A posse of pretenders: have America's political leaders contracted a case of common sense regarding immigration--or is something else at work?

In late summer, it suddenly seemed as if our political class had been ravaged by an epidemic of sanity concerning border enforcement. Liberal Democrat governors in New Mexico and Arizona declared statewide emergencies to deal with illegal immigration, and similar action was being contemplated by state chief executives in Texas, California, and Virginia.

Even more startling was the sudden emergence of Hillary Rodham Clinton as a border hawk. Mrs. Clinton, who carpet-bagged her way into a New York Senate seat and visibly covets the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, "is staking out a position on illegal immigration that is more conservative than President Bush, a strategy that supporters and detractors alike see as a way for the New York Democrat to shake the 'liberal' label and appeal to traditionally Republican states," noted a December 2004 Washington Post article.

Of course, Mrs. Clinton (like her politically astute, albeit morally reprobate, spouse) has a flawless instinct for "triangulation"--that is, staking out a position designed to enlist support from both sides of divisive political issues. During a July 18 speech before the National Council of La Raza in Pennsylvania, Senator Hillary "Border Hawk" Clinton earned a standing ovation by endorsing legislation guaranteeing in-state college tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants and offering amnesty to the estimated 65,000 illegal immigrant students who graduate annually from U.S. high schools.

Republicans eager to lambaste Mrs. Clinton are stymied by the fact that her stance is indistinguishable from that of the GOP leadership. Clinton's proposal for a targeted amnesty for illegal immigrant students is less ambitious than the sweeping amnesty endorsed by the Bush White House. And her offer of in-state college tuition to illegal aliens is practically identical to the "DREAM Act," a measure sponsored by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah.

Working through the leadership of its two "mainstream" political outlets, the bipartisan Establishment has defined the party line on immigration: the effective collapse of our border with Mexico has created a social, political, and economic crisis that can only be solved by eradicating the border altogether. No border, no problem. Once this is understood, the otherwise mystifying actions of Hillary Clinton and other newly minted Democrat border hawks make perfect sense.

Reconquista Richardson

On August 12, Democrat Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico declared a state of emergency in several counties sharing a border 8 with Mexico. Since October 2004, more than 30,000 illegal legal immigrants have been apprehended near Columbus, New Mexico. This deluge has left a wake of violent crime: the kidnapping of three teenage girls by masked assailants; the murder of a young girl, who was shot in the head by an illegal alien; a sniper assault on the local police chief; and widespread property destruction, including the killing of livestock.

As he announced the state of emergency, Governor Richardson denounced the Bush administration for its failure to display "the commitment or the leadership to deal with border issues." He also demanded that officials on the Mexican side of the border raze Las Chapas, a largely abandoned border town that serves as a staging area for cross-border sorties by drug and immigrant smugglers.

Astoundingly, Richardson even offered support for the much-maligned Minutemen, commending them as "patriots." President Bush, by way of contrast, pointedly denounced the volunteer border monitors as "vigilantes."

Richardson's sudden locus on border security earned qualified approval from Allen Weh, chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party. Weh told the New York Times that he was glad the governor had come around "to the concerns we've had for a long time," while noting that "there's political motives in the governor's actions."

Like Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson--who served in the Clinton administration as UN Ambassador and Secretary of Energy--has been transparently cynical. Last April, Richardson issued a state executive order effectively prohibiting state and local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal efforts to apprehend illegal aliens. A few weeks earlier, he signed a bill providing in-state tuition rates to some illegal immigrant students.

Indeed, as governor, Richardson has worked diligently to turn his state into a haven for illegal immigrants. In September 2003, he hosted the "Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride," a caravan of illegal aliens organized by a coalition of Marxist groups. The so-called Freedom Ride was intended to pressure Congress to pass a measure granting amnesty to illegal aliens. During a rally at Santa Fe's De Vargas Park, Governor Richardson effusively proclaimed his solidarity with the Marxist-led amnesty campaign. "Viva la raza! Vivan los inmigrantes! Bienvenidos inmigrantes! [Long live the race! Long live immigrants! Welcome immigrants!]," exclaimed Richardson. "Thank you for coming to Santa Fe. Know that New Mexico is your home. We will protect you. You have rights here."

