The United States has had an illegal alien problem for a long time, at least since the mid-1960s when “Vietnam” proved our unwillingness to enforce the law within our borders and the unwillingness to use adequate force beyond them. And 1965 was the year that Ted Kennedy introduced his immigration legislation, emulating Berthold Brecht’s advice to the East German Communist Party, that “If the people will not support the government, the government ought to just elect a new people”.
For most of the past forty years the problem has remained small enough to be ignored, and the illegals have generally kept a low profile. Recently it has begun to grow. But it has only been within the last two or three years that it has become a true flood of people. And only during this time have the illegals become assertive. What has been going on? And why has there been another escalation of the crisis within only the last few months? Now we hear that the Mexican government has been supporting its citizens wishing to violate our borders, even to the extent of providing maps and manuals on how to evade US border security. We even hear about, and see photos of, Mexican army units crossing our borders, firing on our border patrols, and conducting reconnaissance on US soil, and Mexican Air Force aircraft violating our airspace. On the few occasions that the Mexican government has been called on these violations, the alibi has been that they were not Mexican Army, but criminal gangsters dressed in Mexican uniform, and using purloined Mexican Army vehicles. Even if true, this is no reassurance, and leads to other, equally awkward questions.
And despite some of our border residents who insist that it has always been worse than most of us heard, it seems obvious that matters have suddenly gotten much worse within the last few months. Just days ago there was a half million strong demonstration by illegals in Los Angeles, and riots are happening elsewhere. And they are being conducted under the Mexican flag, by people calling for the reconquista of the American Southwest. On occasion they call for “taking back” all of North America, and the elimination of the “Gringos”. And new demonstrations are planned for the next few weeks. Why all of a sudden? Why now?
To understand, let’s review a little history. Ninety years ago, in 1916, our country was not yet involved in World War I, and Woodrow Wilson was running for reelection on a promise to continue our neutrality. Mexico had been wracked by a series of revolutions and counter-revolutions with a series of presidents, and general anarchy. In 1914, Wilson had briefly occupied the port of Vera Cruz in response to attacks on U.S. and other foreign interests in the city. On March 9, 1916, Pancho Villa raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico, prompting Wilson to send General Pershing into Mexico with a failed military expedition to capture him.
Meanwhile relations with Imperial Germany continued to worsen. Then on March 1, 1917 the US State department announced that they had learned of a diplomatic note (the Zimmermann Telegram) secretly sent by the Kaiser’s government to the Mexican government, in which the Germans had urged the Mexicans to declare war on the United States, in return for which, Germany would offer the return of the southwestern states to Mexico after victory. This was the final insult which pushed America into the Great War against Germany. For the duration of the war Mexico maintained cautious neutrality, but favored the Germans. (When Mexico entered World War II, unlike Brazil, which sent an expeditionary force to fight in Italy, Mexico contributed a single air squadron, which operated in the Pacific, and not against their traditional German friends.)
Is it possible that history may explain what is happening on our border today? Once again we have a similar situation, save that we are already involved in a war, and applying heavy pressure against Iran over their nuclear program and support for Islamic terror. Meanwhile we have worsening relations with a number of other governments who would like to see us “cut down to size”, and who have traditions of diplomatic activism. To name names, these would be Germany, which has tried this in the past, France, which has had a long interest in Mexico, to the extent of invading Mexico during the 1860s, and Russia. During the Cold War, semi-socialist Mexico was generally well-disposed to the Soviet Union and Castro’s Cuba, and was one of the KGB’s most important foreign stations, where they often met with their American spies, and directed anti-U.S. operations. Castro has also been friendly with Mexico for the 47 years of his reign, and has pretense of international meddling, and a history of conducting secret operations from Mexico. More recently, we have Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who aspires to become “the new Castro”. And of course there is always Iran, who may not have such a long tradition of meddling in Mexico, but certainly has the motive.
Is it possible that one or more of these governments has encouraged Mexico to take these actions against the United States as a way of keeping us distracted? Has there been a promise that Mexico will be supported in its reconquista, if America can be humiliated?
The natural tendency of Americans is to dismiss such speculation as “Conspiracy Theory”, because nothing is real until is it announced publicly in the New York Times and on network television news. And of course America’s borders are natural and permanent, as they are now to the End of History. Sorry, but it is time to wake up and grow up. Much happens which the news media do not report, and much else they do not even discover. And individuals do conspire from time to time, and so do governments. The Zimmermann Telegram is historic proof that a conspiracy, precisely such as I suggested, has a precedent. And if I know my history, then the serious people working in other countries’ foreign ministries also remember, and might think to try it again. The cry “Conspiracy Theory” is nothing but an attempt to say “Pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain.”
Nor are America’s borders set for all time. The last five thousand years of recorded history is the story of a succession of invincible empires, each of them supreme in its day, and each certain that it was the culmination of human history and would last forever. And each of them eventually proven wrong. Of the four hundred years our civilization has existed in North America, for half of that time we existed as only a narrow strip of civilization along the Eastern coast of the continent, and for almost half of our history we were a weak and vulnerable colony. Civilizations expand and contract. There is no reason why the United States might not expand further during the next hundred years, adding new territories and new states. Equally, there is no reason we may not contract and lose states, or even fragment into several smaller successor kingdoms. I prefer America the size she is today, but I don’t get to decide. Right now, it appears we are at risk to lose up to a quarter of our homeland territory within a decade. And judging by the precedents of other great civilizations, Rome, Byzantium, The British Empire, several incarnations of the Chinese Empire, and more, if we lose such a large chunk of territory, it is probable that the entire central governmental structure will collapse, throwing North America into a “warring states” period of rival and warring regions. Some of our envious neighbors, resentful Russians, and chauvinist French and Germans may take short-sighted pleasure in an American downfall, but they soon enough would find that it is America which maintains the balance, which deflects the barbarians from their own borders, and which powers the world’s technology and economy. America, with all her real flaws, and even with all the imaginary flaws purported by her enemies, is still the closest approximation yet to a benevolent international imperium.
America will exist and continue strong only so long as we defend our vital interests. Otherwise we may end up like Imperial China, once strong, but fallen on weak times and partitioned and colonized during the Nineteenth Century. It will be unpleasant, and difficult, but closing the southwestern border, ending further incursions, and expelling all the barbarians already inside the gates is essential to our survival and ultimately to Western Civilization.
Rurik