Rules officially adhered to. ;)
Posted on 11/16/2005 12:55:22 AM PST by ajolympian2004
Things are going from bad to worse at the Bush Department of Homeland Security.
Do not be fooled by DHS chief Michael Chertoff's tough-sounding rhetoric. While the Washington muckety-mucks pay lip service to reforming the nation's broken detention and deportation system, catch-and-release of immigration lawbreakers remains the order of the day -- not only at the border, but all across the country's interior.
The rudderless and overwhelmed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency still does not have a new chief. Which is just as well since Bush nominee Julie Myers (a nice Bush lawyer with virtually no immigration or customs enforcement experience who happens to be the niece of recently retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers/wife of Chertoff's chief of staff/former employee of Chertoff and former colleague of outgoing ICE head Michael Garcia) would provide as much leadership and morale-boosting ability as a pair of junior high pom-poms. Her nomination is still pending.
Meanwhile, as illegal immigration continues unabated, the White House has seen fit to honor the chief of the Border Patrol, David Aguilar, with a presidential "Meritorious Executive" award, which comes with a cash bonus, for his outstanding performance. I kid you not.
It's not much better over at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers all immigration benefits, from citizenship applications to asylum requests to work permits, and is responsible for overseeing all amnesty, student visa and marriage visa applicants. The head of the agency, a nice banker named Eduardo Aguirre whose only experience in immigration law was his own personal background as a Cuban refugee, left in June after two years in office to become ambassador to Spain. Aguirre's biography says that under his "leadership," CIS "made significant and measurable progress towards eliminating the immigration benefit application backlog, improving customer service, and enhancing national security."
Mission accomplished? Don't make me laugh.
A new report by the DHS inspector general's office showed that Aguirre's agency has failed miserably to crack down on the estimated 4 million to 8 million foreigners who have overstayed their visas -- a supposed priority in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which highlighted how lax enforcement against visa overstayers has enabled many al Qaeda operatives to stay in the country.
Of the 301,046 leads the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency received in 2004 on possible visa violators, the inspector general found, only 4,164 were formally pursued, resulting in just 671 apprehensions -- few of which will actually result in deportation.
In these trying times for conservatives in Washington, you'd think the last thing the Bush administration might do is send up yet another crony/diversity nominee to fill a sensitive post. But Aguirre's proposed replacement, Emilio T. Gonzalez, is just such an embarrassment. He appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee recently and was endorsed by two Florida Republicans -- Sen. Mel Martinez and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who said Gonzalez would "bring an understanding of national security and my own personal immigration experience to bear."
Gonzalez is a Cuban refugee who arrived in the U.S. at the age of 4, achieved the American dream, and served honorably in the Army for 26 years. This makes him a remarkable success story. It does not make him a good candidate to head the Citizenship and Immigration Services agency in a time of war.
Scouring his resume, one finds no immigration law expertise whatsoever outside his personal experience.
No indication that he has any clue about how to curtail rampant asylum fraud.
No indication that he has any idea how to deal with those massive numbers of visa overstayers and immigration benefit fraudsters, let alone root out terrorist operatives among them.
And no indication that he would have the ability or willingness to ensure that the millions of "guest workers" under Bush's proposed amnesty plan would be competently screened, registered and deported after their "guest" terms are up.
Zip. Nada. None.
This has been the Bush plan on immigration enforcement and border security:
Recruit the clueless. Reward the failures. Those who abide by the law lose. The con artists, the criminals, the ideological border saboteurs and the terrorists win.
Michelle Malkin is a syndicated columnist and maintains her weblog at http://www.michellemalkin.com/.
1) Declare a national emergency on top of what the governors of Arizona and New Mexico have already done and start an IMMEDIATE rotation of National Guard units from all 50 states to patrol every inch of our southern border from California to Arizona to New Mexico to Texas. The illegal immigration problem impacts all 50 states and any governors who do not comply with a request for members of their National Guard units will have to answer for it in their re-election campaign.
2) Fine employers in this country $1,000,000 per each illegal alien they hire (have hired) and a $100,000 per year service charge if they continue to employ that person.
