ICE deports Pakistani man investigated during the failed Times Square bombing

Hi Gang:

I received the news release from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) today that I have attached below that shows how terrorists and those who  support terrorism can enter the United States and then seek to embed themselves in the United States by acquiring lawful status.  The bureaucracy that is charged with the adjudication of these applications is USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services).  This is one of a number of component agencies of DHS, an agency I have come to refer to as the Department of Homeland Surrender.
As I have noted on many occasions, terrorists are not only individuals who engage in acts of violence but may well provide critically important support to those terrorists who do engage in violence.  The support may take a variety of forms.  It includes those who provide housing, identity documents or money to the terrorists who plan to carry out acts of violence.  It also includes those who may conduct surveillance of potential locations to be attacked.  This is why it is of extreme importance that our nation secures its borders to prevent the entry of those aliens who would do us harm.  The process of securing our nation’s borders certainly must include both our southern and northern borders that, regardless of the baseless assertions of the President, only exist on maps but not in the real world!  It is also important to understand that the visa requirement, in effect, moves our nation’s borders out to the United States embassies and consulates throughout the world.  
The process by which visas are issued needs to be tightened up and not only in a  limited number of countries as is now being proposed by legislation in both houses.  All visa issuing posts must do a far better job of screening applications for visas.  In conjunction with the need to better scrutinize visa applications, the insane Visa Waiver Program must be terminated!  This program permits aliens from 36 countries to seek entry into the United States for up to 90 days without applying for or receiving a visa.  Once inside the United States, virtually no effort is made to locate, arrest and seek the removal (deportation) of aliens who overstay the period of time for which they were admitted or otherwise violate the terms of their admission.
Last year, Casey Wian, a CNN journalist who has been covering the immigration issue for many years covered the issue of the lack of resources dedicated to arresting visa violators.  His important report aired Memorial Day weekend last year.    
Here is a link to the video of the segment in which I briefly appear:
The focus of this story, as you will see when you go to that link, is the issue of illegal aliens whose presence in our country is not attributable to their having run our nation’s borders but rather because although they were admitted via the inspections process, they either overstayed their temporary visas or otherwise violated the terms of their admission into the United States.
Casey makes it clear that the efforts to locate and apprehend aliens who entered the United States through ports of entry are all but nonexistent.  He noted that while the Border Patrol has about 20,000 agents, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has fewer than half the manpower that the Border Parol has and that many of these agents are not even working to enforce the immigration laws but rather are focused on the enforcement of customs laws.
Furthermore, Casey noted that fewer than 300 special agents at ICE are assigned to seeking to locate and apprehend aliens who overstay their authorized period of admission or otherwise violate the terms of their admission into the United States.  The government claims that there are at least 4.5 million and  such visa violators present in our country with more arriving daily!  At some international airports the great majority of arriving nonimmigrant aliens may account for 75% of arriving nonimmigrants!  
I have been told that there may actually be twice as many visa violators in our country today than the government admits!
Think about it- fewer than 300 special agents seeking to locate unknown millions of illegal aliens! 
 
