Borderline madness.(immigration)

ITEM: In his syndicated column appearing in the Decatur (Indiana) Daily Democrat for April 11, Morton Kondracke commented that President Bush "has been gratifyingly and even eloquently pro-immigration in his public statements." The executive editor of the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call and a host on Fox News, Kondracke continued: "Part of the equation, too, is a loud claque of radio and TV talk show hosts who rail against an 'invasion' of foreigners flooding across 'porous' U.S. borders in flagrant violation of the law. The agitation is accompanied by extensive publicity for the Arizona 'Minuteman' movement, which was launched to block immigrants from Mexico. Bush has denounced such 'vigilante' activity."

ITEM: Newsweek International, in its April 4 issue, reported that immigration was discussed at a meeting of the leaders of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. "Yet while U.S. President George W. Bush vowed to redouble efforts to secure congressional approval of a guest-worker program he unveiled more than a year ago, he hedged his bets about its passage. 'I will continue to push our Congress to come up with rational, commonsense immigration policy,' Bush said in remarks addressed to Mexican President Vicente Fox...."

Inaction, however, may no longer be an option, said the magazine. "Businesses throughout the United States have grown thoroughly dependent on--and accustomed to--hiring Mexican laborers."

CORRECTION: The Minuteman Project is not a group of vigilantes who take the law into their own hands. Its announced intent is to help federal authorities enforce existing laws, and its approach of reporting illegal activity to authorities is more akin to neighborhood watches, though there is the danger that agents provocateurs could attempt acts of violence for the purpose of discrediting the group.

Yet, many in the media have perpetuated this vigilante notion, as well as the myths that nothing can be done about illegal immigration and that alien lawbreakers are only taking jobs that would never be filled by Americans. While denouncing law-abiding Americans, President Bush embraced the head of the Mexican government. That same government is issuing literature instructing Mexicans how to break U.S. laws by giving advice about how to cross into the United States illegally.

President Vicente Fox has also threatened to take international judicial action if the Minutemen break the law--actions he presumably believes should only be undertaken by Mexicans. Comments an angry Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.): "The President of Mexico is threatening to sue any member of the Minutemen who has contact with a Mexican national, threatening to take the United States into the International Court of Justice at the Hague over the passage of Prop 200 in Arizona, and is providing transportation to Mexican nationals trying to sneak into the U.S. One could say that he is acting in the best interest of his nation. Isn't it unfortunate we cannot say the same about President Bush?"

The number of illegals jumped by 23 percent over the past four years, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center. Getting caught is often just a small inconvenience. There are one million illegal aliens involved in some phase of immigration proceedings who have ...