On Sunday I predicted that the simmering border control and immigration issues would begin to get more public airing over the next two weeks. Lebanon and Syria have top billing for a lot of bloggers, along with Social Security, but that doesn't mean things aren't happening - in fact, today both houses of Congress were busy on this issue. Here's a roundup of news from the past 2 days.
- Will Pres. Bush, Canadian PM Martin and Mexican Pres. Fox agree to a defense perimeter for the whole of North America?
CONGRESS
- The House added a border control bill to the $81.3 billion dollar war spending package today. The bill sets strict guidelines for drivers licenses, gives judges greater deportation powers and authorizes the construction of a fence along the U.S. - Mexico border. Expect this one to give the Senate some real heartburn.
- The immigration subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary committee began hearings on a guest worker bill . Homeland Security officials said that it is difficult to ensure people leave when their visas expire. Sen. Cornyn (R TX - Chair) estimates 40% of those here illegally have outstayed visas. The push for strict national standards for drivers licenses kicked off yesterday when the September 11 commission's expert on terrorist travel told two Senate subcommittees that the U.S. has not yet tightened asylum rules or limited access to key id documents for terrorists.
- Meanwhile, the Citizenship and Immigration Bureau proposes to change the rules for H1-B visas. Expect pressure from Congress on this one. Employers and universities want the rules softened; many U.S. engineers and programmers don't.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Remember the boast that the extensive, tough and violent Mara Salvatrucha gang (also called MS-13) made? They promised they would show up at the AZ border on April 1st, ready to rumble with the Minutemen patrollers. MS-13 are involved in a wide range of cross-border illegal activities including murder of law enforcement officers and machete attacks on teens. Yesterday and today the Feds arrested 100 of them in several states.
- Fox News reports that we've stopped 132 nationals from countries considered a national security threat, including Syria, North Korea and Iran, from crossing the border since 9/11.
- The Feds also arrested 18 people on charges of scheming to smuggle grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russian military weapons into the country.
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says nuclear plants in the U.S. have been hardened against suicide plane attacks and other threats.
- On a less dramatic note, the INS also arrested a fugitive who ran a financial scam. A private investigator lured Fred Gilliland back into the country from Canada, where extradition hearings were pending.
Other topics today include: blog coverage; Lou Dobbs debates La Raza; AZ Proposition 200 in the courts while Colorado considers a similar bill; will CA clamp down on companies employing illegals?; Voice of America explains legal processes; merge Customs and Immigration?; FoxNews weighs in; nuclear facilities hardened; Canada wants more immigrants but an EU report says multiculturalism there has reached the breaking point.
LAWMAKING AND POLICY
- A judge threw out an attempt to strengthen interpretation of Arizona's Proposition 200 on Monday, but the legislature is working on sweeping legislation that would "deny undocumented immigrants the right to adopt children, live in public housing, take adult literacy courses and enroll in college, among other things" according to the Arizona Republic.
- Meanwhile, Coloradans are pushing for a similar initiative which would deny all by emergency services to illegal aliens.
- The 9/11 Commission noted. Some Congressmen want to clamp down on companies that hire illegal immigrants. But the special interest groups will try to shoot these proposals down, as they have done in the past.
- The Economist weighs in.
- Federal Computer Week reports that critics want to merge the Customs and Border Patrol unit with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, citing ICE's antiquated computer systems, bad management practices, lack of money and poor information sharing.
DEBATES AND INTERVIEWS
- Lots of people debating the right policies for border control, immigration and guest worker programs. CNN's Lou Dobbs, a fierce critic of illegal immigration, will debate with the head of the national La Raza group at this year's Border Issues conference in DC. CNN said the melting pot was reaching a boil back in 1996.
- La Shawn Barber interviews one of the Minuteman volunteers.
TROUBLE IN OTHER COUNTRIES
- The EU issued a report today saying 2/3 of Europeans think multiculturalism is at the breaking point there and public opinion is turning against immigrants.
- Canada, however, wants 250,000 new workers to immigrate each year and is trying to lure some of them from Scotland, which faces a serious depopulation problem.
- Meanwhile the Voice of America is trying to get the word out about how to apply for legal immigration to the U.S.
And on the lighter side ...
we leave you with this tongue-in-cheek description of Canada's problem with illegals sneaking north across the border.
Thanks Robin - Here are some of my observations to throw out on the table for debate.
Nuclear sites 'safe from attack'
Wonder what Mr. Diaz means by general aviation.
Financial fugitive in U.S. sting
Says a lot for Canadians faith in their own legal system, don't you think?
Colorado Activists Push Immigration Initiative
This article throws a lot out on the table. Not only are a majority of citizens concerned about the illegal immigration problem, they actually tried to do the right thing by advocating and passing laws to curb the tide. So what's stopping the enforcement? Seems to me the article points to social do-gooders which are in the minority. Not to mention complaints from the activists groups as well as judges holding up the law.
