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    Senior Member zeezil's Avatar
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    Immigration crackdown has pluses, minuses

    Immigration crackdown has pluses, minuses
    Posted on Sun, Jun. 08,
    -- ANDRES VIGLUCCI


    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's goal, Secretary Michael Chertoff has said, is to attain ''operational control'' of the borders. That has translated to several initiatives to improve inspections at ports of entry, including airports, while making it harder for would-be immigrants to cross the 2,000-mile-long U.S.-Mexico border.

    Here are highlights of measures taken by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to improve border control and tighten enforcement of immigration laws, as well as the issues they raise:

    THE FENCE

    Among the most controversial features, it consists of a combination of Congressionally mandated fencing and an electronic or ''virtual'' barrier across hundreds of miles of southern borderlands.

    Erection of the wall was, in part, supposed to help win support for an eventual legalization program, but technical and budget problems suggest the ''operational control'' may be farther away than many believe, one advocate for reduced immigration says.

    ''DHS has not screwed up. It's not something that can get done overnight,'' said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. ``It is costly and time-consuming. The virtual fence is complicated technology.''

    The physical fence, a combination of pedestrian and vehicle barriers at popular crossing points, now exceeds 300 miles along portions of Texas and Arizona. Construction has been slowed, particularly in Texas, where some towns and private landowners have fought to hold on to their land.

    Chertoff has also come under fire for using executive powers to discard dozens of environmental safeguards, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, to speed up construction.

    Some fence supporters complain that DHS isn't building more and faster. But officials say fence construction, which is to reach a total of 670 miles by the end of 2008, may be delayed after that, in part because the agency can't say how much extending it would cost.

    The virtual barrier -- a projected $8 billion project that would use sensors and electronic surveillance to detect border crossers -- was scaled back in February after technical problems beset the deployment of the first 28 miles in Arizona by the government's contractor, Boeing. The first 100 miles now won't be completed until 2011, three years behind schedule, and may require an overhaul of the untested technology.

    Chertoff has said DHS still plans to increase the number of mobile surveillance systems operating on the border from ''about six'' to 40 by the end of the year, while increasing the number of pilotless aerial vehicles from three to six.

    AIRPORT AND PORT SECURITY

    Scrutiny of people entering the country at more than 300 land border-crossings, seaports and airports has been sharpened considerably, but critical gaps remain.

    At land crossings and seaports, including the Canadian border, a simple declaration of U.S. citizenship -- an honor system that for years was all that was required for entry -- was no longer enough as of Jan. 31. Travelers 19 and older, including Canadians, must now present proof of identity and citizenship. Starting June 1, 2009, a passport or other secure form of ID will be required.

    Under the US-VISIT program, every foreign visitor who enters the country must be fingerprinted. DHS is now raising the standard from two digital, inkless fingerprints to 10, increasing chances of matching prints in a database that includes prints picked up in battlefields and terrorist safe houses around the world.

    But the second half of the program, which would record the exit of all foreign visitors, is troubled. The so-called US VISIT/EXIT program was supposed to address the problem of visa overstayers by determining when foreign visitors leave the country -- something immigration authorities now have no way of recording. About 40 percent of the nation's unauthorized immigrants are believed to be visa overstayers who entered the country legally.

    Like the virtual fence, however, the exit project faces significant cost and technical obstacles.

    According to a report last year by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, DHS has been unable to complete the project after investing about $1.3 billion over four years. The DHS discontinued a pilot exit program in May 2007 when officials determined that extending it would cost $3 billion with current technology, while producing unacceptable levels of congestion at airports and other exit points.

    ''The prospects for successfully delivering an operational exit solution are as uncertain today as they were four years ago,'' the report concluded.

    Still, DHS in April issued proposed rules that would require airlines and cruise-line operators to collect digital fingerprints of departing visitors.

    BORDER PATROL

    The Border Patrol is being rapidly expanded. As of the start of 2008, the agency had 15,000 agents, with plans to increase to 18,000 by the end of the year -- double the number in 2001. That makes the Border Patrol now by far the largest armed law-enforcement agency in the country.

    PROSECUTING OFFENDERS

    Border-crossers who are caught crossing certain Mexican border high-traffic zones -- a misdemeanor -- are being prosecuted, jailed and deported. (Previously, most were simply returned without prosecution). Although jail time is typically brief, Chertoff contends the deterrent effect is already being felt.

    In Yuma, Ariz., for instance, federal prosecutors handled more than 1,200 cases in the last quarter of 2007, while 70 percent fewer people were apprehended at the border, Chertoff told reporters recently.

    However, some prosecutors and local authorities have complained their courts and jails are being overwhelmed. Some critics say the drop in crossings reflects the lessened lure of U.S. jobs in an economic downturn.

    DEPORTATION

    DHS's Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has substantially beefed up efforts to nab immigrants subject to deportation because of criminal records, with a particular focus on gang members. It's also expanding efforts to find those who have evaded deportation orders, previously not a top agency priority.

