North Star Writers Group

As of the writing of this column, President Bush is meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox. They are purportedly doing something about the pressing illegal immigration issue, but somehow I rather doubt it's more than a dog-and-pony show for the media to play up and the willing masses to swallow whole. What President Bush needs to understand and apparently will not, so enthralled is he by his amigo Vicente, is that Mexico is not America's friend. And that it's high time America stopped letting its southern neighbor yank her chain anytime it feels like.

Does a "friend" do the following?

• Shove a substantial portion of its people illegally over the border?

• Refuse to solve the internal problems that drove so many to flee in the first place?

• Burden you with the expense of all those illegal immigrants while receiving roughly $20 billion from the same back into their economy?

• Respond to any attempts to secure a sovereign border against terrorism with accusations of racism?

• Encourage those who have entered America illegally to all but stage an insurrection?

I daresay the answer is no. Rather than cower in the face of potential Mexican reaction, America ought to be protecting herself from the growing threat to her sovereignty that Mexico increasingly represents. As we have experienced with Fidel Castro and Cuba, a neighbor that can flood you with refugees at any moment as a perpetual blackmail tactic is an intolerable situation that cannot be allowed to continue. And Mexico is easily outdoing ol' Fidel in that department, numbers-wise.

Since there isn't 90 miles of ocean to do the job in this case, a security wall must be erected. Without it, not only can Mexico forever play human blackmail, but terrorists can come across at will to do us all harm. As much as it may offend to give some sort of amnesty, the reality is that 15 million+ illegal immigrants are not going to to be rounded up and deported. It's just not logistically possible, and would probably spark widespread violence. Therefore, getting a wall in exchange for generosity on that front is a decent trade-off going forward.

And with some luck, no longer having the northern release valve might just spur some domestic reform in Mexico. Lord knows they have nowhere to go but up, as chronically corrupt and horribly run as that nation is. That so many head to America instead in spite of the risks indicates how awful the Mexican people feel their government is. If that energy could be forcibly re-directed inward rather than outward, maybe this bad situation would finally improve for the better.

There is a pessimistic side to all this, however. The above presumes decent intent on the part of most of the involved parties--a presumption that may not be merited. Having seen thousands upon thousands of Mexicans protesting the past few days, a great many of whom have to be illegally here, and the open contempt they showed for an America that has otherwise treated them well, I can only conclude based on that their intent is entirely hostile. And that their presence is less about economic necessity than an attempt at a slow-motion Mexican reconquista of the southwest, lost via war in the 1840s.

Which makes the security wall an even bigger imperative. And to the extent that the Mexican government encourages illegal immigration for hostile purposes, however informally so they can plausibly deny it later, they are abetting if not outright perpetrating an invasion. That would justify not only defensive moves on America's part, but military action to clean up the mess to the south once and for all. Not to mention that there is a certain point where it's the quickest solution. To employ a metaphor, one can't dry up overflowing water without first turning off the spigot.

But all of this is entirely irrelevant without first recognizing Mexico for what it is--an emerging threat to her security, sovereignty, economy, and very future. Words like "friend," "ally," and "partner" no longer apply, if they ever did in the first place. And with millions upon millions of Mexican loyalists already inside America's borders, not to mention terrorists still trying to cross them, if we fail to see this potential new enemy nearby and deal with it accordingly, by the time that we do there may not be much left for us to defend.

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This is Column # DKK9. Request permission to publish here.