Immigration Reform 4

Those not in Southern California may not be familiar with the most recent firestorm over illegal immigration.

In a series of sweeps in southern California over the course of a few weeks in June, a dozen agents of the Border Patrol arrested more than 420 illegal aliens and placed them in deportation proceedings.

Americans enthusiastically supported the sweeps, as any public opinion poll would have predicted, but Rep. Joe Baca (search), D-Calif., and Mexican President Vicente Fox (search) were outraged. ...

During a June 25 meeting with Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson (search), Baca and other members of the Hispanic caucus accused the Border Patrol agents of racial profiling.

In response to the charges, Hutchinson’s office appeared to collapse. Describing the Border Patrol officers involved in the sweeps as a renegade unit that had taken it upon itself to enforce the law without having first obtained the permission of officials in Washington, the DHS, in an all-too-familiar pattern, ordered the sweeps halted.

The vast majority of SoCal citizens are outraged over the issue, particularly since illegal immigrants cost our state more than $5 billion per year in health care costs alone (on top of an unimaginable sum for public education). Either the federal government needs to enforce the borders, or the federal government needs to reimburse the taxpayers of California for the costs incurred by their failure to do so.

Leading the public cries for reform are radio talk show hosts John and Ken, who have even started a "Political Human Sacrifice" scheme to oust one California Republican from the House as an example to the others. They're inviting all the Republican candidates in their listening area to come on the air and defend their inaction on the illegal immigration issue, and then polling their listeners to determine who they should focus their attention on as the "sacrifice". (My vote is for David Dreier.)

The hosts only need to swing about 30k votes to eliminate one of these Representatives, and from what I've heard and read the politicians are scared stiff at the prospect. It's likely that John and Ken's political sacrifice will be successful, and I hope it does serve as a wake-up call to the rest of the Republicans in Congress. (The Democrats are obviously a lost cause on this issue.)

Meanwhile, is it really useful to crack down on illegal immigrants at LAX?

U.S. border agents are now in full uniform on patrol at the airport, looking for people who help transport illegal immigrants into the country. Immigration officials say this is part of a larger effort to secure the border (search) but critics say it amounts to nothing more than election-year politics.

The vast majority of illegal immigrants sneak across the US-Mexican border in trucks or on foot, they don't fly in on jets. What a joke.