The Un-coyote

"Weapon" was defined as any object or substance to include fists, feet, and other body parts used by the perpetrator to intimidate or cause injury to or death of the victim. All laws governing ownership and transportation of firearms, ammunition, knives, brass knuckles, and other items formerly considered as weapons would be removed from the books and no state or city could enact any such law. This protected the Constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to own such weapons. The severe penalty for using any weapon would eliminate the criminal misuse of the weapons. Theft of any weapon or possession of a stolen weapon of any type was punishable by twenty years in prison without the possibility of parole

Appeals for all criminal cases would be limited to three -- one to the state appeals court, one to the state supreme court, and one to a federal appeals court. The US Supreme Court would not hear any cases relative to crimes. They would only hear cases involving the constitutionality of state and federal laws.

An appeal could only be made based upon evidence or testimony not included in the original trial or upon judicial error, and the time limit for all three appeals was five years. If any court of the three declined to hear the appeal or when the time limit expired, execution of sentence was to be immediate.

Critics of this crime policy claimed the punishment was cruel and unusual. The PGP's reply was that this punishment wasn't as cruel and unusual as the taking of another's life, permanently maiming someone or addicting them to drugs.

The foreign policy plank was more complicated, but was an acceptable compromise. The plank stated the United Nations had not lived up to its stated purpose and had instead become a body of people spending a lot of US supplied funding with non binding resolutions and resolutions that threatened the sovereign status of member states being the only product. The US would withdraw from the United Nations and engage with the rest of the globe as it saw fit. The United Nations would be encouraged to move its headquarters to Europe or another country of its choice by limiting access to the US to representatives of member countries who's goals and actions were aligned with US interests and policies.

Most people in the US did not want any American service personnel engaged in policing the world, but they also realized a strong military was necessary to avoid another nation attacking the US. The PGP position was that the US would remain a member of NATO, but would no longer be the world's policeman and would withdraw all its military back to the US unless specifically requested by an ally to maintain a deterrent presence. That ally would pay the total cost of keeping the deterrent force in place.

To guarantee an acceptable level of military strength, every citizen of the US, both men and women, would be required to serve two years in one of the branches of military service. This service could be performed either before or after the individual completed education at the college level, though service would earn the individual free tuition to any state university.

Instead of policing the entire world, the US military would be maintained at a strong level and used to maintain border security by manning guard posts along the entire southern and northern US borders. This effectively produced the "wall" between Mexico and the US that had been demanded by conservatives for decades and ended the need for such a wall between the US and Canada. Some of the billions that would have been spent on a physical wall would be diverted into social and infrastructure programs.

Immigration had been a big area of dispute between ultra-liberals and ultra-conservatives. The PGP plank was logical to most of the population. There would be no shortage of unskilled and low-skilled labor in the US since all able-bodied people would be required to work at some job in order to receive financial assistance. Therefore, there was no need to import more.

Any and all immigration would be regulated by demand for workers in the US. If an industry could not find an American citizen with the required skills, an immigrant work visa would be issued to the first applicant in line with those skills after that applicant had passed an extensive background check. If the applicant's country of origin could not provide adequate information about the applicant, or if the background information revealed any criminal activities, that application would be denied.

That visa had to be renewed every year and required proof of employment submitted not by the individual, but submitted by a representative of the employing US company in person to the nearest Federal judge. If the request for visa renewal was not submitted, Immigration and Customs Enforcement would investigate, and when the person was located, he or she would be deported to the country of origin and barred from returning. Temporary workers and their families could become US citizens according to the existing requirements for citizenship after the visa holder had worked ten years in the US.

So-called "chain immigration", the ultra-conservative term for family reunification visas, would be restricted to spouses and children under the age of eighteen by revising the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Other family members of legal immigrants would be permitted to immigrate based upon job skills and need.

All illegal immigrants currently in the country would be issued work permits upon registration as such, and would be allowed to remain in the US for five years in order to pursue citizenship according to the current laws in effect. Failure to register as an illegal immigrant would result in immediate deportation of that individual and all family members upon identification and arrest.

If one parent of a legal family unit obtained citizenship, that would satisfy the conditions for remaining in the US for the other parent and any children under the age of eighteen. Those not achieving citizenship after that time would be deported back to their country of origin along with all family members including children under the age of eighteen.

In a landmark decision two years before, the mostly conservative judges on the US Supreme Court had surprised the world by determining the language of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution gave birthright citizenship to children born to parents legally residing in the US, but not to children born to parents in the US illegally or merely visiting as tourists. Therefore, children born to parents, at least one of which was a work visa holder or US citizen, were US citizens by birth and need not go through the naturalization process. Those children who were born to illegals or tourists had no such rights.

