President Clinton has been portrayed as soft on crime by nearly every conservative alive. While Republicans have loved to position themselves as the law and order party, how true is that in relation to immigration?
From a Herald Tribune article, the Government Accounting Office found that during the 1999 period there were 2,849 arrests at workplaces compared to 445 arrests in 2003. Some try to attribute this dramatic drop in enforcement to the new emphasis on terrorism but consider this story highlighted by John Hawkins in his interview of Mark Krikorian.
So what they tried as an alternative to raids, was something called Operation Vanguard in Nebraska. It was sort of the first effort at something like this to see if it worked. They didn’t do raids anywhere, all they did was subpoena personnel records. And they didn’t just pick one or two employers, they did all the meatpacking plants in all of Nebraska, so that no one of them would be inconvenienced while the others befitted.They took the personnel records back to the office, checked the Social Security numbers, and came back with a list of people who seemed to be illegal, who did not have authorization to work. They said “we know some of these people are legit and the records are wrong. We want to fix those people’s records and the ones that are illegal, have to leave of course”.
They came back with four thousand names. One thousand people showed up and got their records fixed and three thousand were never heard from again. They were illegal aliens. It worked really well and it was intended to be repeated every two to three months so as to wean the whole industry off of the use of illegal aliens.
I realize that Operation Vanguard was initiated in 1998 but it serves as a terrific example of our Government refusing to uphold the law even back in the days when arrests were so much higher than now. Considering that arrests have plummeted since then do we truly believe the excuse that terrorism is taking up resources. Shouldn’t we instead find reason to be skeptical of the stated excuses for arrests dropping so dramatically in the so-called law and order years of Republicans.
To quote from a Herald Tribune article on illegal immigration: In 1999, 417 civil notices of intent to fine employers for hiring illegal workers were issued, not counting civil settlements; in 2003, there were just four. Exactly how serious is this effort at upholding the law by the party of Law Enforcement?
What sort of message are we sending when we do not enforce or worse, actively ignore and subvert the laws of our land? Worse when it is the very Government officials responsible for upholding the law who are subverting it what message does that send to those immigrants legal and not illegal who are watching for hints on how to act in this, their new country? Do they see laws as flexible according to whose ox is being gored? Is this a lesson we want to teach?
Perhaps not when we consider the crime wave that accompanies illegal immigration. In Minnesota Governor Pawlenty proposed new initiatives for dealing with illegal immigration and the crime wave that accompanied them.
During the Governor’s listening sessions on immigration and at other forums, law
enforcement officers and local elected officials stated that criminal activities related to illegal immigration are causing significant challenges. Pawlenty cited several examples he believes are representative of the concerns he has heard:• In October, 14 individuals, most of whom were illegal immigrants, were arrested with more than $700,000 in methamphetamine in the central Minnesota city of Melrose
• In another Minnesota city, an illegal immigrant arrested for a sex crime, was arraigned, deported and returned to the city within 48 hours
According to a report by the Urban Institute .
The most common offenses for which illegal aliens were convicted were drug offenses in all states except Florida. For states distinguishing among types of drug offenses, drug trafficking was more common than drug possession, except in Texas.
In Florida, the most common offense among illegal aliens in state prisons was murder. Both illegal and legal aliens in Florida were far more likely than aliens in other states to have been convicted of violent offenses against a person.
In Florida, the high share of murders, and other violent crimes against individuals, among illegal aliens cannot be attributed to any one country of origin group. For each major country of origin groups murder and other violent crimes were substantially more common in Florida than they were in the other major immigrant states. The large share of violent offenders in Florida may be related to Florida’s policies on deporting criminal aliens.
From this same report by the Urban Institute we see further evidence that the Clinton Administration was serious about enforcing the law. Consider that they increased the rates of arrests from the levels of Former President Bush.
2. Between 1991 and 1995, how and why has the number of illegal aliens entering
the criminal justice system changed?The number of illegal aliens sentenced in federal courts increased by 167 percent, compared with 13 percent for citizens. The number of legal aliens declined by 18 percent over this period.
From the Center of Immigration Studies in an article titled: IDs for IllegalsThe ‘Matricula Consular’Advances Mexico’s Immigration Agenda
Criminality is rampant in Mexico and, inevitably, crosses our porous border. This is particularly true with drug smugglers. It is an unfortunate fact of life that illegal drugs are grown and manufactured in Mexico, trafficked by Mexicans, but used by Americans.
Within the last decade, Mexican drug traffickers have become major wholesalers throughout the United States of marijuana, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy. Their distribution hubs are expanding away from just border communities.
