Americans have been intimidated by the open borders, mass immigration lobby, confused by the advocates of globalization, and misled by the multinationals. But the average American knows in his or her heart that nothing matters more than the survival of America as a free and independent nation, able to defend its borders and to enforce its law. This is what is at stake in the debate over illegal immigration: the sovereignty of America, and of the American people as heirs to the American soil.

How can we Americans reclaim our sovereignty? How can we ensure that law-breaking no longer pays, that our land and heritage belong to us citizens, and that the social contract on which our country was built is honoured?

First, we should speak out. The lobbyists have tried to silence us by calling us racists, xenophobes, nativists and bigots.  But it is time to show that it is to them and not to us that those abusive words apply.

Secondly we must put pressure on the politicians. Why do they exist, after all? Why do we vote for them? They exist to defend our interests, and we vote for them because we think that that is what they are doing. Let us choose our candidates wisely therefore. Let us question the politicians — every one of them, at every level, from county sheriff to President of the Union — and ask them where they stand on the issue of illegal immigration. And if they show that it is not America, its people and their interests that come first in their thinking, that they are in the sway of some interest, ideology or pressure group that endorses the current invasion, let us announce this fact to the world so that the people can vote them out of office.

Thirdly, we must encourage our government to report truthfully and seriously on the situation, to give us a true account of what is happening on our southern border, of the crime and disorder that is flooding across it, and of the so far inadequate efforts to contain the threat.

Fourthly, we must advocate coherent and effective policies to control our borders. Investment is needed in barriers and police forces. But the problem is not one of policing only. It is a military problem, involving armed gangs and organized criminals from many nations, some of them operating with the support of terrorist states. There are more than 3,000 members of the ruthlessly violent Salvadoran gang MS-13 operating in America, principally in California and Virginia. The Mexican Mafia has thousands of members all across America. South American drug cartels have smuggled thousands of foreign agents into every corner of our country. Coyotes are being paid up to $50,000 per head to smuggle middle-eastern terrorists across the southern border to join sleeper cells in American cities. In the face of this invasion and the threat to our national security, why isn’t our southern border secured?

And let us not forget the fate of those brave officers, Ramos and Compean, who took their duty seriously, and who used the force that they were entitled to use against dangerous drug dealers who tried to force their way in, and who are now suffering in solitary confinement in an American jail – yes, an American jail! The scandal of this event, and the message that it sends to those who seek to evade our law, lies heavily on the American conscience. Let us question our politicians and our President, until an answer is given to us straight, that these heroes will be freed and their actions publicly commended.

There is much that we Americans can do: we have fought abroad in defence of freedom — not our own freedom only, but the freedom of our many allies. Now for the first time we are confronting a hydra-headed organized threat at home. With every passing day the drug cartels, organized gangs, criminal syndicates and Islamist terrorist organizations grow in numbers and in lethal potency.

We must demand of our elected leaders, at all levels of government — local as well as state and national — when will you confront these threats? When will you secure our borders and ports of entry, when will illegal immigration be stopped, illegal aliens be encouraged to depart and criminal aliens be arrested and deported?  Must we wait for the victims of more gang violence, must we wait for the victims of another terrorist attack?

We must demand accountability from all elected officials — every mayor, police chief, county supervisor and city councilman must now defend his community and his country. Every governor, state senator, state delegate. The time for passing the buck or simply copping out is over. Those who cannot or will not do the job of protecting their fellow citizens must be voted out of office — as soon as possible — and replaced by those with the vision, courage and compassion to do so.