A Juxtaposition: Secure Border...Please do not visit!

My thanks to Senators McCain and Kyl for visiting Douglas, Arizona this past weekend to learn about the current status of our southern border. While the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security (Janet Napolitano from AZ) states that the border is as secure as it ever has been, I am confident we know otherwise. For example, in this video Senator McCain shows several signs posted by the federal government warning visitors to this region NOT TO VISIT. How can that be a sure sign of safety along the border? Based on that one example, simple logic tells us that the border is not secure.

I know statistics can be used wrongly when reported out of context, but consider this one statistic: Phoenix is only second to Mexico City globally for kidnappings (as reported by Senator Kyl). Second! Are you kidding? A city in the United States of America known as a capital for kidnappings. Our federal politicians should be ashamed of themselves for blindly ignoring this statistic among others that affect public safety and the use of public lands.

While walking past the Massachusetts State House yesterday, there was an 18 day protest being staged to prevent similar laws from SB 1070 passing in MA. Citizens like them should also be ashamed for abandoning their fellow countrymen; they do not live on the border. They have no clue the desperate situation that Arizona citizens in the lower quarter of our state live with on a day-to-day basis. They don't have to live with the buddy system, always having someone at their side. They don't have to leave their house with a weapon. Don't tell me that this whole "thing" is about stereotyping people based on the color of their skin. It's about the situation on Arizona's southern border where U.S. citizens are not safe and will not be safe until the border is secure. We can't address immigration reform until the border is secure.

If you have 20 minutes, watch the video. If you only have 5, it's still worth it. If you're still opposed to this whole bill/issue in Arizona, please consider what it would be like to spend a day, much less a week or month in the life of southern Arizona citizens. It is our duty to protect our citizens above non-citizens and at this point, that task has not been accomplished.