Border control must be an integral part of any serious national security policy. Senator Kyl has correctly pointed out that "the [9-11] terrorists never would have been in the country in the first place if [the State Department] had simply followed the law." He is referring to the fact that 15 of the 19 9-11 hijackers should not have been able to obtain visas under the laws at the time.[1] The inability, and at times outright refusal, of government officials to enforce the law on border security is one of several critical problems that must be solved by any serious policy that seeks to deal with securing our borders.
National Security
"It is elemental to border security to know who is coming into the country." - 9/11 Commission
The U.S. Commission on National Security in the 21st Century observed that "[t]errorists and criminals are finding that the difficulty of policing the rising daily volume and velocities of people and goods that cross U.S. borders makes it easier for them to smuggle weapons and contraband, and to move their operatives into and out of the United States."[2]
On Dec. 19, 2001 an illegal alien was taken into custody by the INS only to be released for a hearing scheduled to be held nearly a year later on Nov. 20, 2002. The alien's name is Lee Boyd Malvo, who went on to take part in the terrorist beltway-sniper shootings that resulted in the deaths of ten U.S. citizens.[3]
More than 115,000 people from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries are here illegally. Some 6,000 Middle Eastern men who have defied deportation orders remain on the loose. And an international crime ring, led by Iraqi native George Tajirian, demonstrates the scope of the alarming problem of potential terrorists pressing at our southern gate.
Tajirian's ring guided aliens from all over the world into the United States-usually across the Rio Grande or through El Paso, Texas checkpoints-and arranged transportation and lodging for them once inside. According to federal prosecutors, Tajirian charged up to $15,000 a head-chump change for deep-pocketed terrorist enterprises. During Tajirian's trial, which resulted in a 13-year prison sentence, prosecutors introduced evidence that Tajirian was responsible for smuggling individuals with known ties to subversive or terrorist organizations as well as individuals with known criminal histories.
[4]
The Center for Immigration Studies, looking at terrorist attacks between 1993 and 2001, found that "[i]ncluding the 9/11 hijackers, 48 foreign-born militant Islamic terrorists have been charged, been convicted, pled guilty, or admitted to involvement in terrorism within the United States since 1993. . . . At the time they committed their crimes, 16, or one-third, of the 48 terrorists in the study were on temporary visas (primarily tourist visas), another 17 were Lawful Permanent Residents or naturalized U.S. citizens, 12, or one-fourth, were illegal aliens, and three of the 48 had applications for asylum pending."[5]
Declining bed space and personnel levels are also making it difficult for ICE/DRO to detain and remove illegal aliens that are from countries other than Mexico (OTM) including aliens from countries whose governments support state sponsored terrorism (SST) or who promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations and their members (SIC). Of the 605,210
OTMs apprehended between FY 2001 and the first six months of FY 2005, 309,733 were released of which
45,008 (15%) purportedly originated from SST and SIC countries.
[6]
Exploding Population
Issues of national security are not the only concern with regard to immigration. Increases in both legal and illegal immigration rates are taking their toll on the population and our infrastructure.
In 1972, a two-year study by a joint presidential-congressional commission with representatives of major corporations, unions, environmental organizations, and urban, ethnic, and women’s groups recommended freezing immigration at its then-current level of about 400,000 a year as part of a national population policy. Yet since then, annual immigration levels have risen dramatically—to over one million today.
[7]
. . .[I]n the future the Census Bureau tells that immigration will add something like 76 million people to the U.S. population between now and 2050. . .
The Census Bureau projection tells us that the impact, of course, is enormous; and if we carry this out into the 21st century, immigration is likely to add something like 200 million people to the U.S. population over the next 100 years.
Now, there are a lot of effects. We could debate the costs and benefits, but in general it should be the case that most people would agree that births to immigrants and the arrival of new immigrants is roughly two thirds of U.S. population growth. Now, if we grow our population and continue to do so at this rate, it probably has significant consequences for some quality-of-life issues such as sprawl and congestion.
You can't add 80 million people to the population without having to develop a whole lot more land that is currently not developed.
It also has enormous impact on the size of school-aged population. Roughly 90 percent of the increase in the number of children in public schools in the United States over the last 20 years is a direct result of post-1970 immigration.
[8]
In addition to these problems, we must also be aware that the presence of large numbers of immigrants who aren't required to assimilate is a model for disaster, as evidenced by recent turmoil in France.
. . .[I]t is. . .important that we discern and learn from France's mistakes. The United States need never suffer through rioting from disaffected immigrants if we heed the mistakes. Repeat such, however, and civil unrest will be a matter of when, not if.
. . .Immigrants in the United States are different from France's immigrants both culturally and circumstantially. Yet the seeds of France's mistakes are planted here and growing
U.S. bilingual education and social welfare with insufficient work requirements undermine the assimilative effects that economic necessity has historically imposed on immigrants. A guest worker program would only exacerbate our problems, giving rise to an institutionalized underclass of citizens who lack any loyalty to the United States save the paycheck it provides them. As guest workers have children born as U.S. citizens to parents who are expected to leave the country it isn't hard to anticipate the very crisis in identity, fueling some misbehavior among rioting Parisians.
. . .The French are correct that assimilation, not multiculturalism, makes for domestic tranquility. Their subsequent failure to assimilate immigrants should teach Americans that European-style economic programs and social attitudes though seemingly tolerant and compassionate ultimately prove incompatible with treating immigrants as equals who will integrate into society.
[9]
Additional Readings:
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The Immigration Act of 1990 authorized a bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. In it's first interim report, the Commission found that "prevention is far more effective and cost-efficient than the apprehension and removal of illegal aliens after entry." The report also found that the current system of work authorization was "too susceptible to fraud".[10] Unfortunately, over a decade after this report was issued, these same problems remain.
The first step of any serious immigration reform must be to correct these problems and secure the borders. The best place to start is to enforce the laws already on the books. The key to reducing the flow of illegal immigrants across the border is to stop rewarding them for illegal behavoir. It must be made clear that to knowingly hire illegals will no longer be tolerated. Government, in turn, must do a better job of helping businesses identify fraudulent documents. The 9/11 Commission recommended that "[t]he federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as drivers licenses."[11] Standards that make it easy to identify fraudulent documents will give businesses no excuses for hiring illegals. Stern punishment for violators will dry up the job market for aliens and discourage immigrants from entering illegally. Fewer aliens attempting to cross the border illegally will reduce the chance that an individual who is a risk to our national security can sneak across.
The Fence
The Secure Fence Act of 2006 called for the creation of a 700 mile border fence along part of the U.S.-Mexican border.
Secure Fence Act of 2006 - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, within 18 months of enactment of this Act, to take appropriate actions to achieve operational control over U.S. international land and maritime borders, including: (1) systematic border surveillance through more effective use of personnel and technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, ground-based sensors, satellites, radar coverage, and cameras; and (2) physical infrastructure enhancements to prevent unlawful border entry and facilitate border access by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, such as additional checkpoints, all weather access roads, and vehicle barriers.
[12]
Since passage of the bill, no construction has begun on the fence, while subsequent legislation has shrunk the would-be fence and otherwise gutted the original bill.[13]
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