The PGP stance on this ruling was that children over the age of eighteen born to parents in the US illegally or while tourists prior to enactment of the law would be treated as any other person in the US illegally. They would be required to register and could remain in the US for five years in order to pursue citizenship. Those who did not achieve this goal for any reason would be deported to the country of their parents' origin, and could return only by following the new law regarding legal immigration.

Employing any worker who was not an American citizen or who didn't have a work visa would be punishable by a mandatory fine of one million dollars per illegal employee and mandatory ten years imprisonment for the employer. If that employer was incorporated in any manner, the CEO, his direct reports, and the board of the corporation would be charged and sentenced if convicted. "Whistle-blowers" who reported such employment would be exempt from prosecution and from retaliation by the employer.

The campaign for federal government offices in 2028 was a landslide victory for the PGP. The PGP won the Presidency and had supermajorities in both the House and the Senate. The PGP quickly began implementing the promises they had made during the campaign. During the first year most of these promises became law.

The ultra-liberal states and ultra-conservative states reacted as one might suspect. They passed more laws to counteract those passed by the PGP and clogged the court system with lawsuits seeking to overturn the new laws. After a week of meetings between the President, the President's cabinet, the leaders of the House and Senate, and several prominent Constitutional lawyers, the President spoke to the Nation about this reaction.

In her speech, President Shenoah Dalita Graham stated the election results were an obvious indication the ultra-liberal and ultra-conservative sides of the country did not truly represent the feelings and opinions of the majority of Americans. She also stated it would be impossible for the United States to survive as a country in such a climate. Too much time and money was being spent on implementing far-left and far-right agendas at the state and local levels and as a result, the economy and social programs were suffering. Time and money that should have been expended toward these two goals were being utilized to resist the new laws and the entire court system was backlogged with cases that would take over a decade to resolve.

The legal bickering had to stop and states had to begin working for the betterment of all their residents, not just those with the loudest voices or the most wealth. To facilitate this change, the White House would request four bills in the House and Senate, bills that were certain to be passed by the PGP majorities and that she would sign into law.

The first bill, titled "Return To The Constitution Act", would make it illegal for any state or local government to pass any law interfering in any way with the responsibilities assigned to the Federal Government in the US Constitution and to include mandating non-cooperation with Federal officers. The elected or appointed leaders of any state or local government convicted of enacting such a law would be sentenced to ten years in prison and fined one million dollars for each offense.

The second bill, titled "Establishment of Sovereign Immunity Act", would eliminate most of the lawsuits brought by states to challenge the authority vested in the Federal government by the US Constitution. The bill would state that for any entity to sue either the Federal or a state government, that entity had to demonstrate the government had violated a legal Federal or state law.

It would leave intact the ability of citizens to sue for the actions of a Federal or State employee, but would eliminate the lawsuits arising from political motivations. Thus, all lawsuits relative to immigration, international trade, and any other area designated as the responsibility of the Federal government by the US Constitution would be illegal, as would any lawsuit brought against a state for similar reasons.

The third bill, titled "Expansion of Statehood Act", would allow the voters of any state to split that state into two or more states, with the new states comprised of the largest metropolitan areas and the other the balance of the original state. This would satisfy the cry of the more rural areas of some states for meaningful representation. The number of senators and representatives for each new state would be established by the existing constitution.

The fourth bill was aimed at those states that still refused to comply and would allow any state to secede from the United States and become a separate country, and was titled "Activities Toward Legal Secession Act". The US would establish diplomatic relations with that new country in the same manner as with any nation, and would treat that new country according to the laws currently in effect.

All four laws were debated in both houses for several weeks before passing, and were signed by the President a week later. All were immediately challenged in Federal court by the Attorney's General of California, Washington State and New York. Since the second law governing sovereign immunity impacted the constitutionality of the others, it was tried first.

As was usual at that time, various courts gave conflicting opinions. The President asked the US Supreme Court to immediately hear the case relative to sovereign immunity in order to end the judicial fencing match.

The US Supreme Court ruled that disagreement with a legally enacted law did not constitute grounds for suit so long as that law did not conflict with a legally enacted law of a state or other municipality. The opinion also confirmed the first new law and ended the lawsuits for that suit and the third. Only the suit relative to secession remained viable.

Since no state had seceded from the Union since the Civil War, the constitutionality of such a thing was in question. The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments about secession from both sides instead of forcing the law though the lower courts first. After a week of arguments, their opinion was that since the US Constitution granted the power to grant statehood to the House and Senate, those government bodies had the power to allow a state to secede.

New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Oregon, and Washington State held special elections to decide their fate and voted to create the new states of New York City, Chicago Cook, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Portland, and Seattle-Tacoma. California amended the state definition of a metropolitan area to form one urban area they called "Sacrevista". It incorporated all the cities and surrounding area on the Pacific side of California from a hundred fifty miles east of Interstate 5 to the Pacific Ocean and from Sacramento to the border with Mexico. The voters of California voted to make Sacrevista a separate state.

