Three gun-totin’ Colorado lawmakers will patrol the desert border between the United States and Mexico in Arizona next week, presumably looking for answers to our illegal immigration problem.
“We need to understand this firsthand,” said Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, who’s leading the group.
The trio will be escorted by members of the controversial Minuteman Project, a group of armed vigilantes that’s been patrolling the border between Arizona and Mexico against the wishes of the U.S. Border Patrol and President Bush.
So, just what are these Colorado lawmakers looking for out there in the desert that prompts a field trip?
Stow the gun, we’ll save you the trip: Illegals are streaming across the border every day, and there are now some 12 million of them living in the United States, according to some estimates. Don’t look now, but another two dozen just made it through.
You don’t need to patrol the desert with night-vision goggles and a box of bullets to know that.
We tend to agree with state Rep. Val Vigil, D-Thornton, who said: “If they want to see something, all they have to do is go downtown. There is a corner out there where everyone is jumping into trucks for day labor.”
Schultheis will be joined by fellow Republican Reps. Jim Welker of Loveland and Bill Crane of Arvada.
He says the trip is a prelude to a major GOP push to address the illegal immigration issue at the Colorado statehouse. The one-week trip also will include visits with Arizona lawmakers.
Immigration is, first of all, primarily a federal concern and needs to be addressed in Congress.
However, it does affect states and cities as illegals tax hospitals, school systems and other government-funded programs.
We’re curious to see if any legislation will come of this trip. At least one citizens’ group is planning to put a proposal on the 2006 Colorado ballot that would cut off public services to illegals, similar to one approved last fall by Arizona voters.
It’s no secret the United States has an illegal immigration problem, but we’re not sure how the night-time patrols of three armed Colorado lawmakers helps satisfy anything other than their interest in playing desert cowboy.
