“How Do You Eat An Elephant?”

Hi Gang:
My latest commentary for the CAPS website is titled:
How Do You Eat An Elephant?”

If, after reading this you agree that this is an important issue- I ask that you forward this e-mail to as many folks as possible and ask them, in turn to do the same- I am attempting to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”
My focus is how the various components of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” would do irreparable damage to a host of issues.  Some of the most serious involve undermining national security by providing unknown millions of illegal aliens with official identity documents even though there would be way to interview them in person, let alone conduct field investigations to determine the truthfulness of claims made in the applications for legalization.
This alone should be the “show stopper” because it absolutely, positively violates all of the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
On October 23, 2013 Politico posted a report:
According to this report, Representative Issa who chairs the important House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has had the integrity and guts to take on the outrageous ATF field operation, code-named, “Fast and Furious” which saw hundreds, if not thousands of high-powered firearms shipped into the waiting hands of drug cartel leaders in Mexico is now calling for providing legal status (and identity documents) to unknown millions of illegal aliens whose true identities will be all but impossible to verify given the huge numbers of applications that would inundate USCIS which cannot properly vet the more than 6 million applications that they are already receiving each and every year.
Congressman Issa is not the only Republican who has come out in favor of the “piecemeal approach.”
On October 28, 2013 the Washington Post reported:

Rubio favors piecemeal immigration approach over comprehensive bill  

The issue that they and others of their colleagues in Congress from both political parties are failing to understand is this:

In order to successfully hide in “plain sight” terrorists, criminals and international fugitives do not need U.S. citizenship but they do need official identity documents issued in new names.  A legalization program, whether or not it includes a pathway to United States citizenship. would do just fine for criminals, terrorists and fugitives who are seeking to embed themselves in the United States.

In addressing national security there can be no “halfway” measure.  No one would want to get on an airplane if fellow passengers could not verify their identities.  Preventing terrorist attacks is about far more than x-raying and patting down 4 year old children and 85 year old senior citizens!  In point of fact, providing millions of illegal aliens with identity documents could enable terrorists to easily game this process to acquire new identities with shiny new identity documents that would enable them to easily board airliners, enter government and corporate office buildings and take jobs that, even if they did not have obvious national security implications might well provide access to critical infrastructure such as food processing plants, schools and such.

On September 20, 2013 CAPS posted my commentary:

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Background Checks Require A Reality Check

I wrote this in response to the cries of outrage from members of Congress and President Obama in demanding to know how both Snowden who made illegal unauthorized disclosures about the NSA and and the Washington Navy Yard shooter- Alexander Alexis could have been granted security clearances.  Both of these individuals were subjected to full field investigations which involved face to face interviews with them and with their neighbors, family members and co-workers.
USCIS is not conducting so much as face to face interviews with aliens being granted identity documents and lawful status under the auspices of the DACA )Deferred Action- Childhood Arrival) program forcing me to rhetorically ask, “What could possibly go wrong with this?” 
On October 28, 2013 CAPS posted my commentary about the dangers posed by current failures of the immigration system and the ability Terrorists and others who pose a threat to national security and public safety to game the system.  Dumping millions of files onto the desks of adjudications officers who cannot deal with their workload now would only serve to exacerbate this serious threat to America and Americans- indeed all who are present in the United States including members of the various immigrant communities.  My article was titled:

Criminals Terrorists War Criminals Hide Plain Sight Through Immigration Fraud

The 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel contained numerous examples of instances where terrorists who engaged in terrorist attacks made use of visa fraud and immigration benefit fraud to not only enter the United States but embed themselves in the United States.

Here is the first paragraph from the preface of the 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel:

“It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.”

Here is a paragraph under the title “Immigration Benefits” found on page 98:

“Terrorists in the 1990s, as well as the September 11 hijackers, needed to find a way to stay in or embed themselves in the United States if their operational plans were to come to fruition. As already discussed, this could be accomplished legally by marrying an American citizen, achieving temporary worker status, or applying for asylum after entering. In many cases, the act of filing for an immigration benefit sufficed to permit the alien to remain in the country until the petition was adjudicated. Terrorists were free to conduct surveillance, coordinate operations, obtain and receive funding, go to school and learn English, make contacts in the United States, acquire necessary materials, and execute an attack.”

