Immigration chief discusses security after 9/11 By PATRICIO G. BALONA
Staff Writer

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJ ... 091207.htm


ORLANDO -- The director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said he is sued 447 times a month for enforcing laws to make the country safer by not letting some people in.


"We have 120 legal attorneys that work for us," said Dr. Emilio Gonzalez, drawing laughter Tuesday from more than 200 Barry University law students and faculty in Orlando. Gonzalez was guest speaker at the university for the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and the Pentagon.

Gonzalez injected the comment to highlight how serious the matter of national security and immigration became after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks where passenger airplanes were hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Virginia. A third hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.

"After 9/11 we discovered there were a lot of vulnerabilities in the way we processed immigrants," Gonzalez said. "We were very disorganized then. Now we are organized, so much so that some will say we know too much."

There is now more communication between intelligence agencies and cooperation with local law enforcement officials, Gonzalez said.

Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson agreed federal cooperation with local law enforcement got better after 9/11.

"It has made a difference," Johnson said. "We have our domestic terrorist task force and we have people assigned to the intelligence section and we have more cooperation than what we used to have."

The immigration agency conducts 135,000 background and national security checks daily on people applying to enter or stay in the United States, Gonzalez said.

Criminals who live in the United States are also being removed. Criminal records showing up in the background of immigrants attempting to renew residency cards or documents making their stay legal has led to these people being deported, Gonzalez said. Crimes range from murder to sexual offenses, fraud and identity theft.

"It is likely the hijackers could have been detected if this process were in place," Gonzalez said.

Mark Hopson, a second-year law student, asked whether the federal agency's power is infringing on civil liberties and civil rights. Gonzalez said it's not and that it is done as a balance between national security and individual liberty.

"If somebody is meeting with bad people, I want to know why," Gonzalez said. "I'd like to know if the home countries have arrest warrants for them."

At least 400,000 absconders -- people who have been arrested or have been ordered by a judge to leave -- are still in the country, Gonzalez said.

"Our commitment to national security and preventing terrorist attacks like the one on 9/11 guides our every action," Gonzalez said. "National security is a priority to ensure that we continue to be a nation of immigrants and our responsibility is to make sure those who do come into the country in a legal way are not a threat to the country and public safety."