...The third nasty surprise lies in what the bill fails to do. The measure envisions a massive amnesty for illegal aliens now in the country - but doesn't give the Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS) the personnel or infrastructure to implement the amnesty.
In March, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a scathing report on the CIS's inability to effectively detect immigration fraud.
The last time we enacted a major amnesty, in 1986, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (the CIS's predecessor agency) processed some 3 million amnesty applications from illegal aliens. It found 398,000 cases of fraud - and missed thousands more. Now CIS may have to implement an amnesty four times larger.
Yet CIS already faces a backlog of several million applications for immigration benefits. And the GAO found that CIS managers pressure staff into "meeting production goals" by approving applications quickly - which means that fraud goes undetected. Adding millions of amnesty applications can only make things worse. And the latest Senate "compromise" - giving immediate amnesty only to aliens who've been in the country for five years or more - makes the process even more complex and fraud-prone, as illegals use fake documents to "prove" long-term residence.
In 1986, the terrorist Mahmud "The Red" Abouhalima fraudulently got amnesty as a seasonal agricultural worker (in fact, he was a New York cabbie). That status allowed him to travel to Afghanistan for terrorist training - which he later used as one of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers.
Terrorists know how to game the system. Janice Kephart, former counsel to the 9/11 Commission, released a study last year on how easily terrorists obtain immigration benefits. Of 94 alien terrorists in the United States, she found that 59 were successful immigration frauds. That includes six of the 9/11 hijackers.
The Senate bill does nothing to address this problem - while throwing a massive new load on the bureaucracy. A new amnesty will almost certainly ensure that more terrorists gain the legal right to walk our streets.
They will no doubt show their appreciation by attacking innocent Americans. And that will be the nastiest surprise of all.
Here are a couple of USCIS officials (from their website):
1) Emilio T. González, PH.D, serves as Director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, an Under Secretary position within the Department of Homeland Security. Appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2005, Dr. González leads an organization of more than 15,000 federal and contract employees responsible for the accurate, efficient and secure processing of immigration benefits.
Prior to joining the Miami based international law firm of Tew Cardenas, Dr. González was Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, Washington, D.C. In this capacity he served as a key National Security and Foreign Policy advisor to President George W. Bush and Dr. Condoleezza Rice.
An international affairs specialist, Dr. González has spent most of his professional career involved in foreign affairs and international security policy issues. He has served in or traveled to almost every country in the Western Hemisphere on numerous occasions, and has represented the United States Government on special diplomatic missions. Dr. González remains active in international politics. He often meets with Heads of State, Foreign Ministers, Trade Ministers, ambassadors and political leaders from throughout the hemisphere. Additionally, Dr. González is a noted commentator on Hispanic and international affairs and has appeared on local, national and international radio and television programs.
Dr. González completed a distinguished career in the U.S. Army that spanned twenty-six years. During this time he served as a military attaché to U.S. Embassies in El Salvador and Mexico, taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point and headed the Office of Special Assistants for the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Southern Command.
A graduate of the University of South Florida in Tampa with a B.A. in International Studies, Dr. González also earned MA degrees in Latin American Studies from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and in Strategic Studies and National Security Affairs from the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in International Relations from the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Miami, where he also received the Graduate School Award for Academic Achievement. He has been awarded numerous decorations from the United States and has also been decorated by the governments of El Salvador, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua. Dr. González is a Knight of Malta.
(Last Modified 03/22/2006)
2) Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2003, Alfonso Aguilar is the first Chief of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ Office of Citizenship. As Chief of the Office of Citizenship, Mr. Aguilar is charged with leading efforts to promote an understanding of the civic principles on which this nation was founded and increase public awareness of the benefits and responsibilities associated with U.S. citizenship.
Mr. Aguilar has served in the Bush administration since 2001. He has experience within both the U.S. government and the government of Puerto Rico serving as Press Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development, as Deputy Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy, as the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, and as Press Secretary for the Puerto Rico Governor’s executive team. Mr. Aguilar is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico.
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Does something about these appointments seem a little bit un-balanced?