Dereliction of Duty

Jerry Seper of the Washington Times is reporting this morning that the federal government has ordered Border Patrol agents to avoid making arrests of illegal aliens, because higher-ups felt that an increase in the number of apprehensions would prove the effectiveness of the Minuteman Project.

Seper writes:

More than a dozen agents, all of whom asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, said orders relayed by Border Patrol supervisors at the Naco, Ariz., station made it clear that arrests were "not to go up" along the 23-mile section of border that the volunteers monitored to protest illegal immigration.

"It was clear to everyone here what was being said and why," said one veteran agent. "The apprehensions were not to increase after the Minuteman volunteers left. It was as simple as that."

Another agent said the Naco supervisors "were clear in their intention" to keep new arrests to an "absolute minimum" to offset the effect of the Minuteman vigil, adding that patrols along the border have been severely limited.

If true, these allegations by veteran law enforcement field officers of the Border Patrol point to actions by Border Patrol management that is almost certainly criminal in intent.

Answers.com provides the primary definition of "dereliction" as:

Willful neglect, as of duty or principle.

By ordering field agents of the Border Patrol to willfully neglect their duties as law enforcement officers, Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar and other senior staff of the Border Patrol have asked law enforcement officers to commit a crime to cover up the incompetence and apathy of the Federal government towards illegal immigration.

It takes no great stretch of the imagination to think that this conspiracy runs in a direct line from the Border Patrol though the Department of Homeland Security, directly to the White House and George Bush, a man who once called the Minutemen volunteers peacefully and legally planning to watch the border for illegal activity "vigilantes."

The article added:

...Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, yesterday said "credible sources" within the Border Patrol also had told him of the decision by Naco supervisors to keep new arrests to a minimum, saying he was angry but not surprised.

"It's like telling a cop to stand by and watch burglars loot a store but don't arrest any of them," he said. "This is another example of decisions being made at the highest levels of the Border Patrol that are hurting morale and helping to rot the agency from within.

"I worry about our efforts in Congress to increase the number of agents," he said. "Based on these kinds of orders, we could spend the equivalent of the national debt and never have secure borders."

Mr. Tancredo, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, blamed the Bush administration for setting an immigration enforcement tone that suggests to those enforcing the law that he is not serious about secure borders.

"We need to get the president to come to grips with the seriousness of the problem," he said. "I know he doesn't like to utter the words, 'I was wrong,' but if we have another incident like September 11 by people who came through our borders without permission, I hope he doesn't have to say 'I'm sorry.' "

That is my fear as well. The Bush administration, starting with President Bush himself, is setting a horrible example for border security; one that may cost American lives. It amazes me to think that a man who has such a vision on Middle Eastern issues could be such an incompetent clod in securing his own nation's borders against foreign invaders.

President Bush is proving to be a Winston Churchill abroad, and a Neville Chamberlain at home. His acquiescence to the will of Vincente Fox and Mexico's government-sponsered illegal invasion is the untalked about Munich Agreement of American/Mexican politics.

As I've mentioned before in Border War:

1.1 million illegals were captured along the 2,000 mile southern border last year, with half of those captured coming through Arizona. Among the majority millions of illegals that crossed successfully last year were violent Central American gang members and 25 suspected Chechen terrorists in July that to this day have not been captured...

...In 2004, the equivalent of 160 12,500 military divisions simply walked northward across the U.S.-Mexican border to disappear into our country's interior. Opposing them is an apathetic federal government, a complicit media, an overworked Border Patrol, and now, the militia the Constitution intended.

The Minuteman Project is firing a very public media shot across the bow of an apathetic, perhaps complicit, White House and Congress. Hopefully this negative exposure will force the government to shore up our borders.

Apparently not, or not yet at least. Instead, Bush lends support to illegals with a medical supplement (in order to quiet calls for reform from a medical sector being bled dry by illegal aliens), and John McCain partners with Ted Kennedy to champion a law that includes an amnesty program that encourages more illegal immigration.

Quite frankly, if we suffer a second 9/11/01 because of President Bush's apathy towards the issue of border security, I will be among the loudest of voices calling for his impeachment.

When George W. Bush took his oath of office both times, he spoke these words as laid out Article II, Section I of the Constitution:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

By willfully neglecting to protect the borders of the United States, George W. Bush is dangerously close to breaking that oath.

Update: This Blue State Conservatives article on the same topic is worth a read, as is this attempt at "Mexicanizing" America.