Thread: Stepped up enforcement may not boost roundups

Stepped up enforcement may not boost roundups
Posted on Tue, Sep. 04, 2007
BY ALFONSO CHARDY AND LESLEY CLARK
achardy@MiamiHerald.com
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/224718.html
ANDREW ULOZA/FOR THE MIAMI HERALD

From South Florida to San Francisco, stepped-up immigration enforcement is alarming immigrants and has prompted a federal judge to stop the Bush administration from imposing tougher penalties on employers who hire undocumented workers.

Yet, even if the administration prevails in court -- and all 17 initiatives that are part of the crackdown proceed -- there likely won't be a significant increase in roundups or deportations in a nation with an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

''All these efforts amount to a slightly larger Band-Aid on a hemorrhage,'' said Bill West, a former senior U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in Miami.

Homeland Security maintains that even without roundups, stepped-up enforcement sends a strong message to deter illegal immigration.

''We actually believe this is a very substantial and effective use of tools that we have under existing law,'' Stewart Baker, Homeland Security assistant secretary for policy, said in a telephone interview. ``It's probably the most significant set of new initiatives in the last 10 years.''

Among the most contentious initiatives unveiled Aug. 10: toughened enforcement for employers who do not act on ''no match'' letters warning of workers whose names and Social Security numbers do not match; an increase in detention beds and in the number of teams assigned to find deportation-order fugitives; and a system to detect visa violators.

WARNING LETTER

The Homeland Security warning letter, included by the Social Security Administration in some 140,000 notifications it was to start sending out today, was derailed Friday by U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney in San Francisco. The letters warn employers of penalties for ignoring discrepancies in employees' paperwork.

There are an estimated 12 million Americans with discrepancies in their Social Security names and numbers. Typographical errors or the use of maiden names as surnames -- a common practice among Latin American and Asian countries -- often can be the cause of the mix up.

The judge issued a temporary restraining order on the government's plan to require employers to fire workers if discrepancies aren't fixed within 90 days. Chesney wants time to consider a lawsuit by the AFL-CIO and ACLU. A hearing is set for Oct. 1.

The enforcement push comes after Congress failed in June to pass President Bush's temporary worker program and a path toward legalization for millions of undocumented workers.

Some advocates say the crackdown may spur Congress to consider piecemeal proposals, such as legalizing the children of undocumented workers under the DREAM Act.

Others suggest the administration is cracking down to gain political points among its GOP conservative base after those voters balked about legalization and questioned why more wasn't being done to track illegal workers.

Tamar Jacoby, a policy analyst with the conservative Manhattan Institute, who supports immigration reform, said she hopes an enforcement uptick will persuade Congress that an overhaul is needed.

''I'm hoping that the public starts to see the country needs the workers, but I don't think that's necessarily the administration's rationale,'' she said of the enforcement push.

``This is their job, and the public said loud and clear during the immigration debate that they weren't doing their job.''

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, voiced hope that ``the silver lining in this is that we will pass meaningful reform, such as the DREAM Act, that can help so many young people join the military or finish college.''

For now, the crackdown announcement has further frightened immigrants.

''It's gotten worse since the [reform] bill collapsed,'' said Carlos Antúnez, 40, a Central American construction worker who waited recently with dozens of immigrants at a labor pool near the Orange Bowl. ``There's less work and more fear. Some immigrants are even returning to their countries.''

`FEAR IS PALPABLE'

Elizabeth Torres, a Honduran immigrant, blamed fear for a decline in customers at her Fort Lauderdale beauty parlor.

''Many don't want to leave their homes,'' she said.

South Florida immigration law offices are packed with increasing numbers of worried immigrants.

''Fear is palpable,'' said Eduardo Soto, a Coral Gables immigration attorney.

Among his anxious clients was Geronimo Orozco, a 52-year-old Cuban worried about a plan to renew green cards issued between 1979 and 1989. The plan, announced Aug. 22, was not among the original 17 crackdown measures -- but U.S. officials said it's part of the overall effort to tighten immigration controls.