Here's a link to Arizona's Proposition 200 for those interested. Sorry it's a PDF file.
As Thorley Winston stated in a previous thread
In response to USMC :
I believe Mr. Davis is using the industry term general aviation which includes all aircraft not operated by the airlines or the military.
Carl F
Thanks. Then his use of general aviation does not include privately owed 727s 747s etc.. Given that I would think he could be a bit more descriptive in what he is talking about.
Of course, if immigration law were rationalized, you wouldn't have such a problem with illegal immigrants. And as far as the "special interests" are concerned, note that there are many "special interests" who want to limit immigration not because of national security concerns, but to protect the employment prospects of the members of say their Union. Indeed, if you take a look at the numerous statutory provisions which concern the hiring of foreign workers, you'll notice that they are specially designed to "protect" certain industries. Its anti-capitalist of course, but what else do you expect from Republocrats?
There is one special interest group that will be impossible to defeat:
Hungry people looking for work.
There is another: smugglers looking for profit opportunities.
And then we will have a third to contend with: employers who exploit the undocumented at slave wages.
You can see the net result of these new policies: increasingly costly failure.
========------------==========Wouldn't it be better to help those who want to work and live in America do so at an ultimate profit to us rather than as a continuing expense?
The idea that punitive measures will solve the problem or do so at a tolerable cost is lunacy.
Well a National ID is coming. That will fix it won't it?
============---------------============It is amazing that folks are willing to shovel money at these problems without even considering thinking outside the box.
=============---------------=========So what did you learn from alcohol prohibition?
(Borders are meaningless if the profit is sufficient - among others)
From the other recent thread on this topic:
We have not "lost control" of our borders. We gave up control when we decided to make people smuggling and drug smuggling profitable.
The answer?
End drug prohibition.
Make it easier for honest people to come and go.
Or we can just throw more money on the fire.
=====------------==========What did you learn from alcohol prohibition?
-- The harder the enforcement the nastier the criminals ---
Basically what we are setting up is a system where it will only be profitable for thugs to cross the border. How smart is that?
=====---------=======Get back to me in a few years and tell me how it is working out?
=========---------------==========BTW I think it is our long term interest to have a lot of "Americanized" Mexicans in the world.
In fact we will be integrating with Mexico and Canada over the long term. Why not actually solve some of the problems rather than just throwing enforcers at them?
USMC:
Thanks for the link to Proposition 200, and while I can't say that I'm surprised by the objections, after reading through it, I would be surprised if there were many places in this country where a majority would not favor similar legislation.
That said (and I don't mean to imply that anyone indicated otherwise), the AZ judge appears to have been exercising proper judicial restraint in refusing to force an interpretation of Prop. 200 on the executive branch. Sounds like the legislature will clarify (and expand) the scope.
Patrick
When you say "citizen of another country" do you mean a person not owned by our government? A person owned by a different government?
Now to me it makes sense to limit voting and holding office to citizens.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Propery are inalienable. i.e. not limited to citizens. A person who owns property in America has an interest in America's well being. I see no reason to discourage that.
M. Simon
If legalizing drugs is the answer I'm for it but somehow I don't believe that solves the problems? Would legalizing drugs stop terrorists for getting into the country? Even if we were MexAmerCan would that solve the issue? Seems to me you're in favor of a world organization that has proved fruitless at this point. Why is that? Maybe they have illegitimate minds as well? The coffers of all peoples is certainly greater than the coffers of a single nation or country is it not?
What punitive measures are you talking about? The ones we put in place to send people back home? The ones we put in place to say if you want a piece of the pie become a piece of the pie?
I'm not sure where you are going with all this but it certainly doesn't seem like we have the same objective in mind.
M. Simon: I don't know if your comment is directed to me, but I don't believe one has (or should have) a right to vote merely because you're a stakeholder in the U.S. I own stock in foreign countries and I would not expect to vote there. Nine year olds have a stake in the country, so do felons. I do think you should be in this country legally to have a right to vote and I don't see how that requirement impairs God's gift of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Patrick
>> "We found that general aviation, in general, is not a significant threat to a nuclear power plant," Mr Diaz said.
>>Wonder what Mr. Diaz means by general aviation
Let's talk about The Concrete Nuclear Power Plant Dome for a minute. The Dome is Your Friend. At one point some years back the military decided to test The Dome by putting an F-4 on a sled and slamming it into The Dome at around Mach 1. The dome had a dent of about 2 inches in it and the F-4 was reduced to bits about the size of my thumb.
Trust The Dome.
>>I don't know if your comment is directed to me, but I don't believe one has (or should have) a right to vote merely because you're a stakeholder in the U.S.
The problem is that foreign nationals on the receiving end of USG "benevolence" don't get to sell their stock and divest themselves of USG involvement in their neighborhood (unless they flee in terror.) So the USG isn't accountable to these people -- it can shaft them and it won't matter in the short term.
In the long term, this shaftage matters. And payback can be a bitch.