I have just completed a rotation as a National Guard officer working in the Yuma, AZ sector of Operation Jump Start. Operation Jump Start is the manifestation of President Bush’s plan to provide increased border security to stem the flow of illegal immigration.

I must admit that I had personal reservations about the role of the National Guard in this mission. There are no hostilities on the border. There is not a natural disaster. There is no rioting. These are the typical roles for the Guard - temporary emergencies. I feared that border security would become a permanent mission for the Guard keeping us away from home when we might be needed for state emergencies and causing a decline in our combat readiness for our national war time missions.

But then I heard the words of an experienced and wise Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO). He said “Taking care of the nation is our business.” That’s the bottom line. And he is right. So often it takes the words of an NCO to put things simply and provide common sense.

My rotation on the border has given me a chance to perceive more clearly the intellectual case and the practical case for how the business of taking care of the nation by the National Guard includes protecting our borders. That may be for only a couple of years or even a couple of decades or more. But it must be done and somebody has to do it.

The Intellectual Case

As I have thought about this border mission I have been struck by the Catholic Church’s definition of peace. The Church defines peace as “a tranquility of order”. And it occurs to me how our immigration policy is in such disorder. We all acknowledge there is a lack of controlled flow of immigration. Folks who make it legally to the US must wait years and endure bureaucracy to remain here legally and attain citizenship. While at the same time millions come across illegally and stay illegally. This causes a disruption and a strain in our society. And it is unjust. There is no order about it and no “tranquility” about it.

During this operation I have seen firsthand the trials that illegal immigrants endure. I have heard the statistics of the illegals who die in the desert, who are robbed by bandits just as they are about to cross. The “facilitators” on the other side of the border charge thousands of dollars telling illegals that once they cross the border they will reach another facilitator or roads in only a couple of hours. In most cases there is no other facilitator and it takes many more hours and often days to reach civilization. By that time the illegals are dehydrated, starving and many die.

The “facilitators” on the Mexican side will bring a group of illegals to a staging area just short of the border. Then as the facilitator goes ahead alone to “check out the crossing” a pre-arranged group of bandits descend upon them, beat and rob them. The “faciliator”, who is in on the game, returns feigning dismay at what happened in the short time he was gone.

These cases are a moral outrage and the lack of order in our immigration policy is significantly responsible. Our open borders encourage this outrage. This disorder on the border is a violation of the definition of peace. In an intellectual sense - and in a real sense - there is a war on our border. Peace must be restored.

The Practical Case

My experience as a participant in Operation Jumpstart has opened my eyes to the fact that we can protect our borders effectively. We can create a near-impenetrable virtual wall through the combination of technology, human presence in observation posts and patrols, and physical walls in critical places. This works. It deters border crossings and channelizes would-be crossers to either legal crossing sites or places where we can nab them more quickly and effectively. The US Customs and Border Patrol does amazing work as shorthanded as they are. The cooperation between that agency and the National Guard is a model of various entities working together for the good of their country.

Enforcement of the border must come first. A general amnesty will only make things worse as history has proven. Prior to the last amnesty that was granted in 1988 the vast majority of illegals was men seeking to come over to work so they could send money home to family. Since that amnesty the illegals have included millions of women and children who have accompanied their men in coming over not to work but to settle here. And many have suffered and died and been robbed in the process. Our social network has not been prepared to handle them. And it takes responsibility away from their home nation for taking care of their own citizens - they can simply send their “excess” citizens to America. Imagine what will happen if we repeat that general amnesty again. The floodgates will open even wider than they did in 1988.

We can welcome immigrants and we should. Many need the opportunities and asylum available in America and we need them. But we must have order in our system; it must be legal and there must be no tolerance of illegal entry. An orderly system protects both our nation and the immigrants seeking to come here. We have a moral obligation to restore order to the system.

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