    Teams targeting deportation ''absconders'' detained 30,408 people in fiscal year 2007, which ended in September, roughly double the number of the previous year, Chertoff said. The number of teams has quadrupled to 75 since 2005. ICE also identified 164,000 criminals in jails and prisons who can be deported once they complete sentences.

    Advocates for immigrants, however, say raids on households have split families, typically in cases where some members are legal residents or citizens. The advocates also contend that agents have searched homes without warrants, routinely round up others not on their list who may be in country illegally and sometimes use excessive force.

    ICE says its agents can detain people it has reason to believe may be in the country illegally.

    The advocates also warn of the economic effects of deporting large numbers of people who form the employment base for agricultural, food-service and processing, and other service industries. They say deporting workers can harm employers and communities -- a point Chertoff has acknowledged.

    EMPLOYMENT SECURITY/SANCTIONS

    ICE is using a combination of increased fines, stepped-up workplace raids and criminal prosecutions of employers and workers to penalize and discourage the hiring of illegal immigrants. DHS is also trying to require what amounts to electronic verification of every job applicant's legal right to work, including native-born U.S. citizens.

    Effective March 28, fines for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants rose an average of 25 percent, the first increases since 1999. The maximum fine for a single violation is $3,200; multiple violations carry a maximum fine of $16,000.

    In fiscal year 2007, ICE says it made 863 criminal arrests for use of counterfeit documents, including 92 employers or supervisors. In one case ICE cites, a human resources director was convicted of harboring an illegal alien and faces up to 10 years in prison. In another, a textile company owner and three managers were charged with inducing illegal aliens to stay in United States.

    ''This is a marketplace that is very capable of being moved by incentives and disincentives,'' Chertoff said. ``And I think that as we ratchet up the pressure, some of the businesses are going to decide that they're better off finding a way to be legal.''

    But advocates who have analyzed DHS reports say the onus has fallen disproportionately on workers, while only a relative handful of employers have been sanctioned. In 2007, the number of employers fined was just 17, according to America's Voice, a group favoring comprehensive reform, including legalization.

    ''They talk tough but go after Guatemalans working in a meatpacking plan in Iowa,'' said America's Voice executive director Frank Sharry, referring to a May 12 raid by immigration agents that resulted in 400 workers facing deportation and criminal charges but no sanctions for the company, Agriprocessors.

    ''The only people taking it on the chin are the immigrants they are arresting and deporting,'' Sharry said.

    Meanwhile, DHS says, more than 53,000 of the nation's six million employers are using E-Verify, the pilot electronic employment verification system, with 1,000 new ones signing up every week, Chertoff said. DHS also wants to require all federal contractors to use the system, which depends on Social Security databases.

    In addition, at least two bills filed in the U.S. House would mandate all employers to use the system, though those are a long way from approval.

    Another tool Chertoff seeks: The Social Security Administration now sends so-called ''no-match'' letters to an employer when an ID provided by a new worker fails to match information in the agency's database. Under new rules DHS is pushing, the employee would be required to clear up any mismatches or risk losing the job. A federal court has frozen the plan pending litigation from civil-rights groups.

    Critics, including immigrant-rights and business groups, say these could be the most draconian DHS enforcement initiatives because they would affect every U.S. citizen, legal or not.

    Federal auditors say the SSA database contains a high rate of errors. Because its offices are already overburdened handling claims, advocates say that tens of thousands of legal residents and citizens could receive ''no-match'' letters every year and risk losing their jobs while they try to get errors cleared up. A report by the libertarian Cato Institute estimates that one in every 25 of the 55 million job hires every year would receive a ''no-match'' letter.

    GUEST WORKERS

    DHS has proposed easing regulations to make it easier for growers to take advantage of an existing but not broadly used temporary worker program, in part to offset reported labor shortages due to the border crackdown. But farmworker advocates contend the changes would make farmworkers more vulnerable to being cheated of their pay and other benefits.

    Farm organizations complain the program would still be too cumbersome for wide use. They object to requirements that guest workers be provided housing and transportation, which they say are too costly.

    ''The current program needs to be fixed. But I don't see anything in this that does that.'' said Katie Edwards, executive director of the Florida Farm Bureau office in South Miami-Dade County.
    http://oneoldvet.com/?p=6717
    http://www.miamiherald.com/540/story/561098.html
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  2. #2
    Senior Member miguelina's Avatar
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    ''They talk tough but go after Guatemalans working in a meatpacking plan in Iowa,'' said America's Voice executive director Frank Sharry, referring to a May 12 raid by immigration agents that resulted in 400 workers facing deportation and criminal charges but no sanctions for the company, Agriprocessors.

    ''The only people taking it on the chin are the immigrants they are arresting and deporting,'' Sharry said.
    Illegal aliens will still be deported, regardless of whatever charges are bought against their employers. If they don't want to be arrested and deported, they should pack up their families and leave voluntarily.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)
    "

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