Numbers USA: “1,200 Illegal Workers Fired in Minnesota”

Hi Gang:

The news article I have attached below appears on the website of
Numbers USA and is important to consider for a number of reasons.

First of all, it is clear that illegal aliens are, indeed, doing the
work Americans and lawful immigrants very much want to do. The fact
that when 1,200 illegal aliens were fired as a result of a field
investigation conducted by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
all of those jobs were quickly filled, presumably by United States
citizens and lawful immigrants. This makes it abundantly clear that
as I noted in a recent commentary, “A job freed up by removing an
illegal foreign worker creates a job for an American worker.”

While the open borders advocates like to parade a story about some
illegal alien family and the tough times they are having, comparable
stories about legal immigrants and Unites States citizens are all but
impossible to find. Let me make this as clear as I know how- when I
was an INS special agent, I never saw an impoverished illegal alien
who was being exploited by an unscrupulous employer as my enemy. My
heart ached to see the abject poverty in which they all too often live
and the outrageous treatment they often received at the hands of the
exploitive employer.

On a number of occasions when I have testified before state
legislative hearings in various states around our country, the open
borders advocates, including representatives of various churches,
chambers of commerce and so-called “immigrant rights” groups would
talk about the need to consider the “dignity of the undocumented.”
They would never dare use the factually accurate term illegal alien-
clarity was something they never want to confront in this debate!

In response I would relate my first hand experiences of seeing how
these illegal aliens live. The squalor I often encountered made me
ill. I have seen filthy, rat and insect infested apartments that had
been designed to house a family of four being used to house 20 or more
illegal aliens. In these apartments the floors were covered from one
end to the other by filthy bare mattresses that were laid end to end
and side to side. Illumination was often provided by a bare lightbulb
at the end of a wire hanging out of the ceiling. Often we would find
a “moving wall” in such apartments. This term “moving wall”
represented a bit of “gallows humor’ to describe a situation where if
you turned on a light the apartment was so infested by insects that
the bugs would begin scampering across the walls in such profusion
that it was all but impossible to determine the color of the walls
because there were so many bugs! The analogy that comes to mind would
be to think about how the stands in the football stadium appear when
all of the fans begin doing the “wave!”

The stench to be found in those apartments would often linger in my
nostrils for more than a whole week!

Where is there dignity to be found in these situations?

The point to consider is that these people are so desperate that they
will do anything to make some money. They will endure outrageous
conditions at work and it is because of that desperation that
unscrupulous employers hire them instead of American citizens or
resident aliens who would never tolerate the deplorable substandard
conditions these illegal aliens are willing to tolerate.

The reality is that those who advocate for open borders don’t care
about the plight of the illegal aliens, they simply seek to gain money
and political power that they can gain by exploiting the ever
increasing numbers of vulnerable illegal aliens.

These advocates are also oblivious to the fact that among the massive
numbers of illegal aliens are ever more members of violent gangs and
drug trafficking organizations who often prey upon the aliens in our
country.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is now above 10.2% and the situation
is likely to get worse before it gets better. Furthermore, that
unemployment rate does not take into account those Americans who have
given up looking for work or those who have become under-employed.
This contributes to houses going into foreclosure and more Americans
losing their ability to support their families and feed their
children.

As more Americans lose their jobs they spend less money and pay less
taxes. As they lose their grasp on the “American Dream” their
children face an uncertain future, as does our nation, itself.

It is now estimated that one in six Americans now live below the poverty line!

If the vicious spiral of unemployment and mortgage foreclosures is to
be stopped, more jobs need to be created or freed up for our citizens
and lawful immigrants. (That was the way the “Economic Stimulus
Program” was sold to members of Congress and to the citizens of our
nation. Our children’s and our grandchildren’s futures have been
mortgaged to purportedly create new jobs- yet the unemployment rate
continues to soar!

The politicians know what the great majority of our citizens want.
Survey after survey has made it abundantly clear- the citizens of our
nation want our borders secure and want the immigration system to have
integrity. The problem is that most politicians know that the deep
pocketed contributors want our nation’s borders to remain open. They
want foreign workers to come to the United States to drive down the
cost of wages. They want illegal aliens who will work “off the books”
and not have to pay taxes or Workman’s Compensation for. They want to
have an unlimited supply of illegal alien workers who won’t demand
prevailing wages or expect to be paid overtime or premium pay on
weekends.

The politicians know that they need to create the illusion of meeting
the demands of their constituents will making damned certain that they
satisfy the people who write those checks to fund their campaigns.
The solution is to do whatever is necessary to create the illusion
while leaving the borders open and enticing ever more illegal aliens
to enter our country. This is the prism through which you should read
the article I have attached below.