At the state capital a few weeks later, Richardson was on hand to introduce Mexican President Vicente Fox, who used an address to the New Mexico state legislature to demand educational and healthcare benefits for Mexican immigrants, both legal and illegal. Richardson applauded Fox's visit, insisting that it "sends a strong signal that now is the time to increase our economic cooperation, our trade, our educational exchanges" with Mexico.

In 2003, Richardson also traveled to Mexico City to meet with Vicente Fox. Upon his return to New Mexico, Richardson announced his support for an amnesty agreement. As a prelude, Richardson urged other border states to follow New Mexico's example by accepting Matricula Consular cards as valid identification. The Matricula cards, issued by Mexican consulates, are non-secure identification documents that are provided to practically anyone who requests one. Hundreds of thousands--if not millions--have been provided to illegal aliens, and accepted by a growing number of state and municipal governments in this country as valid identification. Acceptance of Matricula cards, which according to Richardson began in New Mexico, amounts to incremental amnesty by giving illegal immigrants from Mexico access to driver's licenses, banking and welfare services, and otherwise entrenching them in our communities.

None of this is surprising to students of Richardson's career as a liberal Democrat congressman, during which he compiled a record as an advocate for radical Hispanic causes and the incremental merger of the United States with Mexico.

In 1988, Richardson introduced legislation authorizing the president to negotiate a "free trade and co-production zone" with Mexico, extending as much as 200 miles in either direction from the present border. This concept, which was partially realized through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), would have made the existing U.S. border impossible to monitor or enforce. It would also have created a binational industrial park, attracting U.S. corporations with the promise of low-wage Mexican labor (which would move across the border without restrictions) and targeted tax breaks.

Eight years later, as the economic impact of NAFTA began to be felt and the public became increasingly agitated over the collapse of our border with Mexico, then-Congressman Richardson was among the most outspoken advocates for illegal immigration--as well as a passionate voice on behalf of the radical Latino lobby. In a speech delivered on the House floor, Richardson declared: "Illegal and legal immigration [are] unfairly attacked. We have to band together and that means Latinos in Florida, Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, South Americans--we have to network better, we have to be more politically minded, we have to put aside party and think of ourselves as Latinos, as Hispanics, more than we have in the past."

This same Bill Richardson--we are asked to believe--suddenly realized in early August that the border he has long sought to eradicate has become a scene of rampant lawlessness and social chaos.

Arizona Battleground

Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona followed Richardson's lead on August 15 by declaring a statewide emergency to deal with her state's border crisis. Over the past year, more than a half-million illegal immigrants have been captured in Arizona. As is the case elsewhere along the border, the human flood from Mexico has included violent gangs and other criminal elements threatening Arizona residents.

Like Richardson, Napolitano is a lifelong liberal Democrat. While she hasn't compiled a record rivaling Richardson's, she has also done a great deal to undermine our borders.

A January 14, 2004 wire service story in the Mexican press reported: "The Governor of Arizona [Janet Napolitano] promised visiting Mexican lawmakers that she would sign legislation that would allow undocumented [that is, illegal] immigrants in that state to obtain driver's licenses." This assurance was given by Napolitano during a meeting with five members of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies five days before she was sworn into office.

Eager as she was to accommodate the Mexican government, Napolitano was understandably anxious to defeat Proposition 200, an Arizona ballot measure requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for those registering to vote and who seek access to various public services. The initiative, which was adopted by a substantial majority, was opposed by both Democratic Governor Napolitano and Republican Arizona Senator John McCain (cosponsor of an illegal immigrant amnesty bill), as well as by Mexico's Foreign Ministry, which dishonestly denounced Prop. 200 as a measure that would "foment racial discrimination and limit access to basic services like health and education." In fact, the measure, which was quickly neutralized through a lawsuit, was race-neutral, and the only "limit" it would have imposed would be the requirement that people of all racial backgrounds obey our nation's immigrant laws.

Governor Napolitano's declaration of a state emergency is not the first time she has exercised extraordinary powers to deal with a border-related crisis. In March 2003, she issued a "Governor's Warrant" to arrest and detain Arizona rancher Casey Nethercott, who was accused of illegally detaining and abusing two illegal immigrants from El Salvador. Nethercott belongs to a private border vigilance group called "Ranch Rescue," which was organized to protect besieged ranchers whose borderland properties are overrun by armed smugglers.

