July 15, 2008


Success against illegals limited

Congress needs to get serious about issue, despite record deportations


Immigration agents have had some success deporting illegal immigrants from South Carolina and surrounding states, but the sheer volume of the problem underscores the need for a broader solution. According to a July 6 report in The Greenville News, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have deported 12,379 illegal immigrants from South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia since Oct. 1.

According to that same report, deportations are on the rise. Nationwide in 2007, ICE deported 276,912 illegal immigrants, a new record. It initiated "removal proceedings" against 164,296 illegal immigrants it found in jails and prisons nationwide, according to the newspaper.

These are signs that progress is being made. It also underscores our growing immigration problem and highlights the limitations of current immigration laws, especially when you consider there are an estimated 13 million illegal immigrants in the United States. There's no way for ICE agents to keep pace.

The progress is made even slower by this fact, according to Barbara Gonzales, an ICE official based in Florida who was quoted in the July 6 News: "Some cases can take weeks. Some cases can take months. Some cases can take years."

Local law enforcement agencies are trying to help, as more and more jurisdictions are trained to identify illegal immigrants at the local level. Those immigrants identified then are referred to ICE, which sometimes takes action against them. However, there are holes that need to be patched. According to a report by Greenville News reporter Tim Smith, Pickens County has notified immigration officials of 78 illegal immigrants it has arrested since last year. Of those, ICE has taken action against 31. The agency declined to deal with the rest, according to the report.

Pickens County screens all prisoners at its detention center and notifies ICE when illegal immigrants are found. Greenville County is on a waiting list to complete the training, too, according to a report last month in The News.

Though imperfect, the system is helpful. So is South Carolina's new law that penalizes employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

But none of it is a substitute for real enforcement backed by federal immigration laws that address the source of the problem and the consequences. That's why Congress needs to take decisive action. That action needs to include sealing the borders, penalizing employers who hire illegal immigrants and creating a limited path to citizenship for some of the illegal immigrants already here.

In the meantime, immigration officials are doing some good work, but not enough to make a dent in what is a serious problem. State and local governments are stepping in to help clean up this mess that isn't theirs, but all of it points to this: Illegal immigration is a problem that is not going to disappear unless the federal government takes action to stop it at the source and deal with those who already are here. Until it does, the limited forces of ICE and the limited power of local government won't solve this national problem.

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