Hm:

A leading Republican Party committeeman has joined the Minuteman border patrol, bringing new credibility to a group of volunteers labeled as "vigilantes” by President Bush.

Dr. Michael Vickers, the veterinarian who first identified the strain of anthrax later implicated in the killing of five people in 2001, said he joined the Minutemen because federal and state officials have failed to seriously address illegal immigration, the Washington Times reports.

"Over the past five years, the illegal-alien traffic has been horrendous,” said Vickers, who owns a ranch in south Texas.

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Dr. Vickers - who is a longtime supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry - said he was "very disappointed" by President Bush's characterization of the Minutemen as vigilantes.
"I have supported every Republican from dogcatcher to president, and I am disappointed that the party can't see or doesn't understand the magnitude of this problem," he told the Times.

"The response by Congress and the White House has been anemic.”

Indeed. Dr. Vickers' take is mainstream in the GOP; the Bush administration's is far outside the mainstream. Which goes along way to explaining why the "trust me" strategy vis a vis Harriet Miers isn't working out.

Vickers warned: "The threat of terrorism is real and with the hordes of people coming across this border every day, there's no guarantee that many of them are not terrorists looking to bring harm to the United States.”

Dr. Vickers has found documents, letters and money on his ranch from a number of countries, including Sudan and China.

After all these years, the path of least resistance for terrorists to enter the USA remains open. It's a colossal and preventable disaster waiting to happen.