PRESIDENT’S SPEECH LACKS FOCUS ON BORDER SECURITY AND ENFORCEMENT OF EXISITING LAWS
PHOENIX, AZ— According the to the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address last evening offers no new plan for resolving the existing border security crisis plaguing our nation. MCDC believes that inadequate funding for a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border and inadequate enforcement of current immigration laws have exacerbated the problem, and instead of calling on Congress to increase enforcement, the President demanded passages of amnesty legislation under the guise of “comprehensive immigration reform.”
“There is an urgent need to secure the border and it starts with building a fence,” states Chris Simcox, President and founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. “All we heard last night are platitudes, not plans.”
MCDC has served as a deterrent to illegal immigration and amnesty since October 2002, having located and reported to Border Patrol agents over 10,000 lawbreakers who were apprehended for entering our country illegally and rescued over 200 individuals stranded in the desert, requiring humanitarian aid. Additionally, the Minutemen have identified and turned over thousands of pounds of illegal contraband to the proper authorities.
Even while the U.S. Congress “authorized” and then neglected to fund a fence on the United States-Mexico border last year, the Minutemen continue to volunteer their time to build a security fence through private donations obtained from thousands of citizens nationally. MCDC has already taken steps to build demonstration fencing along the border with the fiber optic mesh produced by FOMGuard, USA, also currently in use on U.S. military installations, the DMZ in Korea and the West Bank in Israel.
“We are concerned that the President’s speech calls for amnesty but neglects to advocate for strict enforcement of current laws and the building of a fence,” added Simcox. “Therefore, we are continuing to organize efforts to increase pressure on Washington lawmakers so that the national security interests of our country are not jeopardized, like they were in 1986, by permitting amnesty.”
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) is a peaceful, law-abiding and citizen-led initiative organized to stand watch at our borders and in our neighborhoods, report illegal activities to the proper authorities, and build border fencing on private lands using private donations. Additionally, MCDC seeks to urge local and federal officials to enforce our immigration laws in order to keep our families and country safe. MCDC conducts border watch operations that assist the activities of the U.S. Border Patrol, reports employers of illegal aliens, and advocates to keeps tax dollars from being used for illegal alien benefits.