''I came to see the lawyer when I heard about the measures,'' said Orozco, who fears that when he applies for a new green card officials will discover a 1985 narcotics conviction, and put him in deportation proceedings.

As a Cuban, Orozco is unlikely to be deported -- but he could be detained while in proceedings.

Mazen Sukkar, a Hollywood immigration attorney, said many undocumented immigrants are ''desperate'' because they hoped for legalization and got a crackdown instead.

EMPLOYERS' RISKS

The centerpiece of the crackdown -- the no-match letter -- puts the onus on employers who risk hefty fines if they do not take action.

Enforcement experts said the letters would not result in deportations because the law prohibits the Social Security Administration from notifying Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about particular cases in which employees' names do not match numbers.

''Unless Social Security tells ICE who gets the letters, it's not an enforcement tool,'' said Frank Parodi, a retired immigration officer.

Homeland Security's Baker said the aim of the no-match letter is not to round up undocumented workers but to discourage employers from hiring them. ''Work is the magnet of illegal immigration,'' Baker said.

In an attempt to improve enforcement, the number of existing detention beds nationwide -- about 27,500 -- will increase by 4,000 and the number of seven-officer teams assigned to track deportation-order fugitives will rise from 68 to 75.

But with more than 600,000 deportation-order fugitives in the country, those increases are not enough to alter current rhythms of enforcement.

West called the increases a ''drop in the bucket'' and said only a force of 20,000 immigration enforcement agents would make a difference. There are about 6,000 now.

`CATCH-AND-RELEASE'

Another tool: the end of ''catch-and-release,'' a practice along the border in which detained undocumented immigrants from countries other than Mexico were usually released with a notice to appear in immigration court at a later date. Most didn't.

However, many foreign detainees must be released because, under a 2001 Supreme Court ruling, it's unconstitutional to detain them indefinitely if their home country refuses to take them back.

Baker said Homeland Security will increase the pressure on recalcitrant countries -- among them, Cuba, China, India and Vietnam.

The U.S. government didn't start tracking those detainees until October 2004. Since then about 1,800 undeportable detainees have been released, Baker said.

HIGH-TECH TOOLS

Another measure touted as a tough enforcement tool is a high-tech system to detect foreign visitors at airports and seaports who overstay visas.

Officials estimate that more than 40 percent of undocumented immigrants fall into that category.

Homeland Security's US-VISIT system already tracks visitor arrivals -- activated after Sept. 11, 2001. But a Government Accountability Office report in June said Homeland Security is no closer to implementing the exit component than it was four years ago.

Now, Homeland Security plans to have the exit check under way at airports and seaports by the end of next year. But it has yet to set a date for land borders.

Baker said installing the exit system at the borders was expensive, but noted that Homeland Security will continue ``experimenting.''

''It's gotten worse since the [reform] bill collapsed,'' said Carlos Antúnez, 40, a Central American construction worker who waited recently with dozens of immigrants at a labor pool near the Orange Bowl. ``There's less work and more fear. Some immigrants are even returning to their countries.''

Some immigrants are even returning to their countries...well, that is exactly the point and goal. As more time passes, it becomes more and more obvious that many illegals were led to believe (by perhaps La Raza and other OBL folks) that amnesty was a sure thing. I can understand why they would believe this, since we offered amnesty to close to 3 million illegal aliens in 1986. However, this is not 1986, and many Americans see how detrimental the 1986 amnesty legislation has been to the U.S. That legislation only attracted more illegal aliens, because the precedent was set that amnesty would be the reward for illegally entering the U.S. I continue to be shocked that the illegals are shocked that we are actually enforcing our immigration laws. They've become so accustomed to living outside of the law that any enforcement of immigration law is considered draconian and racist. Democracy is built on love of liberty and respect for law. Hopefully, respect for law is what illegals are coming to understand after the shock of being held accountable to the law wears off.