Our government must also make a strong effort to allocate resources and develop a culture within the immigration benefits program that encourages quality over quantity.  Today the adjudications officers are rewarded for processing as many applications as possible for benefits including the conferring of lawful immigrant status and United States citizenship upon aliens.  As more applications are rushed through the adjudications process process, more fraud goes undetected.  As the level of fraud goes up, still more aliens and the citizens with whom they conspire file more fraud laden applications leading to an increase in the number of applications to be adjudicated causing the bureaucracy at USCIS to run ever faster to attempt to keep up with the avalanche of applications.
The last time that an effort was made to get Comprehensive Immigration Reform rammed through the legislative process, it was determined that at least 100,000 applications for legalization would have to be processed each and every workday!  This would have to be done in addition to the “normal” workload!  Each year USCIS processes more than 6 million applications.  Time and again GAO (General Accountability Office) and OIG (Office of Inspector General) reports indicate that USCIS is already overwhelmed with its current workload.  Often the leaders at USCIS talk about how their number one priority is to clear up the backlog of applications.  Here is something you may not know, or may not have given thought to.
The adjudications officers at USCIS- the bureaucrats who make the decisions as to whether or not to confer an immigration benefit upon aliens who seek to change immigration status, extend their period of time in the United States, be granted lawful immigrant status or naturalize and become a United States citizen, are rewarded for productivity.  As you know, there is an inverse relationship between accuracy and productivity.  The faster you work, the more that the quality of the work you do suffers.
This is a point that reminds me of the episode of I Love Lucy when Lucy and her sidekick, Ethel got jobs at a candy factory where they were supposed to wrap morsels of candy as they were delivered to them on a conveyor belt.
Initially all went smoothly when the belt began to pick up speed and soon the bonbons were hurtling at them at warp speed!  This made for one of the most hilarious episodes in the annals of television comedy- Lucy and Ethel frantically try to keep up with the candy and in order to keep up they try eating the candy and stuffing the morsels down their clothing but to no avail!
For those who are too young to have seen this episode, or if you want to relive that classic bit of television history, here is a link to the You Tube video of Lucy and Ethel at the bonbon factory:
Where applications of immigration benefits are concerned, however, the hapless adjudications officers at USCIS can not eat the applications nor can they stuff them down their clothing!  These adjudications officers quickly find out that the easiest and quickest way of disposing of applications for immigration benefits and even for United States citizenship is to simply approve the applications.  
It only take a minute or two if an adjudications officer approves an application but it can take an hour or more to deny an application and prepare the report and other paperwork.  If the goal is to dispose of the maximum number of applications per day, then it becomes readily apparent that the only way to be rewarded for productivity is to approve as many applications as possible! 
A final thought- as I have noted in a number of previous commentaries, the enforcement of both criminal as well as administrative statutes under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) can provide critically important tools to combat international terrorism and transnational gang activities being carried out in our country.  While it is not spelled out in the news release, it is likely that the way that Aftab Ali Khan’s deception involving his immigration applications were discovered by ICE special agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force who are responsible for using their unique authority and expertise in furtherance of terrorism investigations.  All too often, similar instances of fraud go undetected and the alien who commits such fraud is rewarded with a Green Card and ultimately United States citizenship!
The clear lack of desire by members of the administration to enforce the immigration laws and a comparable lack of desire on the part of all too many of our nation’s politicians including politicians on the local and state level in creating “Sanctuary Cities” are creating opportunities for the bad guys and endangering the lives of the people they swore to protect when they took office.
A massive amnesty program under the aegis of the “DREAM Act” or “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” would exacerbate the threats to America’s security and the lives of our citizens and other who are present here.
The security of our nation’s borders, the integrity of the visa issuance process and the immigration benefits program must all serve as America’s first line of defense against those foreign nationals who would enter our country and commit crimes and/or carry out terrorist attacks.  

The securing of our nation’s borders and the effective enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws are, arguably, among the most important of all missions that are supposed to be carried out by our federal government.  

Nothing less than the security of our nation and safety of our citizens hang in the balance!

A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!

I

our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!


We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.  

My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.

The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.

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.  We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”

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 believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world.  However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!

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! 

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- 



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ICE deports Pakistani man investigated during the failed Times Square bombing

BOSTON – A Pakistani man arrested in Massachusetts during the investigation into the failed Times Square bombing was deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO). He arrived in Pakistan earlier today.

Aftab Ali Khan, 28, formerly of Watertown, Mass., was accompanied by ICE ERO officers on a flight from Boston Logan International Airport to Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, Pakistan. Khan had been in federal custody since May 2010 when he, his uncle, and a man in Maine were arrested following the failed attempt to bomb New York’s Times Square on May 1, 2010.

Khan pleaded guilty to charges of unlicensed money transmitting and immigration document fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper sentenced Khan to time served, 11 months, and three years of supervised release. Khan was then ordered to the custody of ICE ERO for deportation proceedings.

A complaint unsealed on Nov. 16, 2010, alleged that Khan, a Pakistani citizen, entered the United States in August 2009, to marry his then-fiancé and began working at a Brookline, Mass., gas station without a required work permit. Federal prosecutors alleged that approximately three months later, after marrying a different woman, Khan defrauded the government by filing documents to adjust his immigration status in which he knowingly omitted his unauthorized employment.

Following the Times Square attempted bombing in May 2010, investigators obtained evidence that Khan had provided $4,900 to Faisal Shahzad, who was later convicted of carrying out the bombing attempt. Khan borrowed the money and transferred it to Shahzad in February 2010 as part of a “hawala” transaction in which Khan’s family received an equivalent amount of money in Pakistan. Khan conducted money transmission business transactions without complying with federal registration requirements. The complaint did not charge that Khan was complicit in the Times Square attempted bombing or knew what Shahzad intended to do with the money.

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigation of Khan was conducted cooperatively as part of a team of 20 federal, state and local law enforcement agencies on the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force(JTTF). The investigators worked around the clock for several days to resolve questions about Khan’s money transfers relating to the 2010 failed bombing of Times Square.

Khan’s removal from the United States was part of a plea deal involving a deportation order that followed his admission that he lied to federal agents investigating him. Khan’s request to appeal the deportation order was dismissed by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) on Jan. 4, 2011.

ICE’s ERO prioritizes the apprehension, arrest and removal of convicted criminals, those who pose a threat to national security, fugitives and recent border entrants. Between October 2008 and the end of fiscal year 2010, the number of convicted criminals that ICE removed from the U.S. increased 71%. In fiscal year 2011 from Oct. 1, 2010 to April 30, ICE has removed a total of 109,700 aliens convicted of crimes from the United States.

A copy of the news release when Khan was sentenced is available by clicking here.


This email was sent to mcutler007@aol.com by: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Washington, DC 20528 · 202-732-4242 Powered by GovDelivery

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