Page 47 of the above-noted report contained the following paragraph:

Once terrorists had entered the United States, their next challenge was to find a way to remain here. Their primary method was immigration fraud. For example, Yousef and Ajaj concocted bogus political asylum stories when they arrived in the United States. Mahmoud Abouhalima, involved in both the World Trade Center and landmarks plots, received temporary residence under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers (SAW) program, after falsely claiming that he picked beans in Florida. Mohammed Salameh, who rented the truck used in the bombing, overstayed his tourist visa. He then applied for permanent residency under the agricultural workers program, but was rejected.   Eyad Mahmoud Ismail, who drove the van containing the bomb, took English-language classes at Wichita State University in Kansas on a student visa; after he dropped out, he remained in the United States out of status.

In addition to undermining national security, just legalizing millions of aliens and providing them would dash the the hopes and aspirations of American workers and their families by creating unfair competition for beleaguered American workers, cause even more money to be wired from the United States to the Third World countries whose workers, last year, sent more than $200 billion dollars home and our of the American economy.
However, there are other provisions of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) that would further exacerbate the downward spiral of wages and working conditions for American and lawful immigrant workers who are struggling to find decent jobs and support themselves and their families.  CIR would roughly triple the number of H-1B visas for supposed “High-Tech” workers, further displacing Americans who have the skills and education to program computers and do other such middle class jobs.  Meanwhile ICE does not nor would it gain the resources to investigate visa fraud which enables aliens to acquire such visas even though they lack the qualifications to actually do these high tech jobs and plan to work on mundane jobs.  In a recent commentary for CAPS I provided an example of a particularly egregious case in which it is believed that more than 25,000 aliens were able to game the visa process and yet have apparently not all been identified, are not being sought and are likely still living and working, with impunity, in communities around the United States. 
You can read the details of this investigation in a news release posted by ICE on their official website on April 13, 2013:
This would be wrong-headed enough, but the Senate immigration bill contains another benefit for foreign high tech workers would potentially do far more harm than the tripling of H-1B visas would do to American workers and their families that have to leave all Americans wondering if their is a limit to the capacity of elected representatives to betray their supposed constituents, American citizens.  
Under the Senate bill S.744 the spouses and adult children of aliens who are admitted into the United States with H-1B visas would be granted Employment Authorization Documents (EAD cards).  This card provides the alien to whom it has been issued with an even better deal than the alien with an H-1B visa.  Aliens who have EAD cards can take any job that they want, in any industry, at any salary the same way that an American or lawful immigrant worker can seek employment.  In point of fact, under the immigration laws of the United States, an alien who presents an employer with an EAD card cannot be treated differently from an American or lawful immigrant worker.  To discriminate against such an alien would create the potential for a civil rights lawsuit to be filed by the alien and by the Justice Department!  This could mean that an alien who has been granted an H-1B visa could bring in his wife and a number of his adult children who would all qualify for that highly prized EAD card.   
This lunacy coincides with the advice given by none other than Alan Greenspan when he testified before Chuck Schumer’s Senate Immigration Subcommittee on April 30, 2009.  On October 22, 2013 CAPS posted my commentary in which I discussed Greenspan’s abhorrence of middle class American workers who, in his testimony, were referred to as the “Privileged Elite” who were, in his judgement, earning a “Wage Premium” that needs to be reduced.  His strategy for both reducing “Wage Premiums” of the “Privileged Elite” is to open up immigration quotas for H-1B visas!  If you find this hard to believe, check out my earlier commentary- I provide links to Greenspan’s testimony in that article.  It also includes a link to a video of that hearing:
 Immigration is not a single issue but a singular issue that impacts nearly every challenge and threat confronting the United States today!  Simply stated, the immigration laws were enacted to save lives and protect the jobs of American workers.

It is not “Anti-Immigrant” to be Pro-American!

Our armed forces are charged with securing America’s borders externally while the DHS is supposed to secure those same borders from within.  The failures of the DHS to live up to its half of the equation are undermining the efforts, valor and incredible sacrifices of Americas men and women who serve in our military!

