Secure Our Borders Before It Gets Ugly

The Minuteman Project has spurred a lot of controversy over the issue of securing our borders and stopping illegal immigration. I believe that as this issue gains more publicity, people will get progressively more angry and passionate about securing our nation. 92% of voters favor "imposing stricter immigration and border crossing policies". The Minuteman Project is a peaceful and admirable way to pressure politicians to take action. How long, however, before people take a less benign approach?

According to the article in the title link:

Casey Nethercott is the leader of a militia group dubbed the Arizona Guard and said during a TV interview broadcast on Friday, "When this Minuteman thing is over, if it doesn't work, we're going to come out here and close the border with machine guns."

Pro-illegal alien groups should really think about this. If they are truly interested in the safety and well being of immigrants, they should support border security and encourage only LEGAL immigration before the American public gets too angry. A lot of leftist groups are calling the Minutemen names like "vigilantes" and "domestic terrorists" but this is not true. What they fail to realize is that if public wrath reaches a boiling point, the "vigilantes" and "migrant hunters" that they talk about might actually materialize.

I’m beginning to see joking comments in online forums along the lines of: "lets put land mines on the border", "lets put poisoned water jugs in the desert" and "someone should go out there with a rifle and pick them off as soon as they cross the fence". How long will it be before the people saying these comments begin to mean them in earnest? Patience will wear especially thin when we hear more stories of the Mexican Army personally transporting known drug runners to "safe" border crossing points away from Minutemen observation posts.

People in any nation, even one as great as ours, can eventually be stirred up to take extreme and often immoral measures when they are frustrated, scared or angry. When our ancestors ran into problems with certain Native American tribes, even the peaceful tribes ended up getting lumped into the "enemy" category and suffered attacks. After Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were put into concentration camps. During the McCarthy era, anyone suspected of being a communist was harassed. After 9/11, quite a few Americans that looked vaguely Middle Eastern were attacked for no good reason.

I do not mean to paint our nation as bad or hateful. It is simply a fact that when frustration reaches a critical level, people in any nation tend to lash out. There have been race wars, genocides and persecutions throughout the history of the world. If meaningful border security isn't implemented, how long will it be before racism rears its ugly head? Will legal immigrants and citizens that look Hispanic start getting harassed and have troubles getting jobs, renting an apartment or catching a taxi? Will new versions of the KKK start attracting followers? It's time the government takes meaningful action to stop illegal immigration before things get ugly.