A flood of illegal aliens has inundated several of our nation’s southwestern states. One of the causes of this influx is the North American Free Trade Agreement that has helped open the borders.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors member Mike Antonovich says that illegal immigration “has imposed a catastrophic financial impact on taxpayers and seriously crippled our public school system.” Several hospitals in California have closed their doors because of insolvency brought on by having to care for illegal immigrants who have no funds. NAFTA has opened our southern border even more widely, “outsourced” the jobs of hundreds of thousands of working Americans to China, and established tribunals whose decisions supersede U.S. laws and judicial systems.

President Bush has insisted that because NAFTA was such a grand success it should be expanded to include all of the other Western Hemisphere nations. So, he has embraced creation of the Free Trade of the Americas and he plans to seek congressional approval for FTAA early in 2005. Sen. John Kerry has also expressed support for this very dangerous idea.

The FTAA should be described as “NAFTA on steroids.” Congress must block its creation. Anyone who values the American system should be contacting congressmen and senators now to request firm opposition to this dangerous proposal.

We are already losing America to public passivity, media blackout and liberal bias. Let’s not let this one happen, too, or it’s the end of our economy and perhaps sovereignty.

For more information, visit the web site: www.stoptheftaa.org.

Robert Bruce Acheson

Mexico