by Javier Manjarres

The hot political topic du jour continues to be the highly controversial issue of illegal immigration.  Both the Republican and Democrat parties seem to think that they hold the answer to the magical question- how to win over the highly coveted Hispanic vote. But in reality, both parties are clueless in their efforts to court and win over the Hispanic voting bloc on this particular issue.

As my face continuously turns blue talking about a simple solution to garner Hispanic votes, not one Republican Congressional, Senatorial or Presidential candidate has taken this issue seriously enough to even consider the most pragmatic and palatable approach to securing enough Hispanic support to carry the day. Again and again I repeat myself, illegal immigration is not about race, it’s about national security.

Someone needs to step up and articulate the fact that this issue does not only involve Mexicans that illegally cross the U.S. border – as  pro-amnesty groups like La Raza want Americans to believe- but by illegal immigrants from all corners of the earth. Is the fact that Hamas and Hezbollah are actively cultivating support and gaining strength in Mexico not warning enough that the U.S.-Mexico border needs to be sealed?

Some of these pro-amnesty  groups will argue that Islamic Terrorism is a separate  matter and that the Hispanics that are crossing the border illegally are not linked to these terror groups. Just how do they know this is to be the case? Does it not speak volumes to the fact that these terror groups are camped out in Mexico in the first place?

Mexicans and other Hispanics that come to the U.S. to work and support their families, could be just as open to making a living by smuggling contraband into the U.S. for these terror groups for more money that they would earn once in the U.S. It is well documented that illegal immigrants have been caught smuggling guns and drugs into the U.S. for pay, so what’s to say that they will not do the same for Islamic Fundamentalists, or Mexican groups and/or sympathizers (i.e. drug cartels) that are in-line with these terrorists?

Republican Presidential candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry is right smack in the middle of the immigration debate, as the circular immigration firing squad continues to fire salvos against all aspects of his immigration record.  Perry continues to be ridiculed by his fellow Presidential opponents for his past support of legislative measures in Texas that are considered by many to be forms of amnesty.

One of the shots fired  against Governor Perry’s immigration position is for his past support of a form of the notorious ‘Dream Act’  for the state of Texas. Perry supported in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants, and he has also gone on record by stating that Texas did not need nor would he  support an Arizona-style immigration law- a law that millions of Americans, including his friend, Florida Governor Rick Scott believe needs to be implemented in all states. Perry’s immigration woes do not end there, as he has also hedged on a E-Verify measure for the state and opposed the construction of a border fence.

In Governor Perry’s defense, the fact that he has recently stated that the border issue needed to be addressed with “boots on the ground” needs to be hailed as a very bold and Presidential move. Putting the National Guard and/or Reservists along the U.S. Southern border is part of the virtual border fence that many in the pro-legal immigration lobby believe would deter illegal immigration, drugs and guns to be cross freely between the U.S. and Mexico.

But as it becomes increasingly clear that President Obama’s current and future immigration policies compromise the sovereignty of the United States of America, will Governor Perry acknowledge that national security is what’s really at stake when it comes to illegal immigration?