Michael Cutler -- Elected Officials From Both Parties Unwilling to Protect America

Two news reports point to the clear and present danger the deteriorating situation in Mexico poses to our nation and our citizens.

The first article, "U.S. Plans Border ‘Surge’ Against Any Drug Wars" appears in today's edition of the New York Times, while the second article, "Obama faces Mexican drug war" was published in the Washington Times last week, on January 2nd.

In my judgement, the deteriorating situation in Mexico can be traced back to the relative ease with which the drug cartels were able to move people and narcotics into the United States because our nation's "leaders" have been unwilling to secure the borders of the United States.

In order to function and expand their capabilities, the drug cartels needed massive infusions of cash. The smuggling of narcotics into the United States and the movement of the proceeds of the trafficking activities flowed south of the border and enriched the coffers of the cartels enabling them to buy more guns, more vehicles and pay more bribes to Mexican law enforcement, military and government officials. In effect, our politicians who blocked efforts aimed at securing our nation's border with Mexico, made the expansion of the cartels' violence and reach into our county possible.

Consider the following quotes from the Washington Times news report written by Jerry Seper:

In April, the Justice Department reported that Mexican drug cartels represent the "largest threat to both citizens and law enforcement agencies in this country and now have gang members in nearly 200 U.S. cities." The 200 cities include Washington; Baltimore, Frederick and Greenbelt in Maryland; and Arlington and Galax in Virginia.

During a raid last year on a gang operation in Laredo, Texas, an ICE-led task force of federal agents seized two completed improvised explosive devices, materials for making 33 more devices, 300 primers, 1,280 rounds of ammunition, five grenades, nine pipes with end caps, 26 grenade triggers (14 with fuses and primers attached), 31 grenade spoons, 40 grenade pins, 19 black powder casings, a silencer and cash.

These paragraphs illustrate a point that I have made repeatedly when I have testified before Congress and at other venues; illegal immigration and failures to secure our nation's borders and create an immigration system that possesses true integrity are not simply border issues but rather threaten the safety and security of our entire nation and endanger the lives and safety of American cities from coast to coast and border to border..

Had the Bush administration acted swiftly to secure our border with Mexico, the violence of Mexico might never have gotten to the point where it is now. Our nation's insatiable appetite for the cheap and exploitable labor provided by illegal aliens caused our nation's leaders to reject any program that sought to effectively secure our nation's borders.

Consider, if you will, the Congressional debates about the need to construct a fence along the border our nation shares with Mexico. Consider the point I made in the commentaries I have written about the fact that the Bush administration refused to hire as many Border Patrol agents and special agents for ICE that Congress had funded.

Incredibly, there are still politicians who oppose securing our borders and refuse to have our nation create a secure immigration bureaucracy. These are the politicians who are pushing for the creation of a Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) program that would legalize God knows how many millions of illegal aliens whose true identities, including even their nationalities, are unknown and unknowable. Their criminal histories and possible affiliation with criminal or terrorist organizations is unknown and unknowable. Their intentions are unknown and unknowable. There would be know way of knowing when, where or how they entered the United States. Yet the advocates for open borders could seemingly care less about the irrevocable damage such a wrong-headed program could do to our nation.

At a time when President-elect Obama has talked about the need to create jobs for Americans and create a massive economic stimulus package to avert an economic catastrophe that might be worse than the Great Depression, it is time for our political leaders to finally come to terms with the real world, a place many of them seem to have never visited. They need to understand that a massive influx of illegal aliens would potentially aid criminal organizations and would make it increasingly difficult for Americans to boot-strap their way into economic mainstream America.

Furthermore, when illegal aliens and aliens who are admitted on the various "temporary" work visas earn money in the United States, their goal is to send that money back to their home country. This is the exact opposite of what is desperately needed now. It is absolutely critical that money earned in America stay in America! Americans and resident aliens tend to spend, save and invest the money they earn in the United States. This is a "No brainer," the problem is that all too many of our "leaders" apparently have no brains!

Therefore it is more important than ever before that the citizens of our nation get involved in the political process. As I have noted on many occasions, when we go to a restaurant we generally are very specific about the food we want to eat and how we want it prepared. We should be no less specific about how we want our elected representatives to represent us, We the People!

When you watch the Super Bowl an see the enthusiasm of the fans in the stands sporting body paint and other evidence of their support for their team of choice, I want you to imagine how different our nation would be if We the People demonstrated comparable passion over the political decisions being made, purportedly on our behalf by our elected representatives.

These decisions will have a long lasting impact on the safety and security of our nation and our citizens. These decisions will impact the lives of our children and their children. The time for complacency is over!

Good citizenship does not end at the voting booth but it simply begins there. In order for our representative democracy to represent us, we need to communicate with our elected representatives to let them know in clear and unequivocal terms what we want.

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I implore you to get involved! Please make this your New Year's Resolution!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Michael W. Cutler graduated from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1971 with a B.A. in Communications Arts and Sciences. Mr. Cutler began working for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in October 1971 when he entered on duty as an Immigration Inspector assigned to John F. Kennedy International Airport. In August 1975 he became a Criminal Investigator (Special Agent) for the INS at NYC.

He rotated through virtually every squad in the Investigations Branch. From 1988 until 1991 he was assigned as the INS representative to the Unified Intelligence Division (UID) of the DEA in New York. In 1991 he was promoted to the position of Senior Special Agent and was assigned to the Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) which required that he work with members of other law enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Customs and local and state police as well as law enforcement organizations of other countries including Israel, Canada, Great Britain and Japan, to conduct investigations of aliens involved in major drug trafficking organizations. He retired from the INS in February 2002, after a career that spanned some 30 years.

Finally, Michael Cutler has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including Lou Dobbs, Fox News, MSNBC and many other television and radio news-oriented programs to discuss the enforcement of immigration laws.