uneducated/unskilled people ... use them to the max...and keep them illegal so you can use them some more...when the heat of the "war" in mexico crosses our border..and it will...who will stop it...and why should they...they let in 20+ million and that seems to be working fine .. say anything to try and stop it-your called racist.... Americans be dammed...so if an armed troope crosses over into a small border town and takes it over..what are we going to do about it...call the marines...yeah right...if millions of refugees begin crossing over because of the war ..will we turn them away...or sign them up to vote with the big D....the war just make the "illegal" question alot harder to answer..

Tim*| 8.31.10 @ 2:51PM

The Federal Government is deliberately failing to stop Illegal Invaders from entering United States Sovereign Territory .

This is another reason why there is an escalating rebellion across The United States by patriots .

The Federal Government is provoking this rebellion .

ABNCP| 8.31.10 @ 3:24PM

I live in Arizona. I find it outrageous that this President has not spent any worthwhile time on our southern borders. As the Commnader in Chief his primary duty is to keep this country safe from all enemys foreign and domestic. We have had gunfights between coyotes in vans filled with illegals on InterState 10 in Arizona. There isn't a day that goes by that we don't hear of drop houses filled with illegals 30, 40, 50, being mistreated, the men being beaten and the women raped because the coyotes are trying to get more money from their familys in Mexico. I have just seen pictures of a tremendous weapons stash on the Arizona border. I mean there were RPG-7 rocket launchers, AK-47 assault rifles, boxes of hand granades ammunation clips piled up four feet high and twenty feet across, M16's by the van load. Some of the weapons had Arabic writing on them, some were Russian and some Chinese. Think about it, these bastard smugglers will bring anyone across our southern borders that has the money to pay for the trip. The have brought Islamic Jehadists into this country, count on it!! An yet the incompetent boob we have in the White house wants to play politics with border security. His Homeland Security stooge, Janet Incompetano, keeps telling us the border is safer than it has ever b een. Yeah Janet and the system worked with the Detroit bomber too right. Now we find out the reason the number of illegals being deported has fallen is because the stooge in charge of ICE has made his officers just let them go after they are identifed. Back into our population. The Arizona primany school system is overloaded with non-EnglishSpeakers. Our emergency medical facilities are closing down because they cannot afford to continue treating large numbers of illegals who cannot or will not pay for treatment. And now big whoop, we receive 1,200 National Guard troopers for our almost 2,500 southern border. Arizona gets about 500 some of whom are admin types. Our President cannot by serious! We have had Arizona citizens killed by illegals, Arizona law enforcement officers shot by drug smugglers eighty miles inside Arizona and yet this fool and his Administration continues to play politics with this dangerous border situtation. Believe it this President and his Administration are going to get Americans killed because of their insane desire for power thru block voting. Roll on November.

Mark Hammell| 8.31.10 @ 4:59PM

There should be no reason for Mexicans to want to come the United States. The climate in Mexico is fairly salubrious. The country has natural resources. The people are willing to be hard-working and industrious. Mexico has everything it needs to be a terrific place to live, but still the people leave and come here. Israel became a thriving nation under conditions no better than Mexico's. Hongkong became a thriving city under conditions arguably much worse than Mexico's. The only factor separating those places (and the US) from Mexico is the history of corrupt oligarchic governments going all the way back to the conquistadores. Until that changes, the border situation will never improve.

Michele San Pietro| 8.31.10 @ 5:42PM

I live in Italy, where we have even more serious problems with illegal immigration. I'm definitely in favor of more control, it's not a matter of closing the border, it's just a matter of turning back anyone entering our countries without the necessary documents, and it has absolutely nothing to do with racism. The borders of a country cannot remain wide open so that anybody can enter. If you want to emigrate, go to the embassy of the country where you would like to live and take care of all necessary formalities.

Bill| 8.31.10 @ 5:48PM

Reading the story of the 72 who were murdered for refusing to be assassins for some drug thugs, I was struck forcibly by the level of insensivity of MSNBC, who initially published the article with the name of the one person who survived by playing dead. What's next, MSNBC listing all our CIA agents currently active undercover and working at subverting terrorist organizations?

joli| 8.31.10 @ 11:50PM

Can you say Wikileaks?

hunter| 8.31.10 @ 5:56PM

Sure as hell glad Hilter and the Japanese didn't have the foresight to send their peoples that needed work here in unarmed ships in the night, instead of attacking by military. We would all be speaking German or Japanese now. Hitler is surely rolling in his grave wondering "Why didn't I think of that?"

hunter| 8.31.10 @ 6:00PM

Jim O'Brien| 8.31.10 @ 9:23PM

How about closing down ALL immigration to the U.S. for five years?

scythe| 9.1.10 @ 2:02PM

I am more concerned with the THOUSANDS of Americans who have been raped, maimed, murdered, or stolen from than the plight of 72 people who knew they were breaking OUR LAWS to try to sneak in and inflict their presence on the rest of us. I personally knew TWO people who were 1 - stabbed to death by an illegal alien, 2 - in the case of a young mother, raped and repeatedly stabbed in her own home. She died a horrific death. Americans are being constantly VICTIMIZED by those coming here illegally. Time was, America put the interests of its people first. Should that happen again, then those 72 would not think they had a chance. But the concern should be put on the well being of Americans. First.

Big Leo| 9.1.10 @ 7:28PM

We have had five murders in our small border town in the last ten years. Formerly, we had about one every ten to twenty years. Four out of five concerned illegal drugs. Two out of five were by illegal immigrants. The other two were by children of illegal immigrants. One was by a legal resident. We have had several people killed by high speed crashes caused by illegals fleeing apprehension. We've had two rapes and one armed robbery, all by illegals. The list goes on and on.

Last year, we all attended the funeral of an eight year old Indian girl who was raped and beaten by the teenage son of an illegal who was identifiable only by her dental work.

If Arizona is not allowed to enforce its laws to rid our state of this plague, we will do so by any means necessary. This is not about immigration, this is about invasion.

Donovan| 9.2.10 @ 1:17PM

What a fascinating article. We really need to get a handle on the illegal immigration problem and the incursion of the drug cartels from Mexico. I highly recommend people go to http://americasculturalstudies.....f-america/ to see the real scope of the problem we are facing.