O'Reilly Factor: Unresolved border problem

12/02/2002

Fox News: The O'Reilly Factor

O'REILLY: In the unresolved problem segment tonight, while on vacation last week, I was down to Corpus Christie, Texas, a couple of hours north of the Mexican border. And the good folks down there are under siege, as are millions of Americans living on or near the border.

Joining us now from Washington is Dan Stein, the executive director of the Federation for American Immigration reform. Mr. Stein has some solutions to this very vexing problem.

Before we get to those, the Bush administration, the president himself, would have us believe that the Homeland Security Act, newly signed, is going to improve things on the border. You buy that?

DAN STEIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: Well, I think we need to see a lot more from the president than just signing that bill, which is -- it's an important step, no question about it. But look, it's deterrent, apprehension, and removal. The president's got to make a clear statement to the United States and to Mexico that it matters if you break immigration law, that it's wrong ethically and morally to break the law and crash our borders.

We've obviously got to have better cooperation from the Mexican government, as a condition of any kind of negotiations to help encourage people who are here illegally to come back home.

O'REILLY: All right, but that's...

STEIN: We've got...

O'REILLY: ... not going to happen. So let's get realistic. I want to get very precise and realistic here.

STEIN: Sure.

O'REILLY: I've called for the military to be stationed on the border. Both sides, the left and the right, oppose that for various reasons that make no sense at all to me. How do you see it?

STEIN: We could have had this problem licked, oh, 25, 30 years ago. It's not a matter of the technology or the will. We can certainly get the military on the border. We should have the military working to support operations.

But we need to have interior enforcement, deterrence at the workplace. We need a machine-readable work-verification document and a standardized driver's license so that we have smooth federal-state cooperation, so that it -- at welfare agencies and employment sites, we have both the verification of your right to be here and the resources of the INS and the detention space to come and get a couple hundred thousand people and begin deportation.

O'REILLY: OK, but, if you're not going to punish the companies that hire illegals -- and, clearly, the Bush administration will not do it, and I don't think the...

STEIN: Somebody's got to do it.

O'REILLY: ... Democrats will do it. I mean, if you don't have the will to do that, to punish companies that hire illegal aliens, what good does that do?

STEIN: Well, look, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, the Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Manufacturers, the home builders -- they're the ones that are pushing this mass immigration. They're the ones who are going to be told, "Look, you're going to be paying for the public schools, the additional roads, the housing, the crowding, the congestion, the criminal justice and infrastructure cost."

O'REILLY: But who is going to tell them that? The -- President Bush isn't going to tell them that. President Clinton isn't going to tell them that. Who's going to tell them that?

STEIN: Well, you and me, Bill. We're going to tell them that because -- you know what? If the American people don't rise up and say, "Look, we're a sovereign nation. We have not only the right but the duty to our posterity to control our boarders," we're going to be completely overwhelmed. We're well on our way right now.

O'REILLY: All right. So this is your opinion, and the polls prove you right. Most Americans want the military on the border. They want the border sealed. They don't want people coming across with impunity.

STEIN: Right.

O'REILLY: But the politicians, bought and paid for the Wells Fargo people, by the Chase Manhattan people, are fighting this with every ounce they have.

Now do you believe, Mr. Stein, that a distracted population, a population that's trying to earn a living and raise children and are confused by spin almost around the clock -- do you really believe that we're going to rise up and demand President Bush take action because I don't.

STEIN: I do. I do. You know why? Because you can't stop terrorism if you don't control immigration.

O'REILLY: But it's going to take another horrendous thing -- if there were another 9/11 and if it were, you know, traced back to people coming across from Mexico --

Look, even the sniper, even John Lee Malvo -- we're the only -- do you know, Mr. Stein, that we are the only news organ that reported the true story there? The only one in the United States of America was THE O'REILLY FACTOR.

STEIN: Yes, you do a great...

O'REILLY: ... told you that...

STEIN: You do a great job. You and Michelle Malkin...

O'REILLY: I don't -- look...

STEIN: ... Tom Tancredo -- Congressman Tancredo...

O'REILLY: Right.

STEIN: ... are telling the truth, but, you know, remember, this is an issue in which there's strong popular strength, and the level of public...

O'REILLY: But what I'm trying to say to you is this. We're the only ones that told the folks John Lee Malvo came in this country illegally, was released by the INS. Every other news organization would not say it. Once you have a news censorship like that, once you have a...

STEIN: Yes.

O'REILLY: ... the elite media and everybody else following them, refusing to deal with this issue, it's very hard to have an uprising.

STEIN: Well, see...

O'REILLY: I'll give you the last word.

STEIN: If -- look, if the president moves forward with Mexico in an act of amnesty or guest-worker program, you can forget DHS, homeland security, and control over the borders. It will virtually collapse.

If these elected officials want to get reelected, they're going to have to get serious about this. People are suffering serious pain, discomfort, dislocation...

O'REILLY: Oh, you bet.

STEIN: ... as a result of illegal immigration.

O'REILLY: I don't see it...

STEIN: We've got to get control now. And, look, there are Americans all across the country who are basically getting involved in this. They're watching your show. They're joining our organization. I know this battle can be won.

O'REILLY: All right. Mr. Stein, I hope you're right, and we appreciate your time.

STEIN: Thanks, Bill.

O'REILLY: Thank you.