MIDDLETOWN - The United States of America is a nation built on immigration and, aside from Native Americans, most of our families originated from a foreign land.

       The recent immigration mess along the southern border has put the Obama administration in a tough spot, as Congress has again kicked any legitimate shot at immigration reform down the road. Thousands of children, mostly hailing from Central America, have been picked up by our already overly taxed border patrol and are currently sitting in limbo waiting for a determination of their status. Now the Obama administration is asking states (including Connecticut) to temporarily house theses illegal children. He is also seeking $4 billion dollars from Congress to deal with the humanitarian crisis. Both parties have different ideas on how to deal with the issue and the clock is ticking because Congress is close to going out of session for the August recess, which is a complete embarrassment.

       President Obama’s lack of leadership and urgency on this issue is troubling and indicative of an individual more concerned with attending fundraisers than protecting our borders and sovereignty.

       Obama is not the only one at fault on the matter of illegal immigration, as former president Bush had his own failures. Of course, he had the 911 tragedy to work through and eventually two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to deal with, but it wasn’t until later in his administration that he toughened up.

       The problem of illegal immigration is complex and I think most Americans do not think it is even realistic or cost effective to deport 12 million undocumented immigrants. Yet I think most Americans are tired of an open border policy and want security and enforcement first. The problem is that Congress does not seem to understand that our border patrol agents are overrun. Border patrol work is, at times, extremely dangerous, as these brave agents can be shot at from coyote traffickers, drug cartels and even the Mexican military. When they aren’t in the field, they spend hours filling out cumbersome bureaucratic paperwork, taking them away from their main focus of securing the border. This is a travesty and clearly a result of incompetent policy coming out of Washington.

       The thing that baffles me most about this administration is its lack of understanding on crisis management. In any crisis or emergency, first and foremost one has to stop and contain the source of the problem. Firefighters work to put out the flames on a burning building first before they analyze cause or implement preventative measures going forward. When a patient is bleeding, EMTs or doctors have to stop and contain the flow of blood first before they can admit a patient to the hospital. When a boat springs a leak, sailors work to patch the hole before dealing with all the water the ship has taken on board. It is purely common sense that the US government needs to secure our border first and foremost before they can come up with a comprehensive immigration reform plan to deal with all that are here illegally.

       Some border states are taking their own steps to protect their territory. Texas Governor Rick Perry recently decided to deploy the Texas National Guard to assist the overstretched border patrol in an attempt to provide additional security to towns along the line. Many of his critics think this is political posturing prior to the midterm elections, or him laying the groundwork for a presidential run in 2016. Clearly Perry is a politician, but I applaud his efforts to at least try to deal with the problem of illegal immigration and the burden it imposes on communities and their already stretched infrastructures.

       Back in 2008 a good-intentioned anti-human trafficking bill was signed into law, but has virtually tied the border patrols’ hands by not allowing immediate deportation of undocumented individuals from Central America. This has left thousands of children scattered in detention centers along the 1,000-plus-mile border.

       The gang violence and deplorable living conditions in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have forced many people to risk sending their children through Mexico via a coyote trafficking network all the way to the US border. In many cases, these individuals want to be taken into custody by the border patrol in an attempt to gain asylum and stay in this country permanently. My heart breaks for these children and the poor hand they were dealt in life. We need a policy that encourages these countries to better deal with the cycle of violence and hopelessness poisoning their societies.

       The fact remains, however, that we have our own problems to deal with in this country, as evidenced by the violent Fourth of July holiday weekend in Chicago, which saw as many as 82 people shot with 14 killed. Our inner cities are overrun with gang violence. How can we possibly afford to take on all of Central America’s problems when we cannot even fix our own domestic problems of inner city violence?

       President Obama was recently down in Texas raising money for the Democrat party at the house of a wealthy Dallas lawyer. One could attend the dinner if you could spare a measly $10,000 per plate. Yet he chose not to visit the border because he did not want to give the appearance of a â€�"photo op.” So our president, who has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and seen as the champion of every liberal and humanitarian cause known to man, would not even meet with border patrol agents or visit one single detention center to witness first-hand the plight of these thousands of poor children? This, in my opinion, is disgraceful and just another example of how he has not shown the moral character and leadership needed to be the leader of the free world. I guess the â€�"photo ops” with the Jay-Z and Beyoncé types of our society have been too enticing to pass up as the world crumbles around him.

       Legal immigration is a good thing and what has made this country the most prosperous and powerful nation on Earth. I know first-hand because many years back I remember attending a very moving ceremony welcoming in new US citizens to this country. That ceremony was for my wife, who came with her family to this country legally from South America when she was three years old and earned her citizenship when she was in her 20s. It took a while, but she and her parents did it the right way.

       Without laws, there is chaos, and we need to secure our borders first and foremost. Only then can we come up with a plan to assimilate law abiding undocumented children into our society. Our border states are strapped financially and thousands of children are in limbo. But everything is okay, because the president is out every other day on photo ops and hob knobbing with millionaires while the world is falling apart.