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| Home Front: Politix |
| Illegal aliens living in the USA in plain sight |
| 2004-07-19 |
| ...Carlos, who came to America in 1996, is one of the estimated 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens living and working in the United States, who have no real fear of ever being detained or deported. And there's a good reason: No one's looking for them. ...A total of 2,300 federal agents are assigned the task of detecting, detaining and deporting the millions of foreign nationals illegally in this country, who — besides draining billions of taxpayer dollars a year — pose a potential terrorist risk in the post-September 11 world. Nearly half of the 48 al Qaeda terrorists tied to violent acts in the United States between 1993 and 2001 committed significant immigration-law violations prior to those events but were never detained or deported, federal records show. ...Taxpayers each year spend more than $7 billion to educate the children of illegal aliens, $1 billion for health care and emergency treatment, and nearly $3 billion to detain illegal aliens in state and local jails, according to congressional reports and studies by immigration groups and several universities. "Despite those costs, the country's interior-enforcement program historically has been neglected and understaffed," said Michael W. Cutler, a retired U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) senior agent who spent most of his 31-year career as a criminal investigator and intelligence specialist. ..."Even now, with as many as 12 million illegal immigrants in the country and a public clamoring for better immigration enforcement, the government has committed far too few agents to the task," Mr. Cutler said. "We have only been given the illusion of making a serious effort to enforce our immigration law." Do the math: If the current roster of 2,300 agents dedicated to pursuing illegal aliens now in the country arrests 500 persons a day, an unattainable goal at current resource levels, it would take from 44 to 66 years to reduce the estimated 8 million to 12 million figure to zero — assuming, of course, that no new illegals enter the United States between now and 2070..."We attribute the lack of real effort to be political, and we fault both the Democrats' lust for cheap votes and the Republicans' lust for cheap labor," Retired US Army Col. Ben Anderson said. "We fault the White House for pandering in a vain effort to glom onto the Hispanic vote." But thousands of illegals enter the country every day, aided by a growing political movement that has guaranteed them not only a deportation-free environment but voting rights, driver's licenses, social services, housing assistance and in-state college-tuition breaks. Long article-good information, but portrays a hopeless situation. Politicians of both political parties want to serve their special interest voting bases, and ordinary citizens'concerns are ignored. No worries, until the next 9/11 happens. |
| Posted by:rex |
| #5 This is news? I live in TX US. Want to see an illegal? Look to your left... now look to your right. You just saw 2. |
| Posted by: John 2004-07-19 4:02:35 PM |
| #4 Read the full text article, #3. That was the intent of Reagan's one time amnesty/reform plan for the future-penalize the employers. It's not happening. No political will in the WH or Congress. "I would like to think that work-site enforcement was an ICE priority, but it's not," said a Border Patrol agent in Texas. Actually, fewer than 200 ICE agents nationwide are assigned to identify the thousands of employers who hire millions of illegal immigrants every year. And the number of companies fined for hiring illegal workers has plummeted: 1,660 from 1994 to 1998 compared with 440 from 1999 to 2003, according to INS records. The amount of the assessed fines was $34.5 million during that 10-year period, but INS only collected $14.5 million of it. "We're shoveling sand against the tide," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents the agency's 10,000 nonsupervisory agents. Law-enforcement authorities and immigration experts think work-site enforcement began to collapse in 1993, at a time Congress and the White House — responding politically to rising public concern over increased illegal immigration — were turning their attention to border enforcement. They said increased interior enforcement was not an option because neither Congress nor the White House wanted to deal with an avalanche of criticism from unions and employers who would have been exposed to fines and other sanctions — many of whom are huge political donors...Congress approved an amnesty program in 1986 known as the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) that gave legal status to 2.7 million aliens. The program contained increased enforcement and penalty policies aimed at ending illegal immigration, although the illegal-alien population in the United States today is at least double — some say more than quadruple — the 1986 total. Although Congress passed IRCA to deter illegal immigration, including sanctions for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, Mr. Bonner said Congress failed to "give teeth to the law," instead relying on the good will of employers not to knowingly hire illegal aliens. Mr. Bonner said employer sanctions and