Thread: The answer on immigration

Sunday, December 14, 2008
SOLUTION/SMITH: The answer on immigration

Lamar Smith

The U.S. routinely awards green cards to more than a million legal immigrants each year. They play by the rules, and together with those who have come before them, now comprise the largest legal immigrant population in U.S. history. But to sustain this generous legal immigration policy, we must put an end to illegal immigration.

The solution is simple: enforce current law.

For years, concern about illegal immigration was confined to border states. Texans, for example, experienced the immediate impact of illegal immigration in our crowded schools, overburdened hospitals and strained police departments. We understand what many elected officials still don't - rewarding lawbreakers with amnesty only encourages a new flood of illegal immigrants.

Today the impact of illegal immigration is not isolated in the Southern border states. Illegal immigration affects Americans from sea to shining sea and throughout our heartland.

With more than 11 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. and hundreds of thousands more entering illegally each year, it is obvious that illegal immigration is a problem that must be addressed.

In fact, Congress did address it many years ago. It started in 1986 with the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Then, in 1996, Congress passed comprehensive immigration reform. Since then, we have passed even more laws. Unfortunately, both Republican and Democratic administrations have refused to enforce the laws.

In 1996, for example, Congress prohibited states and cities from maintaining policies that forbid law enforcement officials from informing federal immigration authorities about illegal immigrants.

Such policies have resulted in safe havens that make it easier for illegal immigrants, including criminal aliens, to live undetected in the U.S. Although these "sanctuary city" policies are illegal under federal law, neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Department of Justice has ever challenged them.

Likewise, in 1996, Congress prohibited public colleges from giving preferential treatment to illegal immigrants. The law required colleges and universities that offer in-state tuition to illegal immigrants to also offer in-state tuition rates to all U.S. citizen students. But to date, the Department of Justice has not filed a single suit to stop the 10 states that violate this law.

More recently, in 2006, Congress called on the administration to secure the border with more than 850 miles of fencing along the southwest border. To date, only 375 miles of fencing have been constructed. Of that, only 218 miles are built to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the border on foot; the rest are vehicle barriers.

Failure to enforce these laws has contributed to the more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. There are, however, some recent bright spots.

In just the past two years, the administration has begun to focus on the job magnet that attracts illegal immigrants and is also working with state and local law enforcement authorities to identify and deport criminal aliens. Close to one-quarter of all federal prisoners are foreign born.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stepped up its efforts against employers who hire illegal immigrants by relying on criminal prosecutions and the seizure of assets of companies that employ illegal immigrants.

Some 93,000 employers now participate in E-Verify, a program created by Congress that enables them to verify that workers are eligible to be hired.

The nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the illegal immigrant population may have declined by more than 1 million in the past year thanks, in part, to these immigration enforcement measures. News reports echo the sentiment. One news service reported that data "suggest that more Latin Americans are voluntarily heading back home, the apparent result of the U.S. economic downturn and anxiety generated by a federal crackdown on illegal immigration."

Despite this modest progress, there are millions of illegal immigrants still working illegally in the U.S. The Pew Hispanic Center's last estimate put the figure at 7 million. And the U.S. Department of Labor reports that more than 10 million Americans are unemployed.

Given the weak economy, now is not the time for inaction on illegal immigration. To protect American workers, the Obama administration must continue vigorous enforcement efforts.

It doesn't matter how many laws Congress passes if the administration simply disregards them and if Homeland Security and the Justice Department refuse to enforce them.

The threat we now face is that the Obama administration will use regulatory changes, funding cuts, less-efficient enforcement and red tape to weaken existing laws that keep American jobs and communities safe.

Now is not the time to ignore laws that are already on the books or to water down policies that work. We can only sustain America's generous legal immigration policy, safeguard American jobs and protect American lives if we curtail illegal immigration. To do that, we must simply enforce the laws that Congress has already passed.

• Rep. Lamar Smith is a Texas Republican and the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.

http://washingtontimes.com

Hi Jean,

How many of you ALIPAC readers trust Lamar Smith to know right from wrong? How many?

He says enforce the law. All well and good until you look at what else he's been doing since the year 2000.

Lamar Smith is beholden to Bill Gates - to raise the H-1B visa arrival cap from 78,000 to 195,000 to unlimited ARRIVALS PER YEAR! H-1Bs get to stay 7 years and then they forget to go home. So presently there are near a million H-1Bs (almost all from India) blocking US workers from decent middle class jobs.

More H-1B Replacement Workers from Bangalore =
More unemployment for Americans, and this pleases Lamar Smith!
H-1B visa-card holders are NON-immigrants!

We all know that unemployment is worsening by half a million new layoffs per month. Lamar Smith wants to speed up layoffs even faster by bringing in far more H-1B REPLACEMENT WORKERS from India.

Does Lamar Smith give a damn about the middle class? hell-NO, he represents Bangalore, India.

[quote="Lamar Smith"]Ranking Member Lamar Smith today issued the following statement regarding H-1B visa reform. On March 14, Ranking Member Smith introduced a bill to address American companies’ immediate need for high-tech, specialty workers. The “Strengthening United States Technology and Innovation Now Act (SUSTAIN Act)â€

Get rid of illegal aliens.


http://thepetitionsite.com/1/deport-all ... aliens-now

Coto,

Thank you! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your response to this post. The foreign worker visa scam is as dangerous to our nation as the illegal immigrant invasion, and I am concerned that this offensive assault on America will go by the wayside in the fight against illegal immigration. Your post is right on the money.

I work in a 4-year academic technical high school, and I often wonder what is to become of these students as we are handing their future over to strangers on a daily basis.

I don’t know if you’ve seen the editorial by Cokie and Steve Roberts that advises President Elect Obama to increase the 65,000 cap on H1-B’s, it was printed in the November 9 edition of the Bucks County Courier Times. These two shameless morons enjoy a national audience and are using it to advocate for corporate interests, which are the primary factor in the destruction of this nation.

I wrote a rebuttal and submitted it for print, but still haven’t seen it in the paper yet. This tells me that in all probability my local rag is on board with the open borders lobby. Thank God for this, and other websites like it that allow us to communicate and work together to save our nation. I am in fear for my country, but I will never give up the fight to save it. God bless you.

In just the past two years, the administration has begun to focus on the job magnet that attracts illegal immigrants and is also working with state and local law enforcement authorities to identify and deport criminal aliens. Close to one-quarter of all federal prisoners are foreign born.

I have a feeling that it has not been sloth and stupidity by this administration that took them so long to do a little on behalf of the citizens they are supposed to serve. This enforcement of existing laws is nothing more than trying to retrieve the reputation of the worst administration in American history. I think the day GWB walked into office he and the gang were determined to slyly bring around the new world order that Papa Bush talked about.

I do appreciate though Rep. Smith's plug for enforcing our existing laws, and his excellent grades from NumbersUSA.