Station:     KFKA, 1310 AM

Show:        AM Colorado

Guests:     Lucero and Lentz

Link:               http://www.1310kfka.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=42&Itemid=60

Date:         June 5, 2013        

Topics:      Gang of Eight, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Tea Party, Israel, Fence, Egypt, Decline in Border Crossings, Benjamin Netanyahu, Dennis Michael Lynch, 9/11, Terrorism,

Click Here for Audio 

 

CO-HOST TOM LUCERO:  All right, Devon.  Two issues – or two topics, but they’re related:  Border Security — one of them about Marco Rubio.  Is he really dividing the Republican Party as some people are alleging, and this idea of immigration reform going through Congress right now, and Senator Rubio\, part of the original gang of eight, two items that Rubio has said have to be dealt with.  You have to deal with the employer side and you have to deal with border security.  And [Janet] Napolitano got up, testified in front of Congress – in fact, we were talking with Dennis Michael Lynch about this, about how the border is almost secured, and –

CO-HOST DEVON LENTZ:  A third!  That’s “almost”, right? 

LUCERO:  Yeah.  Well, even that third is not all that secured.  But, where it is really, genuinely secure is where the fence is, or at least we thought until someone jumped the fence when Senator McCain and a group of Senators were down there. 

LENTZ:  They jumped that great, great, big one?  See, there’s three different size, and no fence out there.  You knew that, right?  In that video – one is that great, great, big one.  And then it, like, ends.  And then it’s got this little six-foot fence.  And then that ends.   And then there’s one of those little split rail, little two wood pieces, that you can just step over it.  Then there’s nothing.

LUCERO:  [interrupting] Then there’s barbed wire, out there.  And then there’s nothing.

LENTZ:  Right.  Because barbed wire can’t be cut with, you know, what are those, wire clippers things. 

LUCERO:  Wire cutters?

LENTZ:  Yeah.  [inaudible]  Go ahead.

LUCERO:  Or, you could just, as we do when we’re hunting, we hold it down and then step over it with one leg and step back over it, and then keep walking.  That is another way to deal with barbed wire. 

LENTZ:  Absolutely.

LUCERO:  You don’t even need wire cutters.

LENTZ:  Nope.

LUCERO:  Okay.  So, are we good on describing the fence?

LENTZ:  Yeah.

LUCERO:  Okay.  So, right now, Republicans in the House are saying, “Listen, you’ve got to deal with border security, E-verify.”  Democrats are balking over in the Senate at this idea of building a fence.  And you’ve got to ask yourself the question, “Why?”  Why not just build the fence?  Some people say it’s expensive, it won’t work, blah blah, blah, and they go on and on and on.  Throughout the history of the world, fences have been built, walls have been built in order to protect invasion and keep countries safe.  It works.  Fences work.  We actually now have a real world example of a fence working.  Over in Israel, Israelis built – strengthened their fence along the boundary with Egypt to stop illegal infiltrators.  The Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu released a finding that said illegal crossings have declined 99.9% in the last couple of months.  They are down from 2,000 illegal crossings along the Egyptian border, –over 2,000 to–

LENTZ:  Per month!

LUCERO:  Per month!–To two! 

LENTZ:  Two!

LUCERO:  Two!  That’s it!  Building fences actually works and actually keeps people out.  So, why can’t we get that done in Congress?  Why can’t we just say, “Build the fence, and then we’ll deal with immigration reform, once the fence is built.” 

LENTZ:  I don’t know the answer to that.  So, this article that you did send, said that it was – how many feet? –One hundred and forty-four miles.  Roughly, two thousand miles is what we need to cover.  I get that.  It’s a little bigger, here in the United States.  I’m willing to invest in the fence if it is going to slow down the illegal immigration issue.  Apparently, we’re not the only country that has this problem.  And I’m also looking at it in a different sense.  Stop encouraging and spending money on advertising in other countries on how to come to the United States to take advantage of welfare systems.  There’s one bit of money we don’t need to spend!  We could put it into the fence!

LUCERO:  But the thing about the Israeli fence, is theirs is all about safety.  The Israelis in Israel are under assault, always at war.   We have got be thinking in those terms.  This isn’t necessarily just about – as we’ve seen in Dennis Michael Lynch’s videos, this is not just about Mexicans coming across the border for jobs.  This is now become a national security issue.