fines need to be re-enforced and increased to encourage businesses not to knowingly hire illegal aliens. He also said a new system needs to be developed to make it easier for employers to identify — or to be held responsible for — fraudulent documents. "There are as many as 80 different documents a prospective employee can present to an employer that authorizes a person to work, all of which can be easily counterfeited," he said. "The government needs to come up with counterfeit-proof identification that will enable employers to immediately determine [that] a person has a legal right to work." ...Dan Stein, executive director of the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, said U.S. employers learned by 1988 that INS was not going to hold them accountable under IRCA for hiring illegal aliens. Mr. Stein said INS downgraded work-site enforcement operations even further in 1994 with what is now known as the Phoenix Plan, allowing the agency — after a review of a company's files — to give employers the option of firing those named as illegal aliens rather than conducting work-site raids to arrest and deport them. "The INS defended this method of work-site enforcement as cost-efficient, palatable to employers and ultimately effective in causing the illegal aliens to go home," he said. "The problem with the Phoenix Plan approach was that the illegal aliens were still in possession of their counterfeit documents and were able to use them to illegally gain employment elsewhere." ... Mr. Garcia wants to double ICE's work-site enforcement budget in fiscal 2005, which begins in October, from $20 million to $40 million, hiring an additional 200 enforcement agents. As of now, he said, the focus remains on critical infrastructure and those employers who place their workers in dangerous conditions. During a recent press briefing, he said that with limited resources, ICE was "attacking the problem as we can, being realistic on what we have and how we can best use it." Congress is debating the request. Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican and member of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, border security and claims, said during an ICE oversight hearing that increased funding for work-site inspections was a "step in the right direction." But he called the 2005 request "a little bit like having two candles instead of one in a blackout... it's not doing near what we should." Mr. Smith said if the government is unwilling to enforce employer sanctions, it will not be successful in reducing the number of available jobs, which he called "the largest magnet attracting" illegal aliens to the United States. "We make it very, very easy in many, many ways for individuals to stay here who are here illegally," he said. "That is not the right signal to send if we are, in fact, serious about reducing illegal immigration in America." |
| Posted by: rex 2004-07-19 1:18:23 PM |
| #3 What if we just penalize the people who hire them? Reduce the incentative to come here and they will stop coming. |
| Posted by: Formerly Dan 2004-07-19 1:04:08 PM |
| #2 Yank, That is the rule now. If you overstay your visa, are here illegally, or lied to the immigration officials you get a 5-year, 10-year, or lifetime ban. Unfortunately they dont (or more likely can't) enforce existing laws due to local/state officals refusal to enforce federal immigration laws. Some cities have laws banning law enforcement from even asking a person's immigration status. I think more people are *against* illegal immigration then is realised or reported -- particularly now after 9/11. The problem is that the issue is misrepresented by the media and 'immigration advocates' (who are really ILLEGAL immigration advocates) and there are not enough advocates of LEGAL immigration. Nobody speaks up for the people who have been patiently, and legally, waiting for years to immigrate following the established procedure. These are the types of immigrants we want -- not the people who violate federal laws. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-07-19 12:17:53 PM |
| #1 Mexico was a one-party state before Fox was elected. They are an unstable democracy. Illegal immigration acts as something of a safety valve. In the past, when they were a one-party state the illegal immigration helped them avoid economic and political reform. In that era it was bad for Mexico and it was bad for the US, but it was good for a handful of folks that profited by it. Now the safety valve prevents economic reform in Mexico but it does help to solidify the political situation. Something that is in the US's interests in the long run. I think most politicians see that but can't articulate it because most people don't think long term, especially when the economy was in the crapper so recently. Balance that with the chance of Islamoids slipping in amongst the tide of illegal aliens and you end up with Guest Worker proposals as Bush has done. Perhaps he has gone too far, or not far enough, but its three years too late (at least) and its a stumble in the right direction. I disagree with any kind of citizenship or amnesty for illegals (if you ever stayed in the US illegal and we have a record of it your chance should be shot, or any children of illegals that happen to be born on the US side of the border. |
| Posted by: yank 2004-07-19 11:56:33 AM |