HoodaThunk?

Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air has a post that’s just mind-boggling. In an interview this past weekend on CNN, Janet Napiolitano – the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security – explicitly stated to CNN’s Larry King that for a foreigner to cross the border of the United States outside the processes of our immigrations laws “is not a crime per se.” Really? Then what’s this we find in the US Penal Code? (Hat tip to Julie Kirchner.)

8 USC Sec. 1325

(a) Improper time or place; avoidance of examination or inspection; misrepresentation and concealment of facts

Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such  offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

Looks like a crime to me. Considering that Napolitano runs the department that contains the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP), as well as the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) you would think she would know such a basic piece of information as this; that crossing the border outside of the proper procedures as defined by law is explicitly a crime. Morrissey follows up:

But of course, Napolitano knows that illegal immigration is a crime.  She and the administration she serves don’t want to enforce that law; they want to pretend it doesn’t exist.  The DHS seems a lot more concerned about the danger of American combat veterans returning home than they do illegal aliens crossing the borders, which speaks volumes about the political bent of the Obama administration.

This is more serious than it sounds. If people armed with nothing, equipped with little more than the clothes on their backs, and no more sinister an intent than to evade our patrols in order to get a job washing dishes can penetrate our borders with impunity, can you imagine the success rate of a group of terrorists, armed with the best that billions in petro-dollars can buy, equipped with all of the necessary gear to infiltrate areas patrolled by active military personnel, and possessed of the intent to destroy as much of us as possible? Securing our borders involveds enforcing our laws and we can’t do that when the people in charge of the agencies tasked with that responsibility won’t step up.