LENTZ:  No, because — !  His whole point with this was watching the attack in New York City with 9/11.  This is where it started for Dennis.  He had friends that died there.  He was there.  He saw the disaster.  He sees what our country has opened its borders for:  other opportunities for people to come here, not just to take advantage of our welfare system or whatever money they can earn to ship back to their country and family so that they can eventually join them, but what we have opened ourselves up for.  The Boston bombings are just another example of what we are opening ourselves up for.     

LUCERO:  And it’s — one of the things that we always need to be mindful of – we’re not just talking about the border.  We’re talking about all ports of entry when it comes to illegal immigration and dealing with it.  We all too often get focused on just the border with Mexico.  Yes.  We do need the fence.  We do need to secure that border.  But frankly, we need to do a better job of securing all ports of entry, whether it’s at the airports and dealing with education, because two gentlemen from the – and I shouldn’t call them ‘gentlemen’,  —  the two terrorists from the Boston bombing, they didn’t come up through the Southern border. 

LENTZ:  No, but why were they here?  Who followed up on them?  Do we need stricter standards –

LUCERO:  Exactly

LENTZ:  –on who is legally allowed in this country?  But if we don’t start somewhere, we are never going to get a grasp on this!  So, let’s start by stopping to advertise how to come to the United States and take advantage.  Let’s start with the fence between Mexico and the United States!  Let’s start somewhere.    

LUCERO:  So, is Marco Rubio dividing the Republican Party, as some are claiming, by trying to partner up with the Gang of Eight and taking such a high profile role in pitting Conservatives against those who quote/unquote want to work with Democrats in this issue?

LENTZ:  I don’t have an easy answer.    I have not read all of the immigration bill.  I will admit that.  So, I – this doesn’t seem like a good answer, so I don’t know – I don’t want to blame everything on him on why the Republican Party is divided at the moment.  I don’t think all the blame goes to him. 

LUCERO:  Well, but he’s putting Republicans in an awkward position.  If Marco Rubio supports it, why can’t you?  Marco Rubio is quote/unquote one of those Tea Party renegade senators in the U.S. Senate and if a conservative like Rubio can support it, why can’t you? 

LENTZ:  So, are you thinking that he is dividing the Republican Party?  Or, is he supporting this as someplace to start?  I don’t know.  I don’t – what I have seen out of this immigration bill isn’t really going to truly stop the whole influx of what is happening now.   So, that’s my issue with it. 

LUCERO:  No.  I think it is a Trojan horse.  And those senators, particularly on the Democratic side and John McCain and the soft middle center Republicans in the U.S. Senate are using this as –. Well, the Republicans are using it to try and reach out to Hispanic voters, which, why they would be trying to buy votes on immigration reform when most Hispanics say the same think anyhow.  What they care about is jobs and the economy, being able to build businesses, and Obamacare.  But somehow they’ve gotten off on this tangent on immigration reform.  And I think if Rubio were serious about it, he would have come out with just two bills that dealt with employment, and border security. But he got sucked in,in Washington D.C., and now you’re talking about aa pathway to citizenship, you’re talking about people with the opportunity to vote within ‘x’ number of years – I can’t remember off the top of my head—

LENTZ:  We’re rewarding people that are here illegally!

LUCERO:  Exactly!

LENTZ:  The rules are in place for a reason!  Enforce ‘em, and let’s move forward from there!  Not change them!   Because somebody has violated rules for ten years, doesn’t make it acceptable – “let’s make an exception to the rule for them?” 

LUCERO:  Let’s start with border security.  Keep those out that want to come in, and those that are here, they’re here.  So then we deal with it after the border is secure.  First, first – first step has to be border security.  So, yeah, I guess my answer to the question, “Is Marco Rubio dividing the Party?” – I don’t know that he’s dividing the Party, but he’s not making it easy for Republicans out there that don’t support comprehensive immigration reform.  Republicans who support ‘secure the borders, all borders, all ports of entry’, and who want an employment verification system – yeah, Marco Rubio is making it difficult on those of us who believe in that.  That’s my conclusion.

LENTZ:  I can see your view.  I also look at it as Republicans are notorious for eating their own, and Marco Rubio is the latest being served up. 

LUCERO:  Good metaphor.  On that note, we’ll go to commercial break.  Let’s go check in with Ben.  Take a look at Sports.