Even as Congress considers legislation that would vastly expand the powers of the U.S. Border Patrol to enter land controlled by other federal agencies, the Obama administration has ordered that same agency to scale back its search for illegal aliens.

In recent weeks, the American news media have carried numerous reports on the inability of the federal government to stop the flow of firearms from the United States to Mexico. For example, a recent story from the Associated Press repeated the findings from a 2008 study by The Brookings Institution which declared that “2,000 American guns are smuggled into Mexico each day.”

As violence continues to spread south of the U.S.-Mexican border, one of those who had been charged with the responsibility of enforcing the law has been forced to flee the rising tide of lawlessness in her community and her nation. Marisol Valles García, the police chief of Praxedis G. Guerrero, is the latest official to flee Mexico, and is now seeking asylum in the United States.

Although much of the American debate over illegal immigration centers of the flood of Mexicans who are violating federal law to seek residency within the United States, the invasion pouring over the southern border is not limited to Mexicans — or other citizens of Central and South American countries. In the lingo of the U.S. Border Patrol, OTMs (“Other Than Mexicans”) make up a significant portion of those individuals who are smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border, and now a radical Muslim cleric has been found among their ranks. According to press reports, Said Jaziri was smuggled across the border near San Diego for the modest cost of $5,000.

The effort to exclude illegal aliens from the benefits of “in-state” tuition rates has suffered a setback in California, as that state’s Supreme Court has overturned a lower-court ruling that would have required illegals to pay “out-of-state” rates. In Texas, however, the tuition struggle between legal and illegal residents is being fought out in a different venue: the student Senate at Texas A&M University.

True to her promise last April, Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-District 150, at left) has introduced legislation in the Texas House of Representatives that would follow the lead of Arizona in dealing with the problem of illegal immigration. If Texas’ HB 17 becomes law, state and local police in the Lone Star State would have the same authority granted to law enforcement officers in Arizona under SB 1070 to make inquiry concerning the nationality and legal status of individuals and arrest those who are in the country illegally.

Details are emerging in a plot to recruit jihad terrorists from within the United States. According to the Associated Press, al-Shabab terrorists “have lured young American men — including as many as 20 from Minnesota — back to their homeland to join their jihad. At least three have died, including one who authorities believe is the first American suicide bomber. Three others have pleaded guilty in the U.S. to terror-related charges. Court proceedings and interviews with community members, attorneys and terror experts indicate the Somali-based terror group, al-Shabab, uses widespread recruitment tactics including a vast Web-based network.”

A bill which Rep. Leo Berman (R-Dist. 6) has introduced for consideration by Texas’ 82nd Legislature would give a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Don’t Mess With Texas.” If HB 297 becomes law, the Lone Star State will be on a direct collision course with the federal government over Obamacare because it would criminalize any attempt to implement it in Texas.

As reported previously for The New American, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates’ recent prognostications regarding the imminent arrival of the four horsemen of the apocalypse — pestilence, famine, war, and death — gave the appearance of adding his credibility to some of the most extreme voices among the environmental extremists.

As Congress and the Obama administration prepare to collectivize the entire healthcare industry, America’s senior citizens are paying the cost for an earlier administration’s experiment in healthcare.