Return to Article: Critics cite lax efforts to enforce federal worksite immigration laws
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10653
Sounds like one of the contributors to this posting is alleging 'racism' re illegal immigration from Mexico. Well guess what, most illegal infiltrators ARE Mexican! But Presidente Zorro despises the very people that he represents re his recent remarks about Mexicans doing jobs here that even American blacks won't do...Remember that piece of leftist drivel, always used in this big shell game. Post 9/11, we cannot tolerate the sloppy, feel-good rhetoric of the left coast. Without effective border enforcement, we just don't know who is coming in, and for what purpose. I spent many years at a major East Coast airport, and dealt with over a hundred ethnic groups on a weekly basis, and I tried to be as professional as possible. But the immigration controls were easier to enforce coming off an arriving aircraft than by foot on the Southern border. Once again, I really respect the inspectors, agents, and all other law enforcement personnel working in the DHS. Keep the faith!
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10611
Hey "Been there done that GS-ICE"
Social Security Verification alone WON'T cut it. Two jobs among unskilled laborers is not that uncommon. A Social Security Card/Number does not have a picture. So, what's to stop Kim Chee from using his cousin's Social Security Card and a fake ID for verification?
National ID cross-referenced with Social Security Numbers for ALL citizens and residents of the US. A national standard driver's license in two colors, one for legal residents and the other for visitors and illegals.
What part of that don't you get?
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10609
Your comments about LULAC reveals your true feelings about Mexicans. The more you write the more you humiliate yourself. Eventually your latin and black colleagues will see you for what you really are.
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10606
This posting is directed at the Legacy Customs Agent that asserts that the current Immigration Enforcement Laws are racist. Can you be a little more specific in your allegations or does enforcement of Immigration Laws which is a function of what the Congress of the United States passed into law cause you concern? You must be a card carrying member of LULAC or perhaps related to Vicente FOX. Oh, and by the way, what does the "Racist Immigration Enforcement Polices" that you allege have to do with the discussion of Employer Sanction Laws? I think you need to sign up for some anger management classes because of this merger, take a long vacation, or join the monastery.
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10600
Sounds like a bunch of guys whining because they assume they have to continue under the same laws. The problem isn't ICE or Customs - the problem is Congress and immigration laws. You guys think Bush is ready to give up the spanish speaking vote - he speaks spanish better than he speaks english!
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10562
Two problems. 1. There are an estimated 8 million to 11 million illegal aliens already working here, most with counterfeit I.D.s, which gives their employers limited liability, (as long as they complete the I-9s properly), and only 4,000 to 5,000 agents. We're not just looking at the proverbial drop in a bucket, we're Don Quixote swinging at wind mills. Secondly, we have done little or nothing to seal the border, so even if we start knocking employers, and they start losing employees, we just see the jobs get filled with their cousins who have no incentive not to come to the U.S.
The former INS has been working with police departments, but the volume was, and is, so great, how do you keep up? The solution, 1. Close the borders. Do whatever it takes. 2. Make Social security verification a law for every employee hired. It's easy, it's simple, it's not a national I.D. card.
Been there, done that. GS-ICE
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10547
Here we go again from N.O., a person who should be happy with the merger because he got a 13 for probably doing jail cases and police calls. INS stopped doing ESU cases around 1998 so don't blame the merger or Customs managers. The solution to the problem is very easy, the politicians need to strengthen the laws regarding employment of illegal aliens. The agency attorneys also need to be tougher with the fines. It was common knowledge in the old INS that all a company had to do was just make one call and the fine would be cut in half. Next, create a computer system, which would be mandatory, so that companies can check if the identification received for proof of employment authorization is legitimate. Put the burden on the companies to verify the documents. Currently, the employers can receive a terrible fake I-551 or EAD card and they're covered. In addition create a position within DHS to audit the companies similar to a compliance inspector. If the matter needs to be referred for criminal prosecution it would then be handed to the Special Agents for follow up. DEA and ATF have these positions and it seems to work well.
Unfortunately, this would never happen because of lobbying efforts by the meat packing industry, farmers and other businesses that benefit from hiring illegal aliens. Most illegal aliens come to the U.S. looking for jobs so they can send money back home to their family. If there were no jobs, a lot of the illegal immigration would decline.
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10543
Let's face facts: ICE lacks a clear mission mandate, and if anyone thinks that worksite enforcement is going to be it, either they are very misinformed, or outright delusional.
In my SAC office, there is NO employer sanctions/worksite enforcement group. Are you kidding??? If there was, 2/3 of the businesses in my SAC's area of responsibility would be shut down for lack of available, LEGAL workers, and the remaining 1/3 would be bankrupted from the fines that would be imposed. As I stated in an earlier message, there is NO political will to truly streamline and enforce immigration law in this country, and it surely seems like business interests in this country (as well as Mexican President Vicente Fox) seem to have the ears, hearts and minds of Congress and the President (Bi-partisan support for WORKSITE enforcement??? You must be kidding!!!)
As for the mission, as I said, there is NONE. That is, except whatever the mission du jour is: Today, it might be drugs (Oh, I'm sorry; Ridge gave that away to the DEA). Tomorrow, it might be money (Oops again! If it's terrorist related, it goes to the FBI). Rounding up criminal aliens? Starting to get the picture? What legacy Customs and legacy INS once did well separately, now can't be done well at all together .
The hour is upon us, Mr. Chertoff: 5,000 agents are waiting for you to speak so we can start making decisions about our future, which we would like to spend doing meaningful, productive work, instead of whatever ridiculous nonsense Congress says we should do today.
Pathetic, shameful AND disgraceful.
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10541
Correct me if I'm wrong, and could be, but didn't Jimmy Carter make the first effort to combine Immigration and Customs?
Worksite enforcement was a compromise to one of the periodic large immigration reform acts, circa 1986. OK, we admit that illegal immigration and fraud is off the charts, so we'll crack down on Jose, but we'll make an effort to cut off the reason Jose is making his run across the border - illegal employment. Problem is and was- the