On July 30, 2013 the Washington Times published a truly disturbing report:
Homeland Security loses track of 1 million foreigners; report could hurt immigration deal
Here is how this important report begins:
The Homeland Security Department has lost track of more than 1 million people who it knows arrived in the U.S. but who it cannot prove left the country, according to an audit Tuesday that also found the department probably won’t meet its own goals for deploying an entry-exit system. The findings were revealed as Congress debates an immigration bill, and the Government Accountability Office’s report could throw up another hurdle because lawmakers in the House and Senate have said that any final deal must include a workable system to track entries and exits and cut down on so-called visa overstays.
The government does track arrivals, but is years overdue in setting up a system to track departures — a goal set in a 1996 immigration law and reaffirmed in 2004, but which has eluded Republican and Democratic administrations.
On May 11, 2006 I testified before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on International Relations on the topic:
“VISA OVERSTAYS: CAN WE BAR THE TERRORIST DOOR?”
In May, 2010 I was interviewed by CNN’s Casey Wian for a report that was titled,
“Tracking Down Visa Violators.”
On May 10, 2010 I was interviewed by Daniel Gonzalez, a reporter with the Arizona Republic for an news report titled,
On August 2, 2012, CAPS posted my commentary. It focused on a troubling GAO report that and a CNS News report about the ensuing Congressional hearing that disclosed among other facts, that the TSA had permitted 25 illegal aliens to attend a flight school that was owned by an illegal alien!
On September 10, 2012 CAPS posted my commentary
It is not “Anti-Immigrant” to be Pro-American!
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!
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.
Here is a link to the program:
“Illegal immigration may be back on the rise”
Michael W. Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.)
Senior Fellow, Californians for Population Stabilization
The title for my commentary was taken from a USA Today news report published on September 24, 2013.
The USA Today report relied on a Pew Research Center report released on September 24, 2013 that purportedly “found that there were 11.7 undocumented immigrants in the USA in 2012, approaching the nation’s all-time high of 12.2 million in 2007.”
The Pew estimates are largely based on U.S. Census data and Border Patrol arrests.
The Border Patrol statistics are untrustworthy, they have been “cooking their books” for years. The goal of the DHS that oversees the Border Patrol is to provide corroboration for the administration’s false claims that the border is under control. Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of DHS, has frequently claimed that an alien who runs the border and enters the United States without inspection is not committing a crime. In point of fact, for obvious reasons, anyone who enters the United States surreptitiously must be considered a potential threat.
Furthermore, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, an alien who has been previously deported from the United States and then unlawfully re-enters the United States is committing a felony and one that, upon conviction, may result in a 20 year jail sentence if he (she) is deemed an aggravated felon who has been previously convicted of committing serious crimes. There are few federal crimes that carry such an onerous penalty. This penalty not only establishes re-entry of criminal aliens as being a felony, but an extremely serious felony.
Aliens have not been convicted of committing crimes but who are formally deported and then unlawfully re-enter the United States face a maximum of two years of incarceration. This too is clearly a felony.
As the late defense attorney, Johnnie Cochran famously noted during the OJ Trial, “If you cannot trust the messenger, you cannot trust the message!”
The point is to not take issue with the fact that there is an increasing number of illegal aliens present in the United States but to understand that the numbers are likely much, much higher and therefore the impact on virtually every challenge heavily impacted on illegal immigration is even greater.
The USA report provided a photograph of a Border Patrol agent standing at the end of a fence (presumably at the U.S. / Mexican border) with his walkie-talkie in hand, looking out into what is presumably Mexico.
Once again the focus of the article is on the issue of securing the border that is supposed to separate the United States from Mexico.
Given the threats posed by failures of border security that border must be made secure. However, I compare security of the Mexican border to be comparable to the wing on an airplane. Without the wing the airplane will not fly, however, a wing by itself goes nowhere! No one in Washington even raises the other dysfunctional components of the immigration system or that illegal aliens don’t only run the Mexican border.
Simply focusing on the Mexican border distracts us and our government from all of the components that must be addressed if the immigration mission to protect American lives and the jobs of American workers is to be conducted successfully.
Our nation has 50 border states- any state with a seaport or international airport must be seen as being as much a border state as are the states that lie along Americas northern and southern borders.
The presence of millions of illegal alien visa violators who did not run our borders but entered via the inspections process, calls into question the admission policies for foreign visitors and includes such factors as the Visa Waiver Program, the failures to track the arrival and departure of nonimmigrant visitors and the resources and political will to seek to locate and arrest aliens who not only run our borders but violate the terms of their admission.
On July 30, 2013 the Washington Times published a truly disturbing report:
Homeland Security loses track of 1 million foreigners; report could hurt immigration deal
There is also no integrity to the adjudications process, including the DACA program which provides DREAMERS who are as old as 31 years of age, with lawful status and identity documents, without even an in-person interview.
As I noted when I was interviewed by Megyn Kelly of Fox News on May 2, 2013 to discuss the terror bombing of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, “We have a bunch of holes in the bottom of our boat and they are not plugging any of them!”
Blog-_Illegal-immigration-may-be-back-on-the-rise_-September-29-2013.doc