Hi Gang:
I have made the point on innumerable occasions that when individuals enter our nation with out undergoing the mandated inspections process that this effort to avoid the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) inspectors is not the equivalent of a motorist who fails to pay a toll before crossing a toll bridge, but should be thought of as being comparable to someone breaking into a home in the dead of night.
While the majority of illegal aliens who run our nation's borders are simply seeking to attempt to get a job, a significant percentage of those illegal aliens may well be intent on violating other laws in the United States. Some may be fugitives from justice in their own country or in another country. Others may have been deported from our country for having committed felonies and are seeking to return to the United States covertly to continue their criminal "careers" in the United States.
The two news articles I have attached below appeared on the CBP website. The first article chronicles how 11 criminal aliens where apprehended as they joined other would-be illegal aliens and appears in today's CBP website. The second article is about three weeks old and deals with a United States citizen who was identified as being the subject of an outstanding criminal warrant when she sought to enter the United States through the inspections process.
When advocates for open borders make light of the presence of illegal aliens in our country attempt to pass off those aliens who violate our nation's immigration laws, it is important to remember that the inspections process, that illegal aliens often avoid, is designed to protect our nation and our citizens as well as other people who are in our country, from the potential harm that such aliens may pose to our nation.
At the very least, an illegal alien who seek unlawful employment, does harm to our nation's already weakened economy. This is not a "victimless crime."
Here is something for you to consider when pondering the impact of illegal aliens who work in the United States. In fact, this also applies to foreign workers who succeed in obtaining "temporary" work visas: When an American citizen or resident alien receives a paycheck, he (she) is likely to spend, save or invest that money in the United States. This is how our economy is supposed to grow, moving money through the economy, providing economic opportunities for our citizens, our lawful immigrants and our nation.
Foreign workers have a different goal for their earnings. They are intent on sending that money back to their families in their home countries. Each and every year, tense of billions of dollars are wired or otherwise sent from the United States to other countries. Last year it was estimated that more than 40 billion dollars was wired from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean by aliens- most of whom are believed to have been living and working in the United States illegally. Additional money was otherwise sent to Latin America and the Caribbean and still more money was sent, in one way or another, to Europe, Asia, Africa and elsewhere by foreigners working in the United States.
Meanwhile, our nation's "leaders" talk about providing approximately a one thousand dollar "economic stimulus" check to American families to stimulate the economy!
I may have been born on a Wednesday, however I was not born last Wednesday!
A one-time payment of one thousand dollars is not the sort of money that will keep a family facing foreclosure from losing its house! These Americans need steady employment with a paycheck that will enable them to be economically self-sufficient.
This requires that our nation finally secure its borders from the entry of illegal aliens. It means that the emphasis must be on making the economic success of the citizens of our nation the priority of our government. With all of the talk about the need to do things differently, I hope that among the issues on the list of President Obama's "change we can believe in" would reflect the way our nation used to do business, when the concern of the government was the simple concept that aliens who might displace American workers were kept out of the United States!
Incidentally, I believe it is important to refer back to the article about how the criminal aliens were identified as having been previously deported.
On May 20, 1997 I was invited to testify before a hearing conducted by the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims. This was the first time I had been invited to such a hearing.
The topic of that hearing was:
"VISA FRAUD AND IMMIGRATION BENEFITS APPLICATION FRAUD"
You can read the transcript of that hearing in its entirety at:
The impetus for that hearing were two terrorist attacks committed in 1993.
The first such attack was committed at the CIA on January 25, 1993 wherein a Pakistani national, Mir Aimal Kansi, positioned himself outside the entrance to the CIA and opened fire of CIA employees who were arriving for work. He killed two CIA officials and wounded three others. He had been granted political asylum previously even though it was ultimately determined that he had committed fraud in his application. He repaid our nation's generosity by carrying out that attack.
The second attack took place on February 26, 1993 when the first bombing was carried out at the World Trade Center that resulted in the death of 6 victims and the injuring of hundreds of other victims. An estimated one half billion dollars was inflicted on that magnificent complex- almost causing one of the towers to topple. Had the tower in fact toppled there is no way of knowing how many thousands of people might have perished. Nor is there any way to know how much destruction such a catastrophe was have caused. Those terrorists who participated in that attack had also succeeded in gaming the immigration system by committing fraud.
While I was not given the opportunity to provide prepared testimony at that hearing, then committee chairman Lamar Smith, who is now the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, invited me to testify at that hearing and asked me a question I recall to this day. He asked me if there was an issue that I could identify as a former immigration inspector, as a former immigration examiner and as an INS senior special agent (my position at the time of that hearing).
I recall telling him that there was a very serious problem with imposters. That we needed to use biometrics whether they be fingerprints or some other sort of bio metric identifier that could quickly help INS personnel to identify an individual that they encountered.
(Believe it or not, back then, in 1997, there was no quick way to determine the identity of people the INS arrested!) I had occasionally used the resources of the DEA and the FBI to quickly identify individuals I arrested, but we did this on a very sporadic basis and often found that the electronic fingerprint system enabled us to identify all sorts of fugitives, yet the INS had no such capability back then) This was another example of why I often used to say that the INS was the agency that refused to take itself seriously!
