America is a weak nation . . . .

All the military hardware in the world will not make this a strong nation without the will to use it. A nation is not a nation if anyone can wander back and forth across its borders as a matter of personal convenience.

Since he took office in 2001, Bush said in Tucson, Ariz., U.S. border agents have apprehended and sent home 4.5 million illegal aliens, "including more than 350,000 with criminal records."

* * * *

This is a national crisis, an existential crisis. But after five years of ignoring it, and now finally addressing it, what did Bush say in Tucson? I can't defend the border if you won't give me a guest worker program. . . .

But this is preposterous. Bush is saying he cannot do his constitutional duty to protect the nation from invasion – unless we let 12 million illegal aliens become guest workers . . . .

. . . What he means is, he won't control the border.

. . . But what a majority of Americans want is what they have a right to demand: That Bush do his sworn duty and enforce the immigration laws of the United States.

. . . Far from solving the crisis, this Chamber of Commerce-LULAC scheme will mean final defeat, after decades of struggle to protect the borders. For though Bush may say, "I oppose amnesty," his guest-worker program is amnesty.

Amnesty means no punishment and a reward for law-breaking. And that is exactly what Bush is proposing. In his guest-worker program, those who broke our laws and broke into our country get to stay and work for six years, then go home on sabbatical, then return to work permanently. What is that, if not rewarding law-breaking?

Twenty years ago, Ronald Reagan was persuaded to grant a one-time amnesty to millions of illegal aliens who had been here for years. Result: Some 1.5 million illegal aliens were caught almost every year after. They had missed out on the amnesty, and they, too, wanted in. . . .

. . . If Congress votes for Bush's guest-worker program, nothing will stop the flood – for the world will see it as admission that America is a weak nation that will not even order out of its home those who have broken in uninvited, sat down at the table and demanded to be treated like a member of the family.

As Reagan said, the country that can't control its borders isn't really a country anymore.

“No amnesty, no deal, Mr. President.” Patrick Buchanan, WorldNetDaily, 12/7/05 (emphasis added).