Illegal Aliens Defined
- From: Louie <luis.rivera56@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:39:15 -0800 (PST)
Illegal Aliens Defined
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/homeland.php?id=1385222
Author: Mike Cutler
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: November 7, 2007
Calling illegal aliens "undocumented workers" may seem more genteel
and compassionate, but it only serves to obfuscate a critical issue
that needs as much clarification as possible. FSM Contributing Editor
Mike Cutler cuts through the nonsense and gives you the real deal.
Illegal Aliens Defined
By Mike Cutler
illegal (adj.): not according to or authorized by law: unlawful,
illicit; also: not sanctioned by official rules (as of a game)
An interesting editorial ran in the New York Times about a week ago.
Written by Lawrence Downs, it glosses over many facts where illegal
immigration is concerned. Had Al Gore not written a book about global
warming entitled "An Inconvenient Truth," that title would serve this
debate quite well.
It is important to understand that the folks who advocate for open
borders and essentially uncontrolled immigration use two primary
tactics to further their agendas. They either resort to an Orwellian
"Newspeak," or, they accurately define a problem that presents a
significant dilemma, but then propose a solution that makes no sense
and may well exacerbate the original problem. This enables such
deceptive individuals with the opportunity to push a "solution" that
furthers their goals.
In considering the first tactic of using false language to obfuscate
an issue, I would point to former President Jimmy Carter, who began
this process where illegal immigration is concerned. He demanded that
(former) INS employees stop using the term illegal alien and replace
it with the more genteel (and clearly deceptive) term undocumented
worker. The current occupant of the White House, George W. Bush, has
offered to "legalize the immigrants," a statement that is amazing when
you consider that this is the equivalent of offering to "make water
wet." Immigrants are legal: they have green cards and they are on the
path to United States citizenship. They can bring their immediate
family members legally to the United States as immigrants in their own
right. They can take virtually any job they are qualified to do. How
much more legal would the President make them? In point of fact, he
was really saying that he wanted to make illegal aliens legal, but
apparently understood the reaction to such an offer would have been
swift, overwhelming and rancorous.
When I raise these issues in debates, my opponents often criticize the
use of the word "alien" because they claim it sounds as though aliens
came from another planet. The reality is that the term alien is as old
as the Constitution. And, the Immigration and Nationality Act, the
body of laws that govern the entry and presence of aliens in our
country, defines an alien as simply being any person who is not a
citizen or national of the United States. Period. There is no insult
to this definition.... In fact when we, as Americans, travel to other
countries, those countries refer to us as being aliens. And they have
no compunction about using the term.
The second tactic, that of providing supposed "solutions" to a
critical problem, makes no sense whatsoever. Proof of this can be seen
in statements made by Vice President Dick Cheney, who said that there
are millions of undocumented workers in this country. We don't know
who they are, where they are, or what they are up to - and that's why
we need a "Guest Worker" program.
I first heard this when I was a guest on the "Lou Dobbs Tonight"
program on CNN several years ago. As I was brought out on the set to
be interviewed by Dobbs, I noticed that he appeared particularly riled
up. I asked him why he was upset and he told me about a video clip of
the Vice President. I was then shown the video along with his viewers,
and I was utterly astonished to hear Cheney make that outrageous
statement. I immediately understood Lou's outrage - indeed, I shared
it.
How would providing millions of illegal aliens with authorization to
work in our country deter future illegal immigration? In my opinion,
the Amnesty of 1986 resulted in the massive ...influx of illegal
aliens into our country. They were undoubtedly encouraged and
emboldened to violate our borders and our immigration laws with the
expectation that they would be rewarded for such illegal conduct.
More importantly, there is no way that our bureaucrats at USCIS
(United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) could possibly
determine the nationalities of millions of undocumented aliens, much
less their true identities. How would providing these individuals
official identity documents in whatever name they claimed was theirs
make us safer? The reality is, this would put us at a far greater
security risk because this is the precise tactic that terrorists and
criminals use in order to hide in plain sight. They create false
identities for themselves to make tracking their movements and
activities all but impossible for our law enforcement agencies. This
is why the 19 terrorists who so savagely attacked our nation on
September 11, 2001 used a total of 364 aliases. It enabled them to
embed themselves in our country, hiding in plain sight among us as
they prepared to carry out what would be the most devastating attack
ever launched against our nation within our borders.
The "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill" that was prepared behind
closed doors in the dead of night ... in Washington (headed up by
Senator Ted Kennedy) several months ago kept me awake at night. My
fears were articulated in a commentary I wrote that the Washington
Times published. In that commentary, I referred to that legislative
abomination as being the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of
2007." And, on three separate occasions, Senator Jeff Sessions of
Alabama quoted from my commentary on the floor of the United States
Senate during the time that the bill was being debated
Unfortunately, George W. Bush and other advocates for open borders
also distort the facts. A good example of such distortion can be found
when President Bush stated repeatedly that our nation tried an
"enforcement only" approach to immigration, but that such an approach
failed because it did not provide for the illegal aliens with an
opportunity to legally work here. Fact: there are currently only about
4,000 special agents at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) who
are dedicated to enforcing the immigration laws from within the
interior of the United States.
To put this in proper perspective, New York City has just over 8
million residents. This teeming metropolis covers some 400 square
miles, yet enjoys the lowest crime rate of any major city in the
entire United States. Why? One reason is that they have a well-trained
and equipped police department that has nearly 38,000 police officers
carrying out their duties. The United States has perhaps more than 20
million illegal aliens who are scattered across a third of the North
American continent and a law enforcement agency that has roughly one
tenth the number of agents as the NYPD has police officers.
