We have to protect our borders better

Julie Reeder

Publisher

Israel was ruthlessly attacked Saturday morning with a barrage of thousands of rockets/bombs. Remember, Israel is only twice the size of San Diego County. It is almost exactly the size of Riverside County, surrounded by enemies who are the worst level of racists and terrorists with the goal of murdering all the Jewish people. This is despite Israel welcoming all races into their communities.

Imagine having a bomb shelter under your home or business because so often terrorists would launch bombs from Tijuana. It’s hard to imagine because we have lived in safety and security.

And yet, the reports are that Hamas was able to breach Israel’s border, with hundreds of terrorists, going house to house, killing, kidnapping, murdering, raping, and pillaging. Over 200 people were killed during the rave alone. Estimates of the dead in Israel are reported from 1,000 to 3,600 with thousands hurt and unknown missing. Americans are also among the dead and missing.

Over the last three years, we've been aware of almost 6,000,000 people entering our country illegally from nearly every corner of the world. Estimates are that at least 8,000,000 have crossed successfully.

The reports from last month (September 2023) included 260,000 people from about 180 countries that Border Patrol had contact with, which is a record. There were also known terrorists who were stopped as well. But those are only the ones who were caught. How many weren’t caught? How many haven’t been caught over the years? We’ve allowed more people into our country illegally than most of our states have in their entire population.

Six of our states have an entire population of less than 1,000,000. Nine states have 1,000,000 to 2,000,000. Nine states have 2,000,000 to 4,000,000. NIne states have 5,000,000 to 7,000,000.

It is likely that we have had more people cross our borders illegally than the populations of 80% of our states. Wyoming has less than 600,000 people according to the last census.

The Biden administration finally had to concede and start rebuilding the wall that Trump started. That’s a start.

I want to emphasize something that I think is equally, if not more, important. Our country and our communities are full of people from other countries who left their home country because of terrorism, poverty, corruption, etc. They are loyal to America, despite our problems. They love their new country and they are proud Americans. They hate terrorism more than we do, because they lived it. They may have lost family and friends.

I would interview more of them, but many have said they are still afraid to speak out.

I talked to a person from the Middle East who is in this country operating a restaurant. He loves having his own business and being part of a community and raising his family in a safe neighborhood. I asked if we could do a story and talk about his escape and starting his new life. His smile turned serious immediately. He refused to allow me to tell his story because he still lives in fear that he and his family will be retaliated against, from his former country. He says this community has welcomed them with open arms.

We are in a complicated and important place, geographically, culturally, and personally. We love being a nation with open arms, as long as people come in legally. I have compassion for people who are here legally and still may be harassed, for instance by having to go through airport checks several times. It must be hard, but they understand and have a good attitude.

We need to work hard to stay compassionate and kind, while also being vigilant.

I can’t imagine what our Israeli friends are going through. I took some comfort Sunday morning at church while we all prayed for Israel, knowing that churches and temples all over the world were praying for our brothers and sisters in the midst of unspeakable horror. My hope, of course, is that the war ends soon. And that the U.S. takes it as a warning to be smarter and do better protecting our borders.