Nethercott and other members of Ranch Rescue seized the two illegal immigrants near Hebbronville, Texas, in March 2003. During his trial, Nethercott and his associates were accused of assaulting the illegals and threatening to kill them. He was acquitted of those charges but convicted of illegal possession of a firearm. A New York Times account of the trial notes the curious fact that the illegal immigrants admitted that Nethercott and his colleagues "gave them cookies, water and a blanket and let them go after an hour or so." This is the behavior of a Good Samaritan, not a criminal, and it's certainly better than the treatment inflicted on desperate Latino immigrants by Coyotes--the vicious human smugglers who charge exorbitant sums to transport illegal immigrants into the U.S., often leaving them to die in the desert.

Because they claim to be victims of violent crime, the two illegals apprehended by Nethercott are now considered refugees, and are living in the U.S. while awaiting visas. In other words, by accusing a U.S. citizen of a crime for which he was acquitted, these illegals received amnesty, while the citizen serves out a five-year prison sentence.

Thanks to the intervention of leftist litigator Morris Dees, who operates the Southern Poverty Law Center, those illegal aliens are now in possession of the Nethercott ranch in Douglas, Arizona, which was awarded to satisfy a legal judgment awarded in a lawsuit Nethercott couldn't afford to contest. The lawsuit filed by Dees refers to the illegal alien plaintiffs as "travelers"--which is exactly like referring to shoplifters as "customers," or rapists as "lovers."

Governor Janet Napolitano played a small but significant role in this incident, and has been otherwise engaged in the work of tearing down our borders. Yet now she invokes extraordinary powers to deal with the border crisis she has done so much to foment.

Huntsman's "Alliance" Gambit

On the other side of the narrow partisan divide resides Utah Republican Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. A former member of the Council on Foreign Relations who served in both Bush administrations, Huntsman has emerged as a focal point for a proposed "solution" to illegal immigration.

In July, Governor Huntsman met in Mexico with President Vicente Fox to create a framework for an "Alliance for Prosperity" between Utah and Mexico. During his so-called summit with Fox, Huntsman promised the Mexican president that he would work with other members of the Western Governors' Association to find a "solution" to the problem of illegal immigration. The preferred arrangement, Huntsman said, would be to "work on mobility of the work force." All of the existing amnesty proposals focus on workforce "mobility" rather than on border security.

Governor Huntsman's approach earned the enthusiastic support of Joe Reyna, a regional president of Zions Bank of Utah and the incoming chairman of the board of directors of the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "For President Fox to hear the Utah governor is going to push an agenda fox" immigration reform ... that's music to his ears," he commented.

Mr. Reyna should know. As a member of Mexico's Institute for Mexicans Abroad, be is an official adviser to Vicente Fox. During a February 2004 press conference in Utah's state capitol, Reyna joined Patricia Deluera, the Mexican consul general in Salt Lake City, to denounce as "racist" a proposed legislative measure that would make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to obtain state driver's licenses. He was also "one of only 40 Hispanic leaders invited to attend the Washington announcement" of George W. Bush's proposed illegal alien amnesty, reported the January 8, 2004 Deseret Morning News.

Bipartisan Front Group

With selected western states' governors tuning the atmosphere for an amnesty-based "solution" to the border crisis, the Bush administration is organizing a bipartisan front group devoted to the same mission. Called "Americans for Border and Economic Security" (ABES), the group is being organized by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and will be jointly headed by two former congressmen--one Republican, one Democrat.

Bloomberg News reported on August 29 that Gillespie and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey are seeking to raise up to $3 million on behalf of ABES from corporations such as Microsoft and Wal-Mart. Some potential corporate donors, however, are withholding their donations out of "concern ... that Republican lawmakers pushing for tighter borders on national-security grounds will pressure Bush eventually to accept a measure making it harder rather than easier to hire workers from overseas."

Those potential corporate donors needn't be too concerned, since the Bush administration is already on record as calling for a blanket amnesty under the guise of a "temporary worker program" and shows no indication of backing away from that position. In fact, the efforts being made to create the illusion of a bipartisan "consensus," supposedly to solve the border crisis, will likely be used to make amnesty more politically palatable. And the Bush administration has made clear its intent to finalize that bipartisan package and get it through Congress quickly.

Absent concerted counterefforts by the American public, the White House and its corporate allies, acting with bipartisan support, will likely induce enough GOP congressmen to accept a "compromise" amnesty bill to get it enacted.