By Michael Cutler

Washington Times reporter Jerry Seper, who has been writing extensively about the immigration crisis confronting our nation for quite some time, received the Eugene Katz Award for Journalism last year by the Center for Immigration Studies, the Washington-based think tank with which I have been associated for several years. Seper has written an interesting article titled, “Acrobat Admits Guilt in Visa Scam,” http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070 ... -6474r.htm which appeared in the Washington Times on Feb. 4. The article was brought to my attention by a former colleague at the INS, Steve Merrill, who retired from government service several years ago.

Seper reported that Kristo Ivanov, 70, of Orlando Florida, a Bulgarian native who is now a naturalized American citizen, pleaded guilty “to charges of helping as many as 870 foreign nationals enter the United States illegally and making false statements in visa applications. According to Seper:

“In his plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Ivanov admitted that from 2001 to February 2006, he helped the illegal aliens enter or remain in the United States through fraudulent means, preparing visa applications falsely saying they were circus performers coming to work in Florida.

“Mrs. Fisher said none of the aliens had been hired by any of the circuses listed in the visa applications, adding that they were ‘simply a means for the aliens to enter or remain in the United States.’ She said Ivanov charged each alien from $500 to $2,500 to prepare the applications.”

The article is significant for several reasons, which I will explain below.

First of all, while much attention has focused on the porous borders of the United States, little attention has been paid to the issue of the integrity of the immigration system. The first time I testified before a Congressional hearing back in May of 1997, the topic was immigration benefit fraud and visa fraud.

The image of illegal aliens running our nation's borders is graphic and easy to grasp. Lou Dobbs has done an excellent job of calling attention to our nation's failure to enforce the immigration laws by highlighting these failures in his regular segment he calls, "Broken Borders." In fact, while I am a regular guest on many television programs to discuss immigration-related issues, especially where there is a nexus between immigration and national security, one of my very first television appearances was on Lou's program for that segment. I am proud to still appear on his show regularly.

Our nation's borders are indeed broken as is the entire immigration system. On May 11, 2006, I testified before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on International Relations at a hearing entitled, "VISA OVERSTAYS: CAN WE BAR THE TERRORIST DOOR?" You can read the transcript of that hearing at:

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/in ... 480_0f.htm

This was an important hearing because it is estimated that perhaps as many as 40 percent of the illegal aliens present in the United States did not run our nation's borders, but rather entered our country legally and then went on, in one way or another, to violate the terms of their admission to the United States. Some of those illegal aliens simply overstayed the period of time for which they were admitted. Some of those illegal aliens worked illegally. Other illegal aliens who entered in this fashion became involved in criminal activities and a number of them went on to commit terrorist attacks against our nation and our citizens as we saw on September 11, 2001.

Incredibly, our nation has no way of knowing how many aliens who are lawfully admitted into the United States fail to depart the United States. The reason is simple. Even after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on US-VISIT, the much vaunted program that was supposed to use biometrics to track the comings and goings of nonimmigrant aliens in the United States, US-VISIT is no longer making departure control a priority and may, in fact, never implement this side of the equation! The fact that the 9/11 Commission came to the conclusion that this is an important component of national security has apparently not persuaded the administration to get this critical job done.

In order to participate in the Visa Waiver Program, it would have to be determined that citizens of a country are unlikely to overstay the period of time for which they were admitted into the United States when they were admitted as nonimmigrants. That requirement has been dropped because to put it simply, we don't know who stays and who leaves! Aliens entering the United States under the Visa Waiver Program often outnumber aliens who come from countries whose citizens are required to obtain visas before coming.

The visa requirement can help our nation better defend itself by keeping out terrorists and criminals. Seper’s article, however, calls into the question just how thorough our consular officials are in deciding whether to issue visas to prospective visitors. According to the article, for roughly five years, as many as 870 aliens succeeded in gaming the system to gain visas to enter the U.S. This is the result of one fraud ring that was involved in this scam. According to the article, this operation began in 2001, the year of the worst terrorist attack ever committed on our nation's soil. Yet hundreds of aliens were able to procure fraudulent visas in order to enter our country for years after that attack!

Which brings us to another issue: Where are those 870 illegal aliens right now? Apparently they are not swinging from the flying trapeze or getting shot out of cannons. They are not clowning around in the circus as their applications for temporary visas stated they would be. They are probably among the 20 million other illegal aliens who have scattered across our country, playing out their own version of "Lost in America."

There is nothing in the article that indicates that our government knows where they are or that they are even being sought. Where illegal aliens are concerned, as I have said many times before, this is a game of "Hide and Seek,” in which the aliens hide and a precious few special agents of immigration agents seek them out. The article does not disclose how Kristo Ivanov, the naturalized United States citizen who arranged the fraud scam, acquired his United States citizenship either. Perhaps he was admitted as a resident alien because of his skills as a circus performer and then went on to become naturalized.

Finally, Seper reported that Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher stated, "We will not allow this type of exploitation of our immigration system, which poses a risk to the security of our nation." She is absolutely correct in her assessment of the significance of the threat posed to national security by exploitation of the immigration system.

I don't blame her for expressing her indignation at the nature of the crime committed by Mr. Ivanov. However, I think she was exhibiting a bit of false bravado when she asserted, "... [W]e will not allow this type of exploitation of our immigration system."

To state that the United States would not tolerate those who would exploit the system and create a national security nightmare paints a picture I could only hope was matched by reality. In point of fact, fraud permeates the immigration system. This has been documented many times. Clearly our prosecutors and law enforcement officers understand the threat this poses to our nation's security. However, our President and many of our nation's "leaders" still don't get it or, perhaps, they don't care. I don't know which would be worse, but in any event, they are pushing our nation into an abyss which would be represented by their Guest Worker Amnesty Program.

The arrest and prosecution of Ivanov and the dismantling of his operation is a major achievement and all who were involved should be proud of a job well done. But how many more such fraud operations are still humming along, threatening our nation right now? Why isn't more being done to address this critical problem? Our nation needs thousands of additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents to address this and other vulnerabilities in the immigration system. The hundreds of illegal aliens who benefited by paying Ivanov for their fraudulent visas should be sought, prosecuted and deported. Unfortunately, I fear that many of them will manage to embed themselves in our country, perhaps waiting to emerge from the shadows and participate in Mr. Bush's Guest Worker Amnesty Program.

What will it take to get our "leaders" to do what is necessary to truly protect our nation and our citizens?

Lead, follow or get out of the way!

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/ho ... ?id=708330