Last week Universal Press published a political cartoon by syndicated cartoonist Ben Sargent depicting two FBI agents below the Statue of Liberty. One agent, speaking into a portable radio, said, "That's right, Mr. Ashcroft – a French immigrant with a flaming torch, not 20 miles from three major airports!" Through the radio, Ashcroft replied, "Good work, boys. Take 'er down!"

The Statue of Liberty was given to us as gift from France. Get it? Ha, ha, Mr. Sargent.

If only he'd drawn a cartoon reflective of the vile attitude France – after being saved from destruction twice by the United States last century – feels towards America today, maybe that'd be a little more realistic and funny. But never mind that.

Instead, let's talk about this cartoon's theme. Sargent's cartoon says Attorney General John Ashcroft's Justice Department is being overzealous in its duty to track down the foreign operatives that committed the worst attack on American soil in our history.

Sargent seems to be suggesting that Ashcroft lighten up. By mocking the FBI's anti-terrorist effort to track down the scumbags who committed the Sept. 11 attacks, Sargent is adopting the stereotypical liberal attitude that somehow, our government doesn't have the right to jealously police its own borders or track down the heinous criminals who are killing our people.

If only our government and its leaders had passed effective anti-immigration policies in the first place, perhaps Mr. Sargent's cartoon would have been as unnecessary as it is distasteful.

Because if our immigration policies were effective to begin with, perhaps Sept. 11 may never have happened – at least in the manner it occurred.

It's not unimportant that two-thirds of the perpetrators of those attacks were in this country illegally. If our nation had strict, constitutional border-control policies and strict constitutionalists in office to ensure we had strict, constitutional border-control policies, then at least nine or so of the alleged 16 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon Sept. 11 would not have been in this country.

Does that mean the attacks would have been carried out by terrorists who immigrated here legally? Possibly, but we'll never know because that's not what happened.

I tell you, if liberals don't get the hint that our nation's borders are simply too porous; that there is no such thing right now, really, as "border control"; that more innocent people – perhaps even their children or spouses or parents – will die unless our government gains control over our borders, then terrorists will teach us another lesson about the dangers of hassle-free immigration.

It is one thing to advocate and maintain a so-called "open society." It is one thing to say to the world's poor and oppressed, "Come here to find a better life." It is one thing to want to be "compassionate" to the downtrodden opportunity seeker.

It is quite another thing to be totally blind to the fact that, as a sovereign nation, we not only have a right to protect our borders but our leaders have a moral imperative to do so. That's just about one of the only things Washington is supposed to be doing for us.

If preventing terrorists from illegally entering our country takes a little zealotry on the part of our law enforcement personnel, then so be it.

That kind of zealotry we can live with – it's the kind used to attack us Sept. 11 that is killing us.

Ha, ha, Mr. Sargent. What a hoot, huh?

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