Letter: Secure borders: a reasonable demand
A section of the U.S.-Mexico border fence stands in La Joya, Texas. (April 10, 2013) Credit: Getty Images
Former President Ronald Reagan was promised a secure border if he went along with immigration reform. Reform was passed, but the border was never secured. Democrats have been playing this broken-promises game forever, and now with an assist from the Newsday editorial board, Republicans are being strong-armed into playing it again ["John Boehner needs to lead," Editorial, July 8].
Newsday again calls out those dastardly obstructionist right-wingers of the Republican Party, this time for blocking immigration reform. The right wing has one simple request, that for no good reason is a non-starter for the Democrats: Secure the border first. Considering the history, is that so unreasonable?
If the border was secured as promised 27 years ago, if the money that was allocated seven years ago to build a fence was actually used for that purpose, if this Democratic administration enforced the immigration laws on the books, and if this administration didn't throw roadblocks in front of states that attempted to do its job for it, we would not have a problem with illegal immigration.
Informed Americans understand what's going on, and it has nothing to do with solving illegal immigration. It does, however, serve to fundamentally transform America by the eventual procurement of 11 million votes by people who broke the law and are sympathetic to their enablers: the Democratic Party.
Mike Quadrino, Smithtown