According to a Drug Enforcement Administration official, “The southwest border
isn’t along the Rio Grande anymore. It’s in Atlanta and North Carolina and
Chicago and even Yonkers and New Rochelle.â€
Hardcore gang activity follows illegal immigrants using the same underground pathways and taking advantage of the same active subversions of our laws by our own government. Consider this article in the Boston Herald which takes pains to avoid labeling the MS-13 Gang Members as illegals but gives the game away near the end At least three MS-13 members were rearrested in Boston this year, months after they had been deported for criminal activity. It was unclear how they managed to get back in the country. But the rest of the article should be read to understand just how ridiculous it is that we are not serious about illegal immigration enforcement. Consider this snippet from that article:
The government began cracking down on MS-13 and other Latino gangs in March with “Operation Community Shield,” soon after the Herald reported the threat that the gang, which has a stronghold in Maverick Square, poses to East Boston.
Members of MS-13 overseas have been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, the Herald reported in January. MS-13 members have been arrested alongside militant Muslims sneaking into Texas from Mexico. In the past two weeks, 582 alleged gangbangers have been busted in 27 states across the country on immigration and criminal charges. Some 515 of those belong to MS-13, Secretary
of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said yesterday.
In another story that should have claxxons sounding.
Texas Sheriffs Tell Congress of War at Border by Ivy J. Sellers
Sheriffs from counties along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas say the daily battle with illegal immigrants continues to escalate.Illegal immigrants trying to get across the border “are getting so bold as to try to run over officers, assaulting officers,” said Sheriff Arvin West of Hudspeth County. “They’re definitely out gunning us, out manning us and the sophistication that they’re using is beyond our capabilities at this point.”West, along with four other sheriffs and a representative of the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition, came to Washington, D.C., to discuss the situation with Congress today. Rep. Michael McCaul (R.-Tex.), who represents their district, actively participated in the discussions. Following the presentation of a video clip documenting the terror along the border, McCaul said he couldn’t believe what he had seen.”Rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine gun fire, many bodies lying in
the street — you’d think you’re looking at the streets of Baghdad and yet it’s right across from our border in Texas,” he said. “This bleeds over into our country and that’s why it’s so critical to secure our border.”
Please don’t allow the argument to be confused by the inclusion of statistics that show low crime rates for legal immigrants as open border supporters are wont to do. Naturally there will be a significant difference between those who have negotiated the unfortunately significant obstacles to immigration successfully and those who have merely walked across a border in contempt of our laws.
Do we need immigrants? Absolutely, anyone who comes to this country for the freedom it offers, which is largely as the result of its past respect of laws, is a friend to this country. But it must be on our terms, not the terms of those in our country who are at this time actively subverting our laws to gain some imaginary temporary advantage to themselves or a group, for example Republicans courting votes or ditto Democrats. Let us expand our nations welcome mat to immigrants from around the world. But let us properly vet them so that we can be sure we are not importing significant criminals and problems that other countries cannot deal with.
President Bush should be ashamed of himself and the performance of his government in regards to immigration. Perhaps he believes that laws one does not agree with can be ignored but that is a shameful view for a President of the United States to hold. If he does not like the difficulties that stand in front of immigrants, and I too consider them ridiculous, then he should change them. But one cannot ignore laws whilst engaged in the effort to change them or else all respect for law flies out of the door.
In regards to the illegals that are already in the country we must simply enforce the laws that prohibit employers from hiring them. We must also cease paying their way through our hospitals and schools. We do not need to arrest them. We simply must make it inhospitable to live here illegally. Send the right message. To paraphrase the Marines. When you obey our laws we are no better friend, when you ignore our laws we are no worse an enemy.
We do not need any more laws. We need our lawmakers to enforce the laws we already have on our books. It is sheer kabuki theatre to dance around Washington DC clamoring for more laws when the laws we already have on the books are so totally disrespected and ignored. Lawmakers are running a scam with their Kabuki theatre in Washington DC hoping to mollify us whilst never intending to actually enforce either the old laws or the new ones.
We are a nation of laws and when those laws are ignored, subverted and violated we are less of a nation. Principles matter, especially when we find ourselves locked in a battle of wills against an implacable foe bent on destroying us. When we give up small bits of our principles in any area regarding one of our central strengths as a Nation, our laws, we are just that much weaker.
Other posts on the subject: Laws Broken No Problemo…selling your soul for a Vote how the Republican Party lost its base!
Tammy Bruce lays a whipping on Open Border Freaks
FOXNews.com - Immigration Bill Stalls in Senate - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
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