According to the Arizona Republic, a top Homeland Security
Official has confirmed that the President's 2006 budget will not
include funding for additional border patrol agents.

Mike Albon, a spokesman for U.S. Border Patrol agents says,
additional help is sorely needed, and without funding, "the agents
are not going to be there. We need all the help we can get."

Even though the December Intelligence bill passed by Congress
late last year called for doubling the size of the Border Patrol in
the next five years--or the addition of 2,000 agents per year,
outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told the USA
Today an increase of that size wasn't feasible.

Not feasible?

With Mexico sending more than one million of its own people to
illegally enter the United States every year, it would seem to us
that we are under attack, and additional border agents must
become "feasible" if the American people have any hope of being
protected. Just look at these numbers taken from a Washington
Times report:

         --In 2004, 1.15 million illegal aliens were apprehended.
           That is more than 3,100 every day, and a 24 percent
           increase over 2003.

         --Of those 1.15 million, 23,000 had criminal records.
            Among them, 84 were murder suspects, 37 were suspected
           kidnappers, 151 were wanted on sexual assault charges,
           313 were robbery suspects, and nearly 2,700 were
           implicated in drug-related charges.

These were the illegal aliens that were caught! Imagine what
those numbers would be if we had an additional 2,000 Border
Patrol Agents on the job... But apparently, funding the war on
terror doesn't include our own borders!

And if these statistics weren't telling enough, Border Agents
made 8,577 drug seizures that confiscated 1.4 million pounds of
illegal narcotics with an estimated street value of $1.62 billion dollars.

The proof is right here. We are engaged in a war,
right at our borders, and our elected leadership not only fail to
recognize the threat, but they plan to grant amnesty to them!

+ + Take Action With Grassfire

We must get this information to citizens in and
around our nation. We must begin to rattle cages in Washington
that our security and safety MUST BE A NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!

That is why Grassfire is urging citizens like you to help us rally
an additional 10,000 petitions by the end of January.

Our goal is to use our petitions to pressure key legislators into
taking REAL ACTION on the border issue.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Petition Presentation Announced
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

In early February, Grassfire will travel to Washington to make
presentations to key House Republicans, as well as to the White
House in an effort to demonstrate to our legislators that Homeland
Security truly does start at home!

We really need your help over these next two weeks to help us
reach our goal. Please alert your friends, and let them know that
they have a voice on this issue with Grassfire!

Grassfire.org

P.S: Send this message to your friends, family urging them to sign
our petition. In fact, send it directly to your government officials
as well. Demand that they get serious about your security!

++ Sign our National Petition:

http://www.grassfire.org/42/petition.asp?PID=5471924


++ For more on this and other critical issues facing our nation,
visit our homepage:

http://www.grassfire.org

+ + + + +
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organization dedicated to equipping our 1.5 million-strong
network of grassroots conservatives with the tools that give you a
real impact on the key issues of our day. Gifts to Grassfire.org
are not tax deductible.

Comments? Questions?

http://www.grassfire.org/email.asp?ind=10