PrintSeptember 17, 2008
Dem Congressman's Son Arrested For Smuggling Illegals
The subject of illegal immigration and securing our borders has taken a back seat in recent months as the economy, especially housing and Wall Street, has surged to the forefront. If it were not for that, certainly this article from the St. Petersburg Times would be getting much more exposure: Rep. Boyd's son accused of smuggling illegal immigrants. Alex Leary of the St. Petersburg Times reports:
The son of U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd, a Panhandle Democrat, is facing federal charges of smuggling illegal immigrants after being stopped by Border Patrol agents in Arizona.John F. Boyd, 30, admitted picking up the passengers in the desert, authorities said. He was stopped Sunday at a border checkpoint near Willcox and a search dog indicated people might be hiding in the bed of the white Ford pickup he was driving.Agents found two people under a piece of plywood, according to a federal complaint, and two more adults lying on the floorboard behind the front seat. A 6-year-old girl was in the passenger seat.Methamphetamine and a loaded Beretta pistol were found, according to the complaint. It did not indicate who the items belonged to and no drug or weapons charges have been filed against Boyd. He has a preliminary hearing this morning in Tucson.
While parents should not be held responsible for the sins of their offspring for the most part, I'm fairly certain that had Boyd been a Republican, this article would have been in more newspapers this morning than just those in Florida and Tucson.
As for Rep. Boyd himself, his record on immigration has been mixed at best. According to the website OnTheIssues, while Boyd did vote for building a fence on the Mexican border in 2006, he's consistently voted to loosen illegal immigration restrictions otherwise.
In the hardball world of politics, however, it might be helpful, when the Democrats complain about the rising unemployment rate, for someone to remind the public of the following. That the son of a Democratic Representative who supports loosening illegal immigration laws was just caught trafficking illegals who are coming into the United States to compete with American workers and drive down wages and average household incomes, about which the Democrats complain loudly.
