As the Roman Republic slid from oligarchy, to dictatorship, to hereditary monarchy, to a series of military dictatorships where competing generals fought for the throne, it became more and more difficult to recruit Roman citizens into the harsh life of the army.
The answer that the Romans hit upon was to offer Roman citizenship and all its privileges to foreigners recruited from newly conquered territories or the periphery of the Empire to fill the ranks.
The folly of handing your army over to foreigners with no allegiance to your culture or your state was finally thrown into stark relief when Ricimer, a German who rose to command the armies of the Western Roman Empire, made himself kingmaker and shadow Emperor using his legions to appoint and then depose a series of puppet Emperors.
Just four years after Ricimer’s death in 472 AD, the Western Roman Empire was extinguished by Odoacer, an ally of Ricimer and another foreigner who had received military training from the Romans. In 476 AD he effectively ended the Roman Empire in the West by defeating and killing Ricimer’s successors and proclaiming himself ruler of Italy.
We offer this brief sojourn through the final days of the Roman Empire in the West as a rebuttal to Democrat Senator Richard Durbin’s outrageous and dangerous plan to offer the illegal aliens flooding through our southern border American citizenship in return for military service.
Durbin, the #2 Senate Democrat, floated the idea during remarks on the Senate floor after he commented on GOP resistance to approving more aid to Ukraine without comprehensive border security reforms.
“What troubles me about the debate now about the southern border is that it is one-half of the immigration equation,” Durbin said, according to reporting by Daniel Chaitin of the Daily Wire. “Yes, we need order at the border. Yes, we need to have changes in the laws that reflect the reality of the overwhelming numbers from all over the world who are coming to our shores and our border.”
“But there’s also an incredible demand for legal immigration into this country, even now,” Durbin continued. He then referenced legislation offered by his fellow lawmaker from Illinois, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), to ensure immigrant service members get assistance to obtain U.S. citizenship and veterans’ benefits.
“Her bill — and I hope I describe it accurately — says that if you are an undocumented person in this country and you can pass the physical and the required test, background test, the like, that you can serve in our military, and if you do it honorably, we will make you citizens of the United States,” Durbin said.
“Do we need that? Do you know what the recruiting numbers are at the Army and the Navy and the Air Force? They can’t reach their quotas each month. They can’t find enough people to join our military forces. And there are those who are undocumented who want the chance to serve and risk their lives for that country. Should we give them a chance? I think we should,” Durbin added according to Mr. Chaitin’s report.
Setting aside the lessons of history – which we do at our peril – there is a good bit of evidence that thousands of the illegal aliens of military age that have flooded our southern border are already in the military – but it's Communist China’s army, not ours.
The thousands of citizens of Communist China who have been entering the United States illegally over the past year are mostly military age single men. By our calculation the numbers add up to something like six battalions of Communist Chinese Special Forces.
And, as Sam Faddis documented, a lot about how they got here and why they are here doesn’t add up.
Mr. Faddis reports a Border Patrol agent speaking anonymously to the Daily Caller noted that Chinese nationals often pay between $15,000 and $30,000 to get to the U.S. border. “[The] majority of them have thousands and thousands of U.S. dollars,” the agent said. “FBI has been called down several times now.”
Michael Yon is America’s most experienced combat reporter. He is also a former Special Forces soldier. He has spent decades embedded with U.S. forces in dangerous places and spends most of his time these days south of our border tracking the flow of illegals into our country. He has been sounding the alarm about the torrent of Chinese headed our way for some time. In particular, he has been pointing out the large number of Chinese military-age males entering the United States, reported Sam Faddis.
According to Yon, “The Chinese are coming through here [the Darien Gap camp] in large numbers, about 200 per day and increasing, heading to the U.S.” Most of these are men of fighting age.
Mr. Faddis quotes Michael Yon’s very informed analysis of the nature of the Chinese military-age men he observes trekking north. He notes that they do not appear tired when they emerge from the Darien Gap a torturous stretch of jungle in which many migrants die. They are in Yon’s words “not farmers” and “not broke.” He says they seem to be trained and prepared for what they are experiencing. “I feel like I am at Fort Bragg.” “I feel like I am at the compound or something. Something is not right.” I know it when I see it.”*
Once across the border of the United States, they are turned loose with pieces of paper telling them to appear for hearings that are now being scheduled for years in the future. No one monitors them. No one will compel them to appear for these meaningless hearings.
But they would probably jump at the chance to enter American military service and be invited “inside the wire” at our nuclear weapons facilities, airbases, and shipyards.
The Capitol Switchboard is (202-224-3121), call today and tell your Senators and Representative that you vehemently oppose the dangerous practice of allowing illegal aliens to enter American military service in exchange for citizenship.
* The comments about Fort Bragg and “the compound” are references to Yon’s Special Forces background.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and former Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
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