It is of course a good thing that 1,200 jobs were freed up for
Americans and resident aliens- that is the good news, but here is the
bad news:

Mark Cangemi, the former ICE special agent who was quoted in the
article, is right when he notes that the aliens had no adverse actions
taken against them. They are still “out there” undoubtedly seeking
new jobs that will displace American and lawful immigrant workers at
other locations.

I have been hammering away at this issue for quite some time- the
situation of the employment of illegal aliens is comparable to the
relationship between a hooker and the “John.” If law enforcement want
to eradicate prostitution, cops need to arrest both the prostitutes
and their customers. When hookers are arrested but the John’s aren’t,
those guys will generally just go elsewhere.

Once again the goal of the administration is to create the illusion
that the immigration issue is being dealt with while they make certain
that nothing is done to discourage more illegal aliens from running
our borders. I believe that this is, in part, why the politicians are
offering health care to illegal aliens (the law passed by the House or
Representatives says illegal aliens won’t qualify, but there is no
provision to really check the identity of aliens who seek health
care.)

Promising to enact “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” serves a similar
purpose. Even if the bill for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
ultimately fails to pass- the goal of enticing huge numbers of illegal
aliens into our country will have succeeded. Millions of aliens are
watching the political process and are paying close attention to what
is going on (unlike most Americans!)

These aliens have been provided with a huge incentive to run our
nation’s borders- the proposal that amnesty is about to be passed.

No matter what ultimately happens with this legislation, the open
borders crowd has won- it is only a matter of how much they win. If
Comprehensive Immigration Reform is enacted then the open borders
crowd gets a grand slam home run- many millions of illegal aliens
would be accorded resident alien status and will ultimately be
eligible to file applications for their families to legally immigrate
to the United States. If Comprehensive Immigration Reform fails, many
additional millions of illegal aliens would have entered our country
anyway. With the high levels of fraud in the bureaucratic system at
USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) many of
these aliens will easily defraud the immigration system and become
resident aliens by engaging in marriage fraud and other such scams
that defraud the immigration bureaucracy every day of the week!

Furthermore, by not arresting illegal aliens and making it known to
the general public that illegal aliens will not be arrested, the flood
gates remain open and thus the open borders crowd is getting what they
want. Where immigration is concerned, the complicity of the
politicians are making the open borders advocates dream come true and,
at the same time, are creating a nightmare for our citizens!

This is a variation of the famous game of chance, “Heads they win;
tails we lose!”

It is time that the citizens of our country would actually win when
our elected representatives go about their jobs, doing what is
supposed to be the “People’s work.”

It is time that our government hired an adequate number of special
agents for ICE. Today there are probably no more than 6,000 such
agents and many of them are engaged in conducting investigations into
violations of law comprehended under our customs laws. Customs laws
deal with the movement of goods, money and resources across
international borders. As one of my former colleagues at ICE recently
lamented when we spoke, he told me that there appeared to be more
concern that individuals were producing counterfeit brand-named
articles than the fact that there are those who are producing
counterfeit identity documents and passports.

The enforcement of the immigration laws impacts so many aspects of our
nation today yet there are probably no more than 4,000 ICE special
agents dedicated to enforcing the immigration laws from within the
interior of the United States. Meanwhile, the City of New York, the
safest big city in the United States- according to statistics compiled
in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, can most likely attribute that
success to the fact that the NYPD has approximately 37,000 police
officers. Let those numbers sink in! ICE has about 10% as many
agents for the entire United States of America as the NYPD has cops
enforcing the laws just for the City of New York!

The military has long understood the principle of “Boots on the
ground.” Law enforcement is not different. While the open borders
advocates often lament that the “Immigration system is broken” it is
broken because there is a severe lack of resources. The great
majority of immigration laws already on the books are just fine- what
is needed is the politial will to get the job done- matched by an
appropriate increase in resources.

This is not “rocket science” it is simply commonsense!

Any politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an
immigration system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to
keep his (her) job. Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation
who favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform should be shown the door
at the next election!

If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask
that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as
possible and encourage them to do the same.

Next year each and every member of the House of Representatives is up
for reelection. Next year more than one third of the members of the
United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need
to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!

However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting
booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has
emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the
average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the
promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest
groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We
the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our
concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the
great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to
the politicians.
I implore you to get involved!

Any American who has lost his job certainly has enough time on his
(her) hands to get involved!

Any American who fears the loss of his job must make effective use of
his spare time to make certain he keeps his job! (Remember, the job
save may be your own!)
If this situation 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! You need to politely but
pointedly, demand to know what they are doing to protect our nation.
You need to ask them how they are protecting you and your families.
You can also forward this commentary to them.
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-

Article mentioned is at:
http://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/november-10-2009/1200-illegal-workers-fired-minnesota.html