3) Start the construction of a wall similar to the one Israel is currently building all along our southern border.
4) For any illegal immigrants caught trying to cross the border begin the process of finger printing, retinal scans and facial profiling to permanently document their illegal activity before deporting them back to the country where they came from.
5) Deport anyone currently here illegally with no exceptions.
6) Start a guest worker visa program where folks can legally visit the United States for a period of time to work here and potentially begin the immigration process.
7) Continue to encourage volunteers to sign up for duty with organizations like the Minuteman Project to work in conjunction with our border patrol.
8) Pass a new law that states a person having a baby here in the United States must be a citizen of this country for their newborn to be a citizen of the USA. Automatic deportation of the mother and newborn for non-compliance.
9) New immigrants to this country must pass a basic English proficiency and American history test as a prerequisite for USA citizenship.
10) Make English the official language of the United States.
In summary we have to have a 100% absolute zero tolerance policy when it comes to illegal immigration. The candidate(s) who run to represent the citizens in our country on these 10 points will win their election to office in a landslide because the overwhelming majority of Americans support stopping illegal immigration in it's tracks.
I'm for immigration through our already established legal process.
Rules officially adhered to. ;)
Actually you have to push them back across the border immediatly after finger printing them. There is no point wasting our courts time with deportation hearings. No visa, No passport, no entry. Push them back.
I agree and/or have mobile Hummer based courts capable of a ten minute hearing. The hearing consisting of retinal scan, finger printing and facial profile scan.
You made ten good points. We have to emphasize self deportation by cutting off their access to employment. Implement employer sanctions with fines and prison time and at least 50% of illegal aliens will go home. This will also discourage those thinking of illegally immigrating here.
Also a warning that all illegals still here 18 months from now will have homes and assets confiscated. To pay for their deportations
Also a warning that all illegals still here 18 months from now will have homes and assets confiscated. To pay for their deportations
More excellent ideas!
I wonder if President Bush really understands the growing raging anger over illegal immigration in this country???
Chertoff recently told Sean Hannity, as did his predecessor, that there's no way we're going to spend billions to round up 11 million illegals. You eat the elephant one bite at a time, Chertoff; that means you start rounding people here illegally up and VERY PUBLICLY getting them out of this country. You might find that the ones you haven't caught yet begin to get the message; become a citizen or get the hell outta here!
I agree that they can't all be rounded up in a cost effective way in a short period of time, but what can be done TODAY is a Presidential NATIONAL EMERGENCY declaration and a request of all 50 states to begin an IMMEDIATE rotation of their National Guard units to patrol every inch of our southern border to STOP the illegal border crossings... TODAY!!!
After that one action is taken then start a discussion on solutions to the problem. This rotation of the National Guard units would remain in effect until all agreed upon remedies to illegal immigration are up & running and fully operational.
This current strategy of discussing solutions while illegal border crossings continue is total BS!
Great post.
You can let Michelle know at malkin@comcast.net
bttt
You can bet that he will be running for President in 2008 to bring this issue to the forefront of political discussion in this country. Whether he has a chance at winning or not who knows, but he will force discussion of the issue for both Republicans and democrats who are vyinig for their party's respective nominations in '08.
Misleading BS.
Here's what CIS actually did:
Every country has a maximum applicant quota. So if, for example, a country has 100,000 applications outstanding, and CIS processed has processed this year's quota of 10,000, the remaining 90,000 applications are simply not counted as part of the backlog.
I don't have any great problems with this counting method, but CIS is fostering the impression that it's been "catching up" and "processing" the applications, when all it's actually done is to stop counting them.
The only "solution" I've heard is an underhanded amnesty program (read: guest worker program). Beyond that, all they do is complain about being expected to solve a problem created by THEIR POLICIES.
ping
My plan is easier. Just enforce existing laws.
Tonight, that crap series "Law and Order" will do what it can to smear the Minutemen in an episode billed as one "that will enrage America".
I would suggest having imigration headed up by someone with at least a third grade education, who understands what the term ILLEGAL means. Round up any illegals caught and bus them to the border. When he runs out of funds, ask for donations.....I expect plenty of American Citizens would be more than willing to help out.
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