Mr Bush, put up that wall!

I was watching the news yesterday, and there was a report about the weekend arrest of twenty-one memebers of a gang calling themselves MS-13. These arrests were made following a spree of gang-related crimes, including robbery, vandalism, and nine counts of murder. One of those murders was that of a nineteen-month-old toddler. Of the twenty-one that were arrested, only one was a U.S. citizen. One. The remainder of those arrested are in the U.S. illegally.

This is hardly an isolated incident. Stories such as this echo throughout the border states, and yet, the federal government makes absolutely nothing more than a token effort to staunch the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. The Minuteman Project that is currently taking place in Arizona has proven that an increased presence along the border can make a huge impact on the number of illegals entering the U.S. To date, the federal government has failed to take notice of this fact.

America is, and always has been, a nation for immigrants. It is also a nation of laws; laws that both citizens and would-be citizens are expected to obey. Some of those laws pertain to immigration and how to become a full-fledged U.S. citizen. There are even laws that govern being a foreign national living in the U.S., without being a citizen. The key point here is that all of these are here in accordance with existing law.

This is not true for so-called "undocumented" immigrants.

According to the Federation for Immigration Reform, public services for illegal immigrants cost the state of Texas an estimated $4.7 billion per year.

The porous border along the southern states is costing way too much, in terms of both lives and money. It's time to man that border with adequate personnel. It's time to start holding Washington accountable for doing its Constitutionally mandated job of protecting the U.S. from invasion by foriegn nations.

It's time to put up a wall.