From the Associated Press

(AP) — A civilian border watch group considers President Bush’s crackdown plan on illegal immigration insufficient and is sticking to plans to start putting up a short border security fence on private land along the Mexican border.

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Chris Simcox, the head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said last month that unless military reserves or the National Guard were deployed to the border and the White House endorsed more secure fencing, his group would begin constructing fencing on private land along the border.

Last week, the group said construction would begin May 27 because it was not anticipating any imminent effort to put troops on the border.

On Tuesday, Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair reiterated that position, despite the president’s announcement to have guardsmen fill in on some behind-the-lines Border Patrol jobs while that agency’s force is expanded by 6,000 by 2008.

“This is a token deployment of unarmed and grossly inadequate numbers of National Guardsmen to the border, placing them in the same demoralizing position as the Border Patrol … outmanned and outgunned against the international crime cartels,” Hair said.

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I agree with the Minutemen about the defense of our border. Before President Bush dreams of having his guest worker program implemented, the border must be secure. Both the Minutemen and the American people realize this. However, what seems to be a bid to win centrist and liberal support, the President has called for a comprehensive immigration bill instead of calling for a two tier approach - one bill for defense, another for citizenship or guest worker provisions.

The problem with a comprehensive bill is not the bill itself, but the legislative focus involved. The security of our border must be a priority and defensive plans must not get shuffled in and lost under a host of other non-priority immigration measures like the guest worker program or the so-called “path to citizenship.”

While I think the President has finally offered some strong leadership on immigration, an issue that many Americans tie to the War on Terror, I don’t think his focus is quite right. The defense and security of the border must come first. Afterall, if the border is not closed to new illegal aliens, what good does a comprehensive guest worker program do for our security? Absolutely nothing.