Fortress America's Gate is Open

Mark Steyn writes in The Chicago Sun Times about how the massive problem of illegal immigration that we now have in this country is a national security problem and not just one of economics. For it is not just Mexican people coming over our borders to find a job and send money back home. Our borders are wide open and terrorists are taking advantage of it by crossing into America and moving into the already vast network of illegals who are already here.

The three Duka brothers were (if you'll forgive the expression) illegal immigrants. They're not meant to be here. Yet they graduated from a New Jersey high school and they operated two roofing companies and a pizzeria. Think of how often you have to produce your driver's license or Social Security number. But, five years after 9/11, this is still one of the easiest countries in the world in which to establish a functioning but fraudulent identity.

Consider, for example, the post-9/11 ritual of airline security. You have to produce government-issued picture ID to the TSA official. Does that make you feel safer? On that Tuesday morning in September, four of the killers got on board by using picture ID they'd acquired through the "undocumented worker" network in Falls Church, Va. Half the jurisdictions in the United States issue picture ID to people who shouldn't even be in the country, and they issue it as a matter of policy. The Fort Dix boys were pulled over for 19 traffic violations, but because they were in "sanctuary cities," any cop who suspected they were illegals was unable to report them to immigration authorities. Again, as a matter of policy.

So far we have been able to avoid another serious attack on our shores, but the current dynamic can't be working in our favor. There are only so many law enforcement resources to go around and as more and more illegals come here those resources must, by definition, become more and more stretched. Moreover we have, for reasons of political correctness, refused to really address the issue in a serious sort of way. We need to have real control of our borders and to know who is coming into the country. The current policy of ignoring the problem only makes another attack more likely.