U.S. Border Control

Senator Clinton talks increased border security, but votes against increased agents and detention facilities

By Jim Kouri, CPP
Jul 16, 2005

Senator Hillary Clinton once again displayed how she can talk out of both sides of her mouth depending on whom she's addressing. Recently in New York, Senator Clinton, as part of her attempt to re-invent herself, told a cheering crowd that the United States had to protect our borders and deal with illegal immigration.

But, according to the Washington Times, Clinton and her fellow New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer turned thumbs down on two amendments to a Department of Homeland Security spending bill, which would have funded 2,000 new Border Patrol agents and more than 5,000 new detention beds to house illegal aliens.

According to NewsMax, just last week the former first lady blasted President Bush on border security in a statement posted to her official Senate Web site. NewMax quotes Madam Hillary as saying, "This administration has failed to provide the resources to protect our borders, or a better system to keep track of entrants to this country," she complained, adding, "I welcome the addition of more border security." In the past she has claimed to be "adamantly against illegal immigrants."

Yet Senator Clinton and her comrades voted against border security enhancements, once again displaying her propensity for double-speak. Meanwhile, Senator Schumer's explanation -- once you cut through all the bull -- is that there's just not enough pork in such a bill for New York, since states such as California, Texas and Arizona stand to gain increased funding to control the borders. Senator Clinton, on the other hand, does what she does best: refuses to comment on her actions. She's probably once again studying the situation to see how she feels about it, a familiar Democrat Party trick to avoid telling the American people what she really believes.

Clinton, like so many in her party, attempts to appear as if she's a national-security hawk. The reality is these Democrats are trying once again to pull the wool over American's eyes. It's a strategy the Democrats tried when they ran John Kerry for president. They spent a lot of capital to build up Kerry as a war hero who would fight a better terrorism war, when in fact Kerry was nothing more than a recycled war protester and propaganda master. The mainstream news media tried as best they could to explain the Massachusetts Senator's inconsistancies by saying his replies were "nuanced." If so, then Senator Hillary Rodham-Clinton is the Queen of Nuance.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.