By: Phil Williams
If there were a threat in your own neighborhood, what would you do? Seeing armed intruders, squatters, vandals, or thieves at your neighbor’s house would you gawk out the window while taking videos on your smartphone? Would you call 911? Would you help? Would you be next?
I hope none of you ever have to face that moment. The violation of your home. The invasion of privacy. The loss of a sense of security.
What if I told you, it was a government policy that encouraged such loss of sanctuary? What if your neighbor’s crisis was because elected leaders invited armed intruders, squatters, vandals, and thieves to come to your town? Farfetched? It’s not. This is exactly what our neighbors in the Border States have endured for the past four years. Ranchers on the Southern border no longer feel safe on their own land. American communities have been devastated by the costs of illegal immigration. Crime tied to illegal aliens is a daily news headline. But they were invited. Some elected leaders still don’t get it. Denver, CO, Mayor Mike Johnston proclaimed he would gladly go to jail if necessary to resist new border security policies from the Trump administration. Multiple blue state governors say they will continue their sanctuary policies. The Los Angeles City Council just voted to declare themselves a sanctuary city. Armed intruders, squatters, vandals, and thieves still have open invitations from Democrat leadership.
But these are our neighbors. Cities and states are the neighbors of other cities and states. Neighborly behavior is warranted. It is needed. It should be expected.
There was a day when the nation did not sit idly by when the border was breached. It was a question of national security. National sovereignty. Neighbor watching out for neighbor. States watching out for states.
In 1916, American communities suffered raids by Mexican bandits. The Mexican government was no help. Bandit leader Francisco “Pancho” Villa led an army of 1,500 guerillas across the U.S. border against the small American town of Columbus, New Mexico. Villa and his men killed 19 people and left the town in flames. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson ordered General John “Blackjack” Pershing to lead 6,000 American troops into Mexico and capture Villa.
American sentiment was high. Cross border damage and destruction was an outrage, an affront to our very being as a nation. One editorial cartoon of the time by Clifford K. Berryman depicted Uncle Sam leaping the border saying, “I’ve had about enough of this.” A smoldering home lay in the background of the image as Uncle Sam gave chase to Villa. The states answered the call with thousands of National Guardsmen. Alabama’s own 167th Infantry joined the “Punitive Expedition of the US Army.”
For the better part of two years, Pershing and his soldiers chased the elusive Villa. The American troops had several bloody skirmishes with the rebels. Mexican troops began to resist the U.S. forces. In February 2017, diplomatic efforts avoided war in the Western hemisphere. The war in Europe became the pressing matter, and troops on the border shipped out to the battlefields of WWI.
There was a time when the federal government was willing to go to war to protect the Southern border of the U.S. and the states answered. No one wants that. No rational person desires armed conflict. But the point is that a time existed when the U.S. government would not sit idly by while border communities suffered. Neighbors needed help.
American communities had been harmed, and it was seen then as an invasion — destruction of the sense of security and sovereignty that every U.S. citizen has a right to expect and to demand their government ensure. Armed intruders, squatters, vandals, and thieves coming across our border were not welcomed. As one we responded to our neighbors’ distress.
It has not been that way for the past four years. In what seems to be a blatant and intentional effort to blur the lines of national borders, the Biden administration has failed to provide even a hint of care and concern that U.S. citizens should expect them to provide. Taken into context, all of the actions and inactions of the Biden administration make this lack of security at our Southern border clearly appear to be an intentional effort. Secretary Mayorkas claimed the border was secure. Vice President Harris went to the border all of twice as border czar. Customs and border patrol officers have been overwhelmed. Texas has been forced to take unilateral action in its Operation Lone Star and sued for doing so by the Biden administration. Border wall construction stopped. Millions of illegal immigrants rushed the border and flooded into the United States.
But if we actually care about what happens at our neighbor’s house, then you will agree that we must not sit idly by. We must venture across the property lines to assist our neighbors. Because if the danger to our neighbor goes unchecked, then eventually it comes to our own house.
Securing our borders is a core principle of good governance. It is a key portion of providing for the common defense, supporting the general welfare, and ensuring domestic tranquility. Without a border, you have to question whether we really have a nation.
Armed intruders, squatters, vandals, and thieves still have open invitations from progressive leaders. But there was a time when a president saw the border as something to fight for — when Uncle Sam leaped the fence and said, “I’ve had about enough of this!”
By: Phil Williams
December 6, 2024
