Illegal Immigration Warrants Proportional Punishments

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http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/ho ... ?id=255674

Illegal Immigration Warrants Proportional Punishment
Michael Cutler
September 7, 2007

Law enforcement officials on all levels, ranging from local to federal government, are increasingly seeking to implement asset forfeiture strategies to combat a wide variety of crimes and violations of law. For example, a drunk driver may find that he will not only be heavily fined, arrested, and have his license suspended or even revoked; it is also quite likely his car will be seized and sold at auction with the proceeds of the sale of that vehicle enriching the government's coffers.

In New York City, cars are seized when they are used to transport illegal fireworks or the owner fails to pay parking or traffic ticket.

Drug traffickers often find that their cars, houses, jewelry, boats and bankbooks are confiscated as the fruits of criminality. Money launderers, tax evaders and others who have amassed money and objects of value through violations of law.

Now we come to the special category of law violators, the "sacred cow" that few politicians are willing to go after: illegal aliens. They are not simply "undocumented" as many politicians refer to them. The fact that they do not have papers in their possession is not the issue; these aliens are illegally present in the United States.

I’ve furnished testimony at a number of hearings that explored the many reasons that the Senate-passed immigration bill would be disastrous for the United States, and represent a threat to the security of our nation. I’ve also made it clear that the senators who voted for that legislation are unwilling to learn the lessons that the Amnesty of 1986 should have taught all of us.

Security concerns top my list of reasons for opposing any guest worker amnesty program for illegal aliens, but there are other reasons I am against it and the other provisions for which the Senate immigration bill calls. The Senate bill would reward illegal aliens who have engaged in identity theft, a felony under federal law. The Senate bill, S. 2611, called for granting Social Security benefits to illegal aliens who used other people's Social Security Numbers (SSN's) in order to secure jobs illegally. Consider the madness that this measure would represent.

Under the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), unscrupulous employers of illegal aliens who knowingly hire illegal aliens would face fines and possible criminal prosecution for knowingly hiring illegal aliens. In order to enforce this provision of IRCA, employers were required to have their employees provide documentary evidence that proved they were either United States citizens, resident aliens, or aliens who were otherwise lawfully permitted to work in the United States. Among the documents that employees needed to provide prospective employers was a Social Security card. Under the law, when an individual uses someone else's identity by "borrowing" a Social Security Number, for example, the crime is known as identity theft. Individuals who engage in identity theft are often prosecuted and sentenced to serve jail time.

Illegal aliens are trespassers when they sneak across our borders to evade the inspection process by our CBP inspectors. Even illegal aliens who are lawfully admitted for a temporary period but then overstay their authorized period of admission or otherwise violate the terms under which our government admitted them are in violation of our country’s laws nevertheless. Since they are illegally present and/or illegally working in the United States, their assets should be subject to forfeiture for having obtained money or material objects by violating the laws.

Yet the current bill would not only permit illegal aliens who acquired money and other material possessions to keep their money, it would also permit them to be eligible to participate in the already over-stressed Social Security system. Incredibly the Senate bill, S. 2611, would permit illegal aliens who worked illegally in our country to be able to claim Social Security benefits they purportedly "earned" by working under someone else's Social Security Number!

Think about it: illegal aliens committing identity theft would be entitled to be paid Social Security benefits for violating our nation's borders or otherwise making a mockery of our nation's immigration laws and then committing identity theft!

The idea to enact legislation where criminal laws are concerned, is to not only punish those who violate the law, but to deter those who might be contemplating violations of our laws. S. 2611 would encourage illegal aliens to commit identity theft, secure in the knowledge that such crime would not only not be punished, but would provide them with the gift that keeps on giving! Illegal aliens, under the provisions of S. 2611 would become indemnified in our nation's Social Security program, and be guaranteed to receive Social Security benefits as long as they breathe, even after they return to their home country, if they ever leave. Additionally, how could our officials even accurately adjudicate such applications when an illegal alien simply claims he worked under someone else's number? It would be very difficult to prove or disprove such a claim.

I urge you to read the recent article in the New York Times about identity theft. Consider how much damage identity theft does to the victim of such crimes. Identity theft is not a "victimless crime." If S. 2611 is enacted with its provisions concerning the misuse of Social Security Numbers, as widespread a problem that identity theft now is, I predict that S. 2611 would cause an astronomical increase in this terrible crime, ruining many more people's lives in our country.

Could our politicians display any greater contempt for our citizens and law-abiding resident aliens than to support this legislation? Not only does it fail to deter this sort of crime, it encourages further illegal immigration.

As I have said on a number of previous occasions, no one would break into an amusement park if they couldn't get to go on the rides. Here illegal aliens are to be given an outrageous ride that rewards felonious conduct committed by illegal aliens!

Any politician who supports this legislation and calls it immigration reform needs to be voted out of office in November. No ifs, ands or buts!


FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Michael Cutler is a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and a well-respected authority on immigration and border security issues.

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Drug traffickers often find that their cars, houses, jewelry, boats and bankbooks are confiscated as the fruits of criminality. Money launderers, tax evaders and others who have amassed money and objects of value through violations of law.

They should include human smuggling in this category. If one is caught smuggling illegals, take everything they have!