President Bush, Read Our Lips, NO AMNESTY!
http://www.local2544.org/
Welcome. Local 2544 officers are all Border Patrol agents. We represent other Border Patrol agents and non-supervisory employees in the Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol, covering most of the state of Arizona. We are the largest local in the Border Patrol.
We fully support legal immigration, but we stand firmly against illegal immigration. We strongly oppose any attempts to reward illegal alien lawbreakers. We have risked our lives to keep them out of this country. The slick politicians can call it "guest-worker" or "earned legalization" all they want, but it's amnesty. Some of these politicians have missed their true calling. They need to be working down at the County Fair selling tickets to innocent children to try and shoot a 14" basketball through a 12" hoop so they can win the big stuffed animal.
Your Newest Jefe - Please welcome W. Ralph Basham, the Bush Administration's latest offering in the revolving door of so called "leaders" we have to put up with. This guy doesn't have a clue and he will undoubtedly have less of a clue after meeting with high level "me-first" Border Patrol managers who will fall all over themselves telling Mr. Basham exactly what he wants to hear (that next big promotion is right around the corner). After watching this silly game play out over and over again, it gets a little tiresome watching politicians trot out one "leader" after another who knows absolutely nothing about what we do. This guy actually thinks Janet Napolitano made "a brilliant comment" in regards to putting a wall up on the border ("show me a 50' wall and I'll show you a 51' ladder"). Cute? Certainly. Brilliant? Hardly. It's a very cute defeatist comment that generates cheap publicity, but does nothing to help us gain control of our borders. It reminds us of "Amnesty John" McCain's recent statement that illegal aliens would begin "parachuting" into the United States if we made it too hard for them to cross on the ground. Yeah, right! The bottom line is that Basham has no plan, but now he's an expert on border security because he flew over some Border Patrol agents in an aircraft. He is now equipped with the knowledge and experience to "lead" us into more mass chaos. America should be very concerned about what's taking place on our borders. Nothing substantive enough to address the problem is getting done folks. There's a lot of slick talk (mostly lies) from clueless politicians, but the facts remain that we have the worst equipment of any law-enforcement agency in the nation, we're undermanned, we're sold-out, we're being overrun, our infrastructure is, for the most part, completely outdated (not including the new palace being built for Sector management - it's huge, it cost a fortune, and it's real nice, but does absolutely nothing for rank-and-file agents), our vehicles are literally worn out and falling apart, our two-way radio communication system is completely outdated and unreliable (it doesn't even work in many areas we have to patrol), and morale amongst many agents is very bad and getting worse. Most agents we speak with anymore are trying to get jobs somewhere else or are very unhappy with the way things are going in the Border Patrol. Why? The number one reason is a lack of job satisfaction and a lack of support. The situation is shameful and somebody better wake up. Read an article on Mr. Basham here. 06-20-06
National Guard - Local 2544 has not been consulted in any way, shape, or form regarding the deployment of National Guard troops in this Sector. This is being posted in response to multiple questions about our involvement in this process. In a nutshell, there is no involvement. We were told we would be consulted. We weren't. 06-08-06
What "Guest Worker" and "Earned Legalization" Really Mean - Don't those terms sound warm and fuzzy? Well......in addition to the facts contained in the blog linked here regarding the administration of IRCA 1986, frontline Border Patrol agents were ordered to immediately release any illegal alien who made an amnesty claim, no questions asked, even though we were routinely uncovering massive fraud with simple field interrogation techniques. The illegal aliens we questioned before this order came down were mostly lying, and we were catching them in lies one right after another. Many had just entered the United States, but falsely claimed they had entered years before so they could "qualify" for amnesty. One large group was tracked down and apprehended on the Tohono O'Odham Indian reservation about 10 miles from the border (in the middle of nowhere - there's nothing out there, no roads, and no legitimate/lawful reason for illegal aliens to be there). Two of them had freshly minted "amnesty" cards. When questioned about the "last entry" they made into the U.S. from Mexico, the cardholders claimed they had entered years before and were just "visiting" the rest of the group (approximately 100 total). Of course, their clams were ludicrous. We were told that if we wanted to prove their claims false we would have to "back track" them all the way to the south side of the border to prove they were in Mexico. It was logistically impossible to do this under the circumstances. What they had really done was obtain the cards fraudulently, then they returned to Mexico to smuggle their entire village into the U.S. so they could all get the "amnestia" cards being doled out to illegal aliens. Yes America, it was that bad and then some. Similar situations played out thousands upon thousands of times. Fraud was absolutely rampant, and the government agents trying to enorce the laws were handcuffed by the bureaucrats after organizations like Catholic Social Services complained about us having the gall to actually do our jobs. This was just one small incident among thousands, but it demonstrates on a very small scale what will happen if our government is allowed to do this again. We have no idea what George Bush was doing in 1986, but he obviously needs to polish up on his perception of reality. This will be an out-of-control nightmare. If they ultimately pass anything close to the disastrous Senate Bill, you will see what we're talking about. They're not just "legalizing" 12 to 15 million illegal aliens, they are "legalizing" many millions more (family members, etc.) who will come after the nightmare is implemented. Your government is nowhere near being capable of handling all those claims. They will buckle at the slightest hint of pressure from any activist/social services group. They will issue waivers like candy to any illegal alien who says he or she can't afford the "fines" levied by the government. They will accept one fraudulent document after another. The entire thing will be mass chaos. Don't agree with us? Some of us have already seen this play out first-hand 20 years ago. Stay tuned folks. It will be a train wreck if it passes. 05-30-06
