Thread: Immigration enforcement tough battle N.C.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/my ... 530494.htm


Posted on Sat, Apr. 30, 2005


Immigration enforcement tough battle

N.C. officials deal with less staff as population increases

By Jim Morrill

Knight Ridder


North Carolina has an estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants, including nearly 3,000 classified as fugitives by immigration authorities.

And the number of federal deportation officers?

One. His main job: Find and deport undocumented immigrants who have been ordered to leave the country. He has among fewer than 10 people in the state, and a handful in South Carolina, who work for the Department of Homeland Security's Detention and Removal Operations.

Another Homeland Security agency, the Office of Investigations, has about 50 special agents in North Carolina. But their duties are divided between immigration violations and customs cases such as drug smuggling and money laundering.

In other words, for an illegal population the combined size of Greensboro and Wilmington, N.C., the federal policing capacity is smaller than Monroe's.

"It's a mess," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a Charlotte Republican. "It's bad, bad, bad. Probably the worst mixed-up agency we've got. It was bad before, but it's worse now." Most legal immigrants come to the United States with visas and, once here, get permanent resident status, or green cards. Illegal immigrants come with no documentation. Federal officials say about 1,600 illegal immigrants a year are detained in the Carolinas; most are deported.

Officials say they're doing the best they can with what they have. But they acknowledge they're overmatched.

"To deal with the burgeoning illegal immigrant population overall, we don't have enough resources," said Jeff Jordan, assistant special agent in charge of the Office of Investigations in Charlotte.

The resource problem isn't unique to the Carolinas.

"Virtually every field office around the country does not have the appropriate number of people to address the challenge," said John Mata, field director in the Atlanta office of Detention and Removal, who said he has approved two more positions for North Carolina, including a second deportation officer.

Nationwide, a million undocumented immigrants in some phase of immigration proceedings have been released into the general population, a top agency official told a Senate committee this month. Of those, 465,000 - such as the 3,000 in the Carolinas - were ordered deported. About 80,000 of those have criminal offenses in addition to immigration violations.

"We have anywhere from 10 [million] to 20 million illegal [ilmmigrants] in the United States being policed by an agency that has too few people and no budget," said Mike Cutler, a fellow with the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies.

"This is not a prescription for success."

Hispanic immigration

Fueling the problem is a surge of mainly Hispanic immigration.

Drawn by jobs, North Carolina's Hispanic population grew nearly 400 percent during the 1990s to 379,000, according to the 2000 census. South Carolina's Hispanic population was 95,000. Analysts say the actual number of Hispanics is probably far higher.

President Bush has proposed a "guest worker" program that would give immigrants, whatever their status, temporary work visas. But even fellow conservatives are split. A group calling itself the Minutemen recently began armed patrols along the Mexican border. Bush and other critics call them vigilantes.

In North Carolina, immigration also has burst into the news.

Bills in the General Assembly would limit the access of illegal immigrants to driver's licenses and public services. A more controversial measure would give in-state college tuition to undocumented immigrants who finish four years of high school and apply for legal status.

More than 45 schools in the Charlotte region have a Hispanic enrollment of 20 percent or more; some are as high as 50 percent. According to Mecklenburg County Sheriff Jim Pendergraph, the population of Hispanic inmates in jail has risen from 2 percent three years ago to 12 percent.

"This whole illegal immigrant issue," he said, "is affecting not only the jails, but schools, [social services], virtually every service provided."

Setting priorities

With few resources, immigration officials make priorities.

Jordan said his agency's main goal is to protect against terrorism. And he calls North Carolina "a target-rich environment."

"We prioritize things based on national security," he said. "There's only so much infrastructure available to us to remove [illegal immigrants], so we target those who are the biggest threat to our safety and security."

In March, agents arrested two dozen illegal immigrants at the Greensboro airport, including people from Sudan, Venezuela, Mexico and the Philippines.

All worked as airplane mechanics and repair workers for an aviation maintenance company. The arrests were part of Operation Tarmac, a nationwide effort to snare illegal immigrants working in key jobs in the airline industry.

Targeting airports and other national security sites such as chemical plants means other workplaces that employ immigrants are usually off the hook.

"Are we going down to 'ABC Tree Cutting Service' and raid the place? Probably not," Jordan said. "Raiding them for the sake of raiding them doesn't happen."

Undocumented immigrants who steer clear of other criminal violations have little to worry about. "The chances of someone going after you are pretty slim," Mata said.

Critics understand why immigration officials make priorities, but they don't like it.

"What's wrong with that is it encourages more illegal entry into the United States," said James Carafano, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

People on all sides of the debate say solutions must come from Washington.

"We agree that our current immigration system is broken," said Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization. "We need comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level. We don't believe that continuing to enforce our broken laws is working."

On immigration, just about everyone is frustrated.

"I don't have the answers right now," Myrick said. "But we're not dealing with it up here to find the answers."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the statement "just continuing to enforce the law" is inaccurate. They are NOT ENFORCING the law.

There were no jobs here in North Carolina for aliens to take except a job held by American.

The "ABC TREE CUTTING SERVICE" put the American Tree Cutting Service out of business.

We only have SO MANY TREES in North Carolina.

There was no need to allow aliens to start up tree cutting services to either cut more trees or take jobs and businesses away from American Tree Cutting Services.

It's simple:

1) control the borders to stop the flow

2) deport aliens

3) appropriate whatever funds law enforcement needs to get the job done

4) place a moratorium on all new immigration until the American People have a chance to figure out IF we need any more for awhile.

My guess is we won't need additional immigration into the United States for at least 10 to 15 years.

So around 2015, we'll study the issue and IF there is a bona fide problem with bona fide evidence, that new immigration into the US is needed, THEN we'll decide HOW MANY and FROM WHERE!

This is the United States. We are the Americans.

We not only decide what happens here,

We control what happens here.

North Carolina has an estimated 300,000 illegal immigrants, including nearly 3,000 classified as fugitives by immigration authorities.

And the number of federal deportation officers?

One. His main job: Find and deport undocumented immigrants who have been ordered to leave the country. He has among fewer than 10 people in the state, and a handful in South Carolina, who work for the Department of Homeland Security's Detention and Removal Operations.

Gosh! State employee of NC................. Just one! Wonder how long he'll stay working with the State? They allow NO overtime!

And people say State employees all stand around watching each other work. Bet this guy just loves that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good12me--I think the guy is on the federal payroll assigned to North Carolina. North Carolina has NO employees rounding up or dealing with illegals per se. Remember....Governor made them "untouchables"..... when he issued them the driver's licenses. State Troopers were forbidden from even asking them if they're legal when they get stopped by State Troopers.