Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Graves: Securing our border means building the wall

(From Sixth District Congressman Sam Graves)

It is important to remember that almost all of us are the children of immigrants. Our ancestors came to America because it was and still is a land of opportunity. America as a nation is great because of immigration, not in spite of it.

Even today, America continues to welcome immigrants who come here legally. It is not legal immigration that upsets Americans, it is illegal immigration. Our country has become far too tolerant to those who have broken the law.

On March 8, 2016, Pablo Serrano-Vitorino spread terror across Missouri, allegedly murdering four people in the Kansas City area and another outside of Columbia.

It was later found out that Serrano-Vitorino was previously deported from the U.S. for a felony conviction, only to re-enter the country illegally. What’s worse, Serrano-Vitorino was in police custody multiple times as an illegal immigrant but was released each time. Not deported because under the Obama administration they were not required to enforce our existing law. Serrano-Vitorino is currently being held in a St. Louis jail where he will soon see his day in court.

This is a nation that was founded on the rule of law. We have to send the message that we are serious about illegal immigration by enforcing our laws. Otherwise, individuals like Pablo Serrano-Vitorino will continue to endanger our people, encourage illegal immigration, narcotics trafficking, as well as deadly gangs that smuggle drugs and human beings.

Illegal immigration is just that- illegal.

Over the last month, the House and the Senate have been discussing solutions to our illegal immigration problem; including securing the border and ending sanctuary cities that harbor illegal criminals.

While our country is made great because of immigration, we must also ensure that those who come here do so legally. Any plan for immigration reform simply will not be effective until we first devise and implement a plan to safely secure our border.

I believe that the primary goal of any immigration legislation should be to control and defend our borders. Period.

Securing our border means building the wall. It’s not just campaign rhetoric. There are many places along our southern border that absolutely require it. Our Border Patrol does stellar work but there isn’t enough manpower and resources to effectively ensure our countries safety.

Our immigration problems didn’t occur overnight; they have grown steadily due to decades of inaction, bad policy, and neglect. It’s time we act for the safety, security, and sovereignty of our nation.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You people just do not get it. Our economy is dependent upon migrant labor and a wall impedes that migrant work force. Open the damned border rather than closing it. Our economy depends upon it.

Anonymous said...

Build that wall .

Harvey Hutchinson said...

That wall is extremely needed for:
Drugs
Illegal aliens
Terrorists
Human trafficking, to name a few

Mexico is considering one on the Guatemalan border


Harvey Hutchinson 303-522-6622 voice&text

Anonymous said...

Uh, duh and Mexico is going to pay for it. Right? That is what your illustrious Trumpenfuhrer campaigned on. How are you hypocrites going to pay for this, build the military budget and all the other lies your effing moron of a president promised? According to the last 10 years of the Republican obstructionism they just had to REDUCE spending and REDUCE the deficit. But now that they have complete control they have cut corporate taxes, given the rich their gift of lower taxes and now they want to wipe out that nasty ol' Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. In the meantime the working lower and middle class will get shafted by the immoral, unethical republican jackasses that can't do anything but kiss the Koch brothers asses. They only buy the best republicans.

Anonymous said...

The wall will not stop any of those things.

First, we're making our own drugs here, and the drugs that are coming from Mexico won't be stopped by a wall. They come in by tunnel, plane, and boat.

Again, illegal aliens are coming in by tunnel, plane, and boat.

Terrorists are not coming from Mexico.

Human trafficking is the biggest one, but Mexico isn't the largest player in human trafficking, so again, the wall does next to nothing but waste taxpayer dollars.