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Around 300 attend Southwest Conference on Illegal Immigration, Border Security and Crime
Posted by Rachel Alexander
November 6, 2005 at 11:29 pm

Last weekend, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office put on the “Southwest Conference on Illegal Immigration, Border Security and Crime.�* According to panelist Bill King, former Director of the Border Patrol Academy, the conference was one of the best he had attended in years addressing this subject. U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo from Colorado (R) observed that progress is being made since this was one of the first conferences with law enforcement participation. Much of the discussion centered on whether local law enforcement is permitted by law to enforce laws against immigration, or whether it is preempted by federal law.

John Leo of U.S. News & World Report debated libertarian Tamar Jacoby of the Manhattan Institute, asking why we treat Mexico with kid gloves considering it imposes its poor on us. Tamar Jacoby argued that low-skilled migrant workers are essential to our economy and if we restricted their presence, those jobs would move out of the country. Leo pointed out that Japan does just fine with its strict no-immigration policy. Jacoby responded that our population is aging, resulting in less workers and more retirees on social security. Leo retorted, “we don’t need to import half of Latin America to make this country run.�


The keynote speaker, U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado (R), discussed his proposed bill, the Real Guest Worker Act of 2005, which would require securing the border and stepping up internal enforcement before any guest worker program could be set up. He expressed his concern with current lax border security which could potentially allow terrorists to enter the country. “Do you think anyone is going to pay $50,000 to get smuggled into the U.S. to work at 7-11?� He stated that Mexico is not our friend, since it aids and abets its citizens who are violating our immigration and labor laws. He proposed that Mexico’s problems could be solved by moving to a free market economy and eliminating the socialism and corruption that currently exists, such as the aid provided by its military to the drug trade. He asked, “Where is the compassion for citizens of the lowest economic status in our country, who are hurt by illegal immigrants who will take lower-paying jobs?� He ironically pointed out that the problem with many of the illegal immigrants who come to the U.S. is they don’t want to become Americans - they don’t want to assimilate.

John Fund of the Wall Street Journal stated that failure to assimilate is a worse problem than illegal immigration, exemplified by the divisive and failed program of bilingual education in California, which has since been eliminated. He said public education is our biggest problem, specifically its efforts to encourage minority groups to identify in groups, which inhibits assimilation. Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy drew parallels to the lack of assimilation by Muslims in Europe, declaring, “Paris is burning.� Law enforcement in Paris is reluctant to enter areas occupied by “islofascism.�

U.S. Representative J.D. Hayworth of Arizona (R) stressed that his proposed bill, Enforcement First, would enhance and make mandatory the enforcement of laws against illegal immigration. Unlike immigration reform bills proposed by Senators McCain and Kennedy or Kyl and Cornyn, Hayworth’s bill would not permit an undocumented workers’ program until enforcement was successful. Hayworth said that border security and national security are one and the same, and dismissed the economic dislocation argument, warning that we will have the ultimate dislocation if there is another 9/11.

William Boyes, an economics professor at Arizona State University, noted that it is difficult to make policy by soundbite. He stated that although we are spending more money on the apprehension of illegal immigrants, the correlation of arrests is not increasing at the same rate, because illegal immigrants are becoming smarter at avoiding detection. He warned against increasing the level of government in this area, because it might lead to government going into our homes looking to see if we have hired any illegal immigrants as nannies, housekeepers, landscapers, etc. Eleanor Eisenberg, former executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, expressed concern that fear-mongering is resulting in anti-immigrant feeling, and admonished against increasing enforcement. “We don’t yet hear show me your papers here.� She said that it was “somewhat racist to focus on Mexico.� Boyes said that closing the border would only increase spending and make it more attractive for illegal immigrants to come here. “We could write a check for $17,000 to each illegal immigrant and we’d save money.�

Pete Nunez, former U.S. Attorney for San Diego, emphasized that the problem lies in lack of interior enforcement. Once an illegal immigrant crosses the border, there is virtually zero chance they will be caught unless they apply to work in defense or commit a crime. He noted that the federal Department of Labor has been asleep at the switch when it comes to employers who hire illegal immigrants. Recently, the Secretary of the Department of Labor was featured on C-Span indicating she had no idea that one of her department’s duties was to enforce immigration labor laws against employers. Nunez said that a guest worker program is not the way to go, since we’ve had “de facto� amnesty for the last 20 years because the government has not been looking for illegal immigrants.