Once Sacrevista was declared the fifty-seventh state and had written a constitution and formed a government, the new government immediately petitioned the federal government to secede. The debate in the House took two days. The debate in the Senate took only one. In the end, the only opposition came from the Representatives and Senators from New York City, Chicago Cook, and Seattle/Tacoma. On July 1, 2031, the President signed the bill that made Sacrevista a stand-alone country, and appointed an ambassador.

A second series of events was happening unbeknownst to most Americans outside of the CIA and DEA. After fighting amongst themselves for decades, the Mexican drug cartels had taken a page from the old Mafia playbook. The leaders of the various cartels met at a hotel in Mexico City and voted to organize. Areas of influence were defined and the price for transportation of drugs and other contraband through a rival's territory established. There would be no more infighting between cartels though specific assassinations would be permitted by vote of the cartel leaders.

During the meeting, their political advisors urged the cartels to promote the candidacy and election of cartel members to government positions in order to establish control of the Mexican government. After the next election, the cartels had taken over most local and state government positions and were in virtual control of the Mexican military. Only the President of Mexico and his cabinet were untouched as their terms of office had not yet expired, though there were suspicions about some of the cabinet.

In a secret meeting, the President of Mexico asked the US Ambassador to Mexico for help. The US Ambassador tactfully asked why the US would want to do so since Mexico had not been very cooperative in ending the traffic in drugs, sex trafficking, and illegal immigrants. The President of Mexico took a deep breath and then said if the US would drive out the drug cartels, Mexico would give up sovereignty and petition to become a state or states of the US.

The proposal was classified at the highest level, so members of the US House and Senate received special clearance to view it. It was then debated in both the House and Senate behind closed doors. The transcript of the debate was never published, but it isn't difficult to imagine the topics and arguments for and against.

The US had stopped sending foreign aid to and trading with Mexico three years prior. This was because in spite of billions given to Mexico to fight the drug trade, the government had actually lost ground in eliminating the cartels once the cartels had organized, and in fact, had granted amnesty to several cartel leaders. Since most of the government of Mexico was now in the hands of the cartels, the problems with the southern border would only intensifiy.

If Mexico joined the US, aid would resume at a much higher level. While there was an acceptable infrastructure around the largest cities, there were still vast areas of the country with inadequate basic water treatment, sanitation, education opportunities, and transportation. The US would have to fund the needed improvements as well as furnish financial benefits to the people of Mexico until a thriving economy could be again established.

The benefits of Mexico joining the US were many. Mexico had a huge labor force, and many Mexican universities rivaled those in the US. Labor costs would increase once Mexico fell under the minimum wage laws of the US, but that increase would result in the Mexican economy growing. The growth in the Mexican economy would result in a new source of tax revenue for the US that over time would pay for the initial increase in financial aid.

If Mexico joined the US, no longer would the DEA have to stop its drug war at the border. The cartels could be pursued and eliminated on their home ground.

After a week of debate, the House, Senate, and the President were in agreement. The US would take on the cartels on their home ground, and Mexico would join the US. The President signed the bill the same day though the bill and the signing ceremony were kept secret for several months pending the necessary military planning.

I graduated from high school in Phoenix, Arizona the year Sacrevista seceded, and turned eighteen that summer. There were jobs to be had in construction. Three new retirement communities were being constructed just outside of Phoenix, and many of my classmates went there for work. I didn't think a life of swinging a hammer was for me. I wanted glamour and excitement. While I was watching an old movie on TV one night, a commercial for the US Army came on. The guys in their battle gear looked pretty glamorous and exciting to me, so the next day, I drove to the Army recruiting office and signed up.

Five months later, I was a PFC stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas and assigned to 1 BN 37th Armor as a tank gunner. It was then, as our platoon sergeant said, "the shit hit the fan".

My tank battalion along with five other tank and ten infantry battalions received orders to mobilize in the desert on the US/Mexican border. We weren't told why we were there so we assumed it was some sort of training exercise. A day before the formal announcement of the deal between Mexico and the US, we rolled across the border and headed into the Sonora desert. I heard the news about the US/Mexico agreement while sitting in an M1A4 tank and firing the remote controlled 50 cal at drug cartel members fleeing while the US Air Force bombed and strafed their compounds.

It took us a little over a year, but by June, 2033 the drug cartels were a thing of the past. There were no cartel members in any prisons. The orders to the troops on the ground and the Marines assaulting the ports along both coasts had been unwritten, but very clear. There would be no prisoners taken from any attack on the cartels. As our battalion commander put it, when you weed a garden, you kill all the weeds, not just the big ones. Special Forces had cleaned up the corrupt government officials in the same manner. The US Army occupied Mexico until the government could be reconstituted.