On July 1, in Nogales, Mexico, at least 21 people were killed and nine wounded in a clash between two of Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations, the Sinaloa and Beltran-Leyva cartels. More than 4,300 people have been killed from drug cartel clashes in recent years in Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas. Just since 2006, more than 23,000 people have been killed in Mexico by drug cartels after President Felipe Calderon began his crackdown by using thousands of troops and federal police to stop them.

What made this latest incident of violence in Nogales so disconcerting to Americans is that the Nogales battle between the cartels is only 12 miles from the Arizona border. These cartels frequently fight for control of drug and human trafficking routes, but usually confine their gun battles deeper in the interior of Mexico. The smuggling routes in dispute obviously dealt with illegal entry into the United States through Arizona.

Timing in politics is always important, and lately the president has been incredibly bad at it. Within weeks of endorsing the expansion of off-shore oil drilling, the BP deepwater rig blew up. He did an about-face and halted drilling in deepwater for six months. Literally as the drug cartel battle was waging, President Obama was giving a major speech on immigration reform at American University and said, “So the bottom line is this: The southern border is more secure today than at any time in the past 20 years.”

Hopefully he’ll do another about-face and finally become serious about securing the nation’s southern border. But the evidence is clear this will not happen. It does not fit into his political agenda of granting amnesty to the estimated 12 million illegal aliens already in the country.

Having never responded to letters from Arizona’s Republican governor, Jan Brewer, expressing her concerns for border security because of the increase in murders and kidnappings in her state committed by undocumented Mexican nationals, the president finally agreed to meet with her at the White House. She left empty handed.

The president said he will deploy 1,200 National Guard members to Arizona, which sounds good, but these soldiers will fill desk jobs and are not allowed to be armed or accompany Border Patrol agents in the field. The guardsmen might as well stay home.

After the meeting, the Border Patrol posted signs in Arizona 60 miles north of the border warning citizens that they were entering a drug and human smuggling zone. The erection of the signs is proof in itself that the borders are not secure, contrary to the president’s remarks during his immigration speech.

President Obama recently met with Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) concerning “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” legislation. When Sen. Kyl sought to have the president do more to secure the border, the president told him: “The problem is, if we secure the border, then you all (Republicans) won’t have any reason to support comprehensive immigration reform.”  Kyl later spoke of his conversation with the president at a town hall meeting and said, “In other words, they’re holding it hostage.” The crowd gasped in disbelief. The White House later denied the president made such remarks, and essentially called Sen. Kyl a liar.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a foreign news agency that the Justice Department intends to sue Arizona over its recently passed law requiring local law enforcement check the documents of suspected illegal aliens. The law is being attacked because the administration knows it will be effective.

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), in a tough reelection campaign, now has “secure the border fever.” To hear him talk now, you would never guess he embraced the concept the last time comprehensive immigration reform was proposed. He knows that in order to survive politically, he must be on the right side of the issue this time. He got the message from the voters. The president apparently doesn’t care what the message is.

In recent polls, the president’s approval rating has dipped to 46.8 percent, and his disapproval rating has increased to 46.6 percent. Almost 62% of Americans polled think the country is going in the wrong direction. This trend will continue until the administration decides to treat illegal aliens as criminals instead of future voters for its political party.

Reach Gregory D. Lee through his website: www.gregorydlee.com.

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