02/22/2006

International Criminal Cartels Control Our Borders While Politicians Gandstand On Port Security

(PHOENIX, AZ) February 21, 2006 – Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, issued the following statement regarding the current political debate on the management of American ports by a foreign company:

“I have watched in disgust this week as grandstanding politicians who have for decades allowed international criminal cartels free passage of drugs, weapons and human chattel across our borders now rush to the microphones in the name of national security to decry government contracts with an Arab-owned and Mideast-based corporation to operationally manage several U.S. shipping ports.

“Many of these politicians noisily vowing to do everything in their power to stop Dubai Ports World from managing the operations at six of our shipping ports have repeatedly refused to do anything in their power to secure our borders.

“Brutal international drug cartels, operating under the protection of the Mexican military, ship thousands of tons of drugs across our border with impunity every year. These criminal gangs also traffic massive inventories of contraband in weapons, stolen cars and, most outrageously, human beings. Yet there is no rush to the television news cameras by Senators Schumer, Menendez, and Hillary Clinton—much less by Senate Majority Leader Frist or House Speaker Hastert— demanding our borders immediately be secured against these violent foreign lawbreakers.

“It is well known that terrorists are seeking to exploit the vulnerability of our open borders. They see that millions upon millions of aliens have been able to sneak into this country—illegally under our federal laws, yet virtually unchecked. Experts say it is not a matter of ‘if but when’ terrorists cross our open borders to attack America. Why in the world should terrorists try to ship nuclear, chemical or biological weapons through our shipping ports, when they can walk or drive them across the border with ease?

“The Department of Homeland Security recently admitted the U.S. government does not have control of either our northern or our southern borders. If the same level of outrage now expressed by our elected officials about the port deal had emerged when Homeland Security made that admission of gross failure and dereliction of duty, these same politicians would have acted to ensure that troops be placed along our nation’s frontier immediately, to protect this country. Instead, they are playing politics in a dangerous debate over amnesty disguised as guest worker programs, and grandstanding on the headline-grabbing issue du jour of the ports deal, while well-organized international drug cartels and criminal gangs continue to maintain operational control of our borders.

“The Minutemen urge these politicians to transfer some of their worst-case scenarios about DP World’s management of our ports to the real-world domination of our nation’s ‘border security’ by international drug cartels and criminal gangs. Maybe that will wake them up to the threat posed by our out-of-control border crisis. Until then, the Minutemen will continue to stand vigilant watch over our borders—doing the job these politicians refuse to do.”