What's "posse comitatus"? It is a law in the United States that states the US military cannot engage in police activities on US soil except in times of emergency, such as a federally declared "state of emergency" like the time after Katrina.
Southern lawmakers in the House met with Karl Rove (our own Cardinal Wolsey) to petition his high lord that we allow the US military to act in a capacity to fight illegal immigration. A bill has already passed the House which would permit the Pentagon to send troops to the border in "certain circumstances", not enumerated, for police activities. The governors of Texas and Arizona seemed thrilled with the idea.
As the President seems to think that whatever whim he has that day is legal I'm sure he'll just authorize this and it will happen, and most Americans will just yawn, or worse yet, say it's necessary and important and good.
Do you ever read the "Another Day In The Empire" blog? I tend to read a few on both sides of the fence just to keep abreast of attitudes and activities associated with each side.
That said, there's a wonderful post on this very subject, Posse Comitatus, over on that blog. If you're interested (and I hope you are!), the url is http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=31
Enjoy! (both the article and your weekend!)
So what, exactly, do you propose as a solution? How do you suggest keeping out the thousands of illegal immigrants, some of whom are here just looking for work, while others who are smuggling many tons of drugs into our country? The Border Patrol, INS, and other agencies are vastly overmatched and seriously undermanned for their present task of safeguarding and protecting our border, and I know that this problem with immigration is one that could be resolved by putting troops there. I mean, come on, it is somewhat of an intimidation tactic, absolutely, but it works. I would be very wary myself, of going up against combat-trained (and often experienced) troops, even if I was a drug runner, many of whom are heavily-armed and often outgun the Border Patrol agents. Maybe it isn't what the National Guard troops are supposed to be doing, but in essence, they are guarding the nation, by way of protecting the Border, so I see no problem with it. I find this to be a much more valid reason for me to be put on active duty, and sent down to Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, or Cali, and deployed to control immigration, as opposed to going to Iraq and getting blown to pieces by a roadside bomb, in a country that is just going to erupt in civil war anyways.