It is also important to know that special agents at ICE should do more
than simply look for the ever-increasing number of illegal aliens (and
especially those among them who become involved in serious criminal
activities). These agents should also conduct investigations into
alien smuggling, aliens who become involved in immigration benefit
fraud (such as gaining residency based on sham marriages to United
States citizens and resident aliens), and those who furnish false and
altered identity documents. These agents should also assist other
agencies such as the FBI and DEA in task forces that target terrorist
and narcotics trafficking organizations whose members include aliens.
(I spent nearly half of my career working in conjunction with other
such agencies to identify, investigate and ultimately dismantle
narcotics trafficking organizations. In New York, when I was assigned
to the Unified Intelligence Division of the DEA, I determined that
roughly 60% of the individuals who were arrested by the DEA in NYC for
drug-related crimes were, in fact, identified as being "foreign
born.")
So the question arises: what constitutes an "enforcement only"
approach to immigration law that President Bush talked about? In
reality, this was about creating an illusion of enforcement and it was
the illusion of enforcement that failed to control illegal
immigration. Providing illegal aliens with the opportunity to acquire
lawful status in our country will do nothing to deter illegal
immigration and would, in fact, encourage still more.
Lawrence Downs presumably well understands what I have set forth
above, but he is obviously following in the well-worn path trod by
those who for one reason or another, want to erase our nation's
borders and blur the distinction between what it is to be lawfully
present and what it is to be illegally present in our country. As I
have often stated, the difference between an illegal alien and an
immigrant is the difference between a burglar and a houseguest. I
sincerely doubt that if Mr. Downes, the author of the NYT editorial,
returned home from work to find an intruder sitting on his couch
watching his television, he would jump to offer him a meal and a job.
Nor would he invite the intruder to have his family join him.
Let me make a couple of points clear. Every nation is defined by its
borders. Think back to the study of geography in high school or
college - this was about borders. Virtually every nation on the face
of this planet enforces its borders. Ironically, the Mexican
government has resorted to extreme measures where its southern border
is concerned but then criticizes the United States if we even think
about securing our border with them. Politicians in the United States
on both sides of the political aisle have been largely unwilling to
secure our borders because, to put it bluntly, the Democrats see in
the flood of humanity potential voters and the Republicans see massive
campaign contributions by those unscrupulous employers who want to
hire the cheapest and most compliant labor force possible. Labor is a
commodity, and the more you flood the labor market with cheap labor,
the more you reduce the price of labor. It may be wonderful for those
who sit at the top of the economic food chain at these corporations,
but it's an absolute disaster for those of us who actually have to
work for a living.
Mr. Downes does not like the term illegal aliens. He makes it appear
that illegal aliens are committing a violation that is probably no
more serious than a motorist who fails to drop a couple of quarters in
the basket as he drives across a toll bridge. However, the job of the
inspector is to keep out aliens who pose a threat to our safety and
well being. Inspectors are supposed to prevent the entry of aliens
into the United States who have criminal histories or suffer from
mental illness that would cause them to do harm to our citizens. The
inspectors are supposed to keep out drug addicts and those who harbor
dangerous diseases. They are supposed to keep out terrorists and
violent gang members. They are supposed to keep out those who would
become public charges and take the jobs of Americans and other legal
residents.
Having been an immigration inspector, an adjudications officer, and
having spent some 26 years as an INS special agent, I can definitively
tell you that there is no way of knowing why an alien circumvents the
inspections process in entering our country. He may simply want to get
a job and send money home. (Last year some 45 billion dollars was
wired from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean by
illegal aliens - and that was the "visible" money that was sent out of
our economy, negatively impacting the United States. Still more money
moves surreptitiously). It is also possible that the alien who enters
our country without being inspected is a fugitive in another country
wanted for a serious crime. He might also be a terrorist who is
attempting to gain entry in preparation to launch another attack on
our country and our people. Think back to Dick Cheney's statement: "We
just don't know who they are, where they are or what they are up to."
Furthermore, illegal aliens often commit other crimes, such as
identity theft, in order to work illegally. And by working illegally,
they may be undercutting American workers by working for substandard
wages - and they risk their own safety by working under what are often
illegal and dangerous conditions.
Driver's licenses would not only enable illegal aliens to drive but
would help create credible and potentially false identities for many -
a strategy employed by terrorists and criminals.
Yet Mr. Downes makes the emotional claim that he only wants to help
illegal aliens who want to go to college and provide them with
benefits and incentives - incentives that we do not even provide to
United States citizen children. Think of it this way: would you offer
to send your neighbor's children to college while telling your own
that they'll have to pay for it themselves?
What part of the word "reality" doesn't Mr. Downes understand?
The reality is that, as I have stated on numerous occasions, a nation
without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without
walls. If we want to do what is morally right, then the United States
should make it clear that we will not enter into trade agreements with
any country that fails to meet the needs of its citizens with
educational and economic opportunities to live decent lives within
their own country. Sadly, poverty and human suffering pervades the
world, but the United States cannot have all of the world's poor come
here. (The United Nations estimates that some one billion human beings
are so poor that they do not have access to safe drinking water. Are
we required to take them all in?)
There is a saying, "If you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a
day. If you teach him how to fish, you will feed him for his
lifetime." It is time that the United States took that concept to
heart, along with making Americans first within their own country.
This would be in the best interests of "We the People" and would, at
the same time, provide better lives for people around the world.
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
.
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