By Bill O'Reilly
Almost everywhere I went this Fourth of July weekend, people stopped me asking why the country is in such a mess. No question the folks are concerned, some of them very angry.
In Iraq this man, the terrorist thug al Baghdadi, openly threatening America. Jordan, another country, saying that his ISIS army will attack. Incredibly Baghdadi was in U.S. custody but the Defense Department let him go during the Bush administration. Now, he heads up perhaps the most powerful terrorist organization in the world. Another big screw up in the war on terror.
As you may know, the ISIS army is an off shoot of al Qaeda now occupying thousand square miles in Iraq and Syria. It's well-armed, well- funded, wants to kill Americans. Yet, President Obama has done very little to constrain ISI. In fact, it looks like the President doesn't know what to do. Certainly Baghdadi does not fear the U.S.A. A brutal situation that's about to get much worse.
But even more upsetting to some Americans is the chaos on the southern border. Over the weekend a border patrol agent, Hector Garza, openly criticized the Obama administration.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GARZA: We have a situation right now where our federal government is pretty much aiding and abetting and facilitating the smuggling of these individuals of illegal aliens. These illegal aliens cross our borders illegally. We have to hand these illegal aliens that pretty much surrender themselves because they know that they are getting a free pass.
This is an organized, it's an orchestrated situation. It's orchestrated by the drug cartels and it's pretty much a rampant abuse of our immigration system.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
O'REILLY: Now Mr. Garza is a spokesperson for the National Border Patrol Council for the Laredo, Texas sector. And his opinion is echoed by many federal agents we have spoken with.
On the state level, Texas Governor Rick Perry -- equally blunt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERRY: What has to be addressed is the security of the border. You know that, I know that. The President of the United States knows that. I don't believe he particularly cares whether or not the border of the United States is secure.
President Obama is traveling to Texas this week but is not going to the border. That strikes talking points as very strange. Ed Henry will have a report in just a few moments.
The President has made a few statements about the border melt down but not many perhaps because the stats are so grim. In this fiscal year, about 300,000 undocumented aliens are expected to be apprehended by the border patrol. That includes more than 50,000 children, an average of 200 kids per day. That's a 99 percent increase for fiscal year 2013. It does not even account for those illegals who elude the border patrol.
So far on President Obama's watch more than two million illegal aliens have been apprehended by federal authorities. About half were deported until this year when deportation slowed down. That has led to bitterness on the part of some Americans directly impacted by illegal immigration.
In just a few moments we will talk with the mayor of Murrieta, California, a town in the eye of the storm. On Long Island where I live, houses are being rented to Hispanic men -- dozens of them, dozens, living in a single house, wreaking havoc on the entire neighborhood. And all over the U.S.A., social problems are arising because of the influx of migrants.
Again, the Obama administration seems unprepared to deal with the problem. Late today the A.P. reported there is no plan to send immigrant children back to their countries yet. No plan. Last week ABC News reported the situation this way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Melissa here brought her five-year-old son on the journey. Starting in Honduras, then eight days on a bus through Mexico, across the Rio Grande by raft to McAllen, Texas, four nights in a border patrol processing center and then by bus to Maryland. All with just one promise: show up in court today at 10:00 in the morning in Baltimore.
ABC News was there. She was not. She wasn't at the Maryland address she gave either. Border Patrol sources say fewer than 20 percent ever show up as promised.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'REILLY: That's a disaster and every fair-minded person knows it. But we are living in a time of intense ideology which sometimes fogs up dangerous situations. Some on the left believe that the U.S.A. should accept all so-called refugees, all of them. And if you oppose that philosophy, you are inhumane, uncaring, unchristian, and so on. The demonization of opposition has been effective for the left spurred on by a sympathetic media.
For example, Americans who believe that companies should not pay for abortion inducing medications are practicing gender bigotry. If you believe people on welfare should be drug tested you are anti-poor. If you believe an I.D. should be shown at the voting booth like they do in Canada, you are anti-poor. If you believe traditional marriage should have a special place in society, you are a homophobe. And in some cases if you criticize President Obama's policies you are a racial bigot.
That's why there is so much anger in America. The issues have become very personal. No longer are opposing points of view respected and the left is driving this terrible train although, although, I have to say pictures of anti-illegal immigration protesters spitting at people were disgusting. There is a lunatic fringe on the right as well and it greatly harms the debate for effective immigration policy.
The truth is that President Obama has lost control of the process. America is now being threatened by terrorists once again. And the terrorists believe they are winning. The southern border is a sieve. Mexico is facilitating hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens coming into this country.
What's the administration doing to Mexico? Nothing.
Finally, in a perfect world, all oppressed people would be given an opportunity to have a better life. America is a place of opportunity. We should take a sane number of immigrants every year into our system. But to have millions of mostly poor people, pour into this country without the resources to care for them, to educate them, to relocate them, is simply anarchy.
The Obama administration said for years the border was secure. That was the backbone of the proposed immigration reform law. But it's not true and never has been true. The public was sold a lie.
If Americans don't wake up and soon and demand a better performance from their elected officials on all levels, this country will continue to decline.
Right now the President should degrade the ISIS army by using American air power and should move the National Guard to the southern border to stop the madness down there. After that, then Congress should try to solve these awful problems in totality.
And that's ‘The Memo.'
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