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies warned that the U.S. is moving towards a two-tiered county because of the lack of enforcement of immigration laws; the illegal workers are creating a new underclass. He refuted the libertarian notion that eliminating welfare would reduce a lot of the incentive for illegal immigration. “If we eliminate welfare, they’ll wheel old people into parks.�

Debbie Schlussel, a political commentator, challenged the federal government, “If we don’t have the resources, then where did all the money go?� She recommended making it politically incorrect to hire illegal immigrants and help coyotes (smugglers). Rick Oltman from the Federation for Immigration Reform said he has become so cynical on this issue he no longer refers to politicians as “leaders� anymore.

Arizona State Representative Russell Pearce (R) pointed out the reason the CLEAR Act is named as such is because it is drafted to make it “clear� that local law enforcement has the authority to enforce federal immigration law, civil as well as criminal. He commended Sheriff Richard K. Jones in Butler County, Ohio, for starting a new policy of handing all illegal immigrants in jail over to federal custody within 24 hours to be deported. Bobby Joe Harris, former Chief of Police in Chandler, Arizona, noted that police are an “untapped resource� for accosting illegal immigrants, since they are already around them. He said the excuse used by local law enforcement, “it’s not my job,� is not valid, because that argument is used to avoid many types of duties. He wistfully noted that he was asked to speak at the conference as a retired Chief, because none of the active Chiefs dared to speak out on this issue, although they privately agree with him.

Law professor Kris Kobach, former counsel to. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, provided an analysis of the federal statutes, cases, and Department of Justice opinions giving local law enforcement inherent authority to arrest illegal immigrants. He noted that in addition, there is federal law permitting states to enter into agreements with the federal government to delegate law enforcement. Florida, Alabama, and Arizona have all entered into these types of agreements, although Arizona’s governor Janet Napolitano only arranged for the deputization of 10 officers. Civil rights attorney Danny Ortega expressed concern that if local law enforcement enforces existing law, the standard for detaining illegal immigrants, “undeniable probable cause,� would be skin color. He also rejected additional laws clarifying this responsibility, thundering, “I do not want to be racially profiled by another law.� Kobach responded that the courts would never find the color of someone’s skin acceptable probable cause.

Sheriff Larry Deaver of Cochise County, which is located on Arizona’s southeastern border, reported that 37% of his budget is spent on illegal immigration. He criticized the phrase “unintended consequences,� pointing out that people know exactly what they are doing and the potential consequences. He said crossing the border is a misdemeanor the first time, and a felony the second time, but the federal government chooses to treat it as an administrative violation instead of a crime. He did not recommend putting the military on the border, because a large portion of the property on the border is privately owned. Professor Glynn Custred of California State University East Bay and co-author of California’s Civil Rights Initiative, Proposition 209, recounted the history of border crossing. He observed that private property owners on the border used to kindly assist illegal immigrants, but they can no longer because illegal immigrants and their smugglers have become dangerous. “Citizens shouldn’t have to go around armed.�

When asked how many illegal immigrants should be allowed to legally enter the U.S., Arizona State Representative Steve Gallardo (D) provided some humor, responding, “Is it a bogus question? Yes.� He stated that Arizona’s Democratic governor Janet Napolitano is doing a good job on illegal immigration, unlike Bush who has mostly ignored it, and asserted that local law enforcement would like to see the matricula card used for identification of illegal immigrants. State Representative Ben Miranda (D) also injected some humor into the conference, observing that he felt like the Lone Ranger on his panel, however, “the Lone Ranger was a good guy.�

Joe Sigg from the Arizona Farm Bureau claimed that without workers from over the border, there would be no available laborers in rural Yuma, Arizona. Farrell Quinlan of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce agreed, warning that the U.S. economy would come to a halt if whole industries were shut down. Sigg argued that employers are not document experts, and they have a disincentive to examine workers’ citizenship documents since any questions will likely result in the Department of Justice knocking on their door. Quinlan said that social security cards are a joke, they are 1930’s technology and easy to duplicate. Illegal immigrants have a double incentive to steal identities, because it keeps their real names pure in case they ever want to legally migrate.

By the end of the conference, it was clear the panelists and speakers agreed upon a couple of important steps. The first was setting up a mandatory national verification service for employers to check social security numbers before hiring employees. Currently, no reliable service exists. The panelists also agreed that better enforcement was necessary, although they differed on how to accomplish it and some wanted enforcement without an accompanying guest worker program, which they did not believe could work in tandem.