If our government’s failures to protect American jobs by securing our nation’s borders and effectively enforcing our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! 

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!


-michael cutler- 

Please check out my website:

https://www.michaelcutler.net/

       

On Friday evenings from 7:00 PM until 8:00 PM Eastern Time, I host my show, “The Michael Cutler Hour” on the USA Talk Radio Network on Blog Talk Radio.

Call in and join the conversation!  The phone number is 310-982-4145

I hope you will be listening!  (Please tell your friends and neighbors!)

Here is a link to the program:

http://www.usaradionetwork.com/cutler.htm

 




How Do You Eat An Elephant?”
Michael W. Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.)
Senior Fellow, Californians for Population Stabilization

There is a riddle that harkens back to my days in public school that asks, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer to the question that serves as the title for my commentary is, of course, “One bite at a time!”

The Senate’s massive immigration bill, S.744 is often described as simply being about amnesty for illegal aliens. In point of fact, there are many components to S.744, with amnesty being just one of many provision by which the Senate bill, in enacted, would irreparably harm America and Americans.

Among other provisions of the bill are those that would import huge numbers of foreign high tech workers who would unfairly compete with American workers. In addition to roughly tripling the number of H-1B visas, for the first time the spouses and adult children of these high-tech workers would also be granted Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) that would enable them to take any job in any industry with equal entitlement to a job as a desperate American worker. They would sail through the E-Verify Program.

Other provisions- too numerous to note here, would provide waivers of deportation for criminal aliens and provide other measures that would undermine public safety and national security.

Now members of the Republican Party who had stood against Comprehensive Immigration Reform are developing “weak knees” and are talking about passing a series of immigration bills. The Democrats are feigning hostility to this but, in their heart of hearts are probably eagerly awaiting the dismantling of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) knowing that by the time all is said and done, most of the provisions of the massive Senate bill will be passed piecemeal. When this process is completed, most of the provisions of S.744 will have been enacted and America and Americans will never be the same.

Some Republicans are seeking to provide a bit of “political cover” for themselves by saying that if they were to pass immigration bills in the House of Representatives, their legislation would not provide illegal aliens with a pathway to United States citizenship “only” lawful status and official identity documents to document their legal status. This is nothing short of utter folly!

Perhaps these politicians have made this claim because they don’t want massive numbers of immigrants to be able to naturalize and vote for Democrats- it is generally thought that newly minted citizens more often then not vote for the candidates of the Democratic Party or perhaps it is to create the illusion that they are being “tough.” What they are completely ignoring are the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 that noted that identity documents and immigration benefits were the embedding tactic of choice for terrorists.

Any massive legalization program would, of necessity, provide identity documents and lawful status for millions of illegal aliens who evaded the inspections process that is supposed to prevent the entry of criminals, terrorists fugitives, spies and war criminals as well as those who would displace struggling American workers. The beleaguered USCIS would not be able to conduct in-person interviews or conduct field investigations to verify any information contained in the applications.

Members of Congress need to be asked why they would want to massively increase the numbers of authorized nonimmigrant foreign workers from around the world, thereby creating unfair competition for record numbers of unemployed and underemployed American workers who, at least in theory, are their constituents.

These foreign workers can also be expected to increase the amount of money siphoned out of the American economy thereby exacerbating the national deficit and debt.

It is estimated that last year roughly $200 billion dollars were wired from the United States to Third World countries by their workers. India received an estimated $60 billion in remittances making it the most successful Third World country in terms of money wired home by their workers in First World countries. Reports published on UN websites predict that passage of Comprehensive Immigration Reform would cause even more money to be siphoned from the U.S. economy and wired to the Third World.

Still more questions need to be asked. I addressed some of these additional questions in my July 3, 2013 Op-Ed for the Washington Times:


Politicians from both parties must come to understand the magnitude of betrayal these provisions of immigration reform would represent to their oaths of office, their constituents and to America and the “American Dream.”

The slogan of the Science Channel is “Question everything.” This is certainly sage advice where immigration legislation is concerned.

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