I was certainly gratified that within about a year, the INS made its first tentative forays into electronic fingerprinting, although initially they did not use all ten fingers and the system was not, at first, linked to other criminal databases. Today of course, ICE and CBP have this vital technological capability and it is extremely effective.
The point is that no matter the challenge, with a bit of ingenuity and determination, nothing is impossible!
We the People must make it clear to our elected representatives that we want our nation's borders secured and that we want the entire immigration system to possess real integrity. This would help protect our nation, protect our citizens from criminal and terrorists seeking to enter our country and embed themselves in communities across our nation and invigorate our nation's faltering economy,
Good citizenship does not end at the voting booth but it simply begins there. In order for our representative democracy to represent us, we need to communicate with our elected representatives to let them know in clear and unequivocal terms what we want.
I implore you to get involved!
We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance
This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!
You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/01222009_3.xml
Border Patrol Arrests 11 Criminal Aliens Near McAllen, Texas
(Thursday, January 22, 2009)
contacts for this news release
McAllen, Texas - Border Patrol agents assigned to the McAllen Border Patrol Station arrested 11 criminal aliens traveling within a group of 30 undocumented aliens.
Early yesterday morning, agents responded to activity south of the McAllen Foreign Trade Zone and observed a group of 30 people walking away from the Rio Grande River. Due to the large size of the group, additional agents were dispatched to the area to assist. Once the reinforcements arrived, agents quickly interdicted the group and determined that all had illegally entered the United States.
After being transported to the McAllen Border Patrol Station, all subjects’ fingerprints were entered into the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) for a check of their criminal history. IAFIS is a biometric identification technology that enables Border Patrol agents to search CBP’s Automated Biometric Identification System and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s criminal fingerprint database simultaneously. This allows agents to rapidly identify individuals with outstanding warrants and criminal histories by electronically comparing a scanned, 10-fingerprint entry against a comprehensive national database of previously captured fingerprints.
When agents received the criminal check returns, it was discovered that 11 of the subjects were convicted criminal. These eleven criminals had convictions ranging from assault to felony narcotics, and all had been formally deported from the United States. Several of those arrested had been convicted of aggravated felonies.
“The arrest of these eleven criminals shows the dangers that our agents face daily” stated Ronald D. Vitiello, Chief Patrol Agent of the Rio Grande Valley Sector. “The dedication, esprit-de-corps and tireless work that these men and women do on a daily basis keeps our communities safe and secure”.
To report suspicious activity, contact the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sectors’ toll free telephone number at 1-800-863-9382.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
Contacts For This News Release
no address available at this time
Rio Grande Valley
Public Affairs Office
Phone:
(956) 289-4844
CBP Headquarters
Office of Public Affairs
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Room 3.4A
Washington, DC 20229
Phone:
(202) 344-1770 or
(800) 826-1471
Fax:
(202) 344-1393
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/12302008_3.xml
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Document Review Results in Fugitive Apprehension for CBP Officers in El Paso
(Tuesday, December 30, 2008)
contacts for this news release
El Paso, Texas - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers performing inspections at the El Paso port of entry apprehended a woman wanted by Illinois law enforcement authorities on an outstanding armed and dangerous warrant Monday afternoon.
The apprehension was made without incident shortly after 1 p.m. at the Paso Del Norte crossing when 46-year-old Mary Ann Gibson entered the facility as a pedestrian. As required under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the woman presented a U.S. passport as her formal entry document. A CBP officer queried the information on the document and received a positive match for a National Crime Information Center warrant out of Will County, Ill. ( Will County Sheriff's Office )
CBP officers confirmed the warrant and placed the woman into custody without incident. She was turned over to the El Paso Police Department and booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility to await extradition to Illinois. She is being held without bond.
“Thorough document reviews by CBP officers at El Paso area ports generate between 25 and 40 fugitive apprehensions every week,” said Ana Hinojosa, CBP director of Field Operations in El Paso. “Every time a CBP officer identifies and apprehends a wanted person, it makes this city and this nation a safer place to live.”
Since January of this year, U.S. citizens returning at an international land border crossing like El Paso must present a passport, pass card, or other Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative compliant document to enter the United States. At this time CBP remains in a transition period so those U.S. citizens who do not have a WHTI document can still legally enter the country by presenting a government issued photo ID and proof of citizenship (birth certificate) to the CBP officer at the port of entry. Full implementation of WHTI requirements will go into effect in June 2009. Additional expanded information on WHTI can be found at the U.S. State Department Web site. ( Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative )
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
Contacts For This News Release
9400 Viscount Blvd.
Room 104
El Paso, TX 79925
Roger Maier
Sr. Press Officer
Phone:
(915) 633-7300 Ext: 122
Fax:
(915) 633-7364
CBP Headquarters
Office of Public Affairs
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Room 3.4A
Washington, DC 20229
|
