An immigration-reform expert has told a House committee that interior enforcement of immigration laws must be improved if the government hopes to bolster national security.
“There are three parts to any immigration-enforcement system, three filters to identify unwanted people for exclusion or deportation: First, the visa process overseas; second, inspections and patrols at the border; and, finally, enforcement of immigration laws in the interior of the country,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, in April 10 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims.
 Border Patrol highway checkpoint in New Mexico’s interior. (Photo: Jon Dougherty, WND) |
“Since the Islamist terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the first two parts of our immigration filter have seen improvements,” Krikorian told lawmakers. “The third filter is in much worse shape.”
Immigration-reform experts say many times, when the former Immigration and Naturalization Service attempted to enforce immigration laws in the nation’s interior, business and farming interests, as well as lawmakers, would protest to the point of forcing the operations to a halt.
In one instance in 1998, Krikorian said, the INS – which has been renamed the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services – conducted raids during Georgia’s Vidalia onion harvest. Thousands of illegal immigrants fled the fields to avoid arrest, sparking complaints within hours from employers and politicians. The law-enforcement effort was halted.
 U.S. Customs Service helicopter patrols skies over New York City. |
There are other examples. Border Patrol agents, who now answer to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security, have complained that they are forbidden from interdicting illegal aliens in many cities and on interstate highways because of political pressure.
Local police echo those complaints. One Kansas municipal officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several vanloads of illegals pass through his city daily, via Interstate 70, but “my agency’s response, like that of many if not most agencies, is to let them go,” the officer told WorldNetDaily.
Federal immigration officials are no better, the officer says.
 President Bush outlines national security strategy with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge. |
“On each and every occasion [illegals were stopped] I have contacted the INS, and they have declined even to interview the illegals over the phone, much less interview them in person or even deport them,” the officer said. “The INS’s own guidelines state you need to have 16 illegals present in a minivan before they’ll respond, but even with this minimum met, they don’t come out or talk to them.”
BCIS officials ignored repeated requests to explain official national policy involving the pick up of suspected illegal aliens apprehended by local police departments.
But in his testimony, Krikorian provided the House panel with further examples of lax internal immigration enforcement.
“Rather than conduct raids on specific employers, Operation Vanguard sought to identify illegal workers at all meatpacking plants in Nebraska through audits of their personnel records,” he said. “The INS found about 4,000 workers, out of about 24,000, who appeared to be illegal and scheduled interviews to determine their status. Three thousand of these workers turned out to be illegal aliens and never showed up for their interviews, with the remaining 1,000 able to correct errors in their records.
“Local law-enforcement officials were very pleased with the program,” he continued, but “despite the initial promise of this new enforcement strategy, employers and politicians actively criticized the very idea of enforcing the law. ‘It was ill-advised for Operation Vanguard to start out in a state with such low employment and an already big problem with a shortage of labor,’ said a former Nebraska governor who had been hired to lobby for an end to immigration law enforcement.”
Some lawmakers say the former INS was too unresponsive, while others have emphasized the need for bolstering internal security.
“For too long, the former INS complained that it could not adequately do its job because the agency did not receive enough resources from Congress,” said Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., chairman of the immigration subcommittee. “That practice of buck-passing needs to end.” If Congress fails to fully fund immigration and customs agencies, “Americans will remain unprotected from future terrorism attacks,” said Hostettler.
“Ensuring the nation’s security is the highest obligation of the federal government,” says Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, a subcommittee member. “If a nation cannot defend itself and its citizens, none of its other activities really matter.”
“Police and firefighters are an integral part of our nation’s homeland security,” adds Rep. Linda S?nchez, D-Calif., another panel member, during a trip through her district last week. “These men and women are on the front lines protecting and serving residents every day. It is important to get their perspective, assess their needs and discuss opportunities for federal resources.”
Krikorian told lawmakers there is a solution to the problem of swelling ranks of illegal aliens. He said while numbers of illegals entering the country are “huge” – some 800,000 a year – about a third of those leave the U.S. every year.
“The INS estimated several years ago that each year roughly 150,000 illegal aliens leave the country on their own, another 200,000 or so get green cards as part of the normal ‘legal’ immigration process, 50,000 illegals are deported, and about 20,000 die,” he said. “In sum, at least 400,000 people leave the illegal-alien population each year.”
By “significantly” reducing the number of illegal aliens getting into the country and increasing the number who go home, he explained, “we can engineer an annual decline in the illegal-alien population, allowing the problem to become progressively smaller over time through attrition.”
Krikorian also recommended enforcing government rules forbidding employers to hire illegal aliens.
“The centerpiece of any new interior enforcement strategy has to be a resumption in enforcement of the ban on hiring illegal aliens,” he said.
To make “worksite enforcement” more effective, he recommends the creation of a “national computerized system that allows employers to verify the work-eligibility of new hires. …”
“Employers would submit the name, date of birth, Social Security number … or alien registration number to the INS for each new hire,” he said, adding that such information is already collected on immigration forms “but is not used for enforcement.”
Yesterday, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told Mexican officials the problem of illegal immigration ranks among his most important duties.
“How we deal with the presence of men and women and families that was initially unlawful but has proven to be productive is one of the biggest challenges that we have in our country,” Ridge said, as reported by the Arizona Republic. “It will be my task to work with both Democrat and Republican congressmen in the months and the years ahead to get a satisfactory answer to this problem that we inherited.”
Ridge was in Otay Mesa, Calif., to discuss the issue with Mexican Interior Minister Santiago Creel, Ridge’s south-of-the-border counterpart.
As the two men met, Creel told reporters legalizing some 4 million illegal migrants already in the U.S. would enhance American security.
The issue of legalizing illegal aliens sank in the list of priorities in Washington following the 9-11 terrorist attacks. President Bush has signaled his support for granting illegals another amnesty. Immigration reform groups say it will only encourage more illegal migration.
Meanwhile, illegal immigrants continue traversing the nation’s interior.
“One day, I caught two loads of illegals back to back, within a half-hour,” said the Kansas municipal police officer. “Assuming that many more go uncaught, and there are many interstate highways, how many people each day are entering the country undocumented?
“If we’re in such a state of heightened security that airport screeners have carte blanche for as much public humiliation as possible, how is it that the borders are in such a poor state of security?” the officer asked.
Related stories:
Dual citizenship for Mexicans?
Document fraud imperils homeland
Is Mexico reconquering U.S. southwest?
Rash of illegals crashing U.S. port-of-entry
Arizona border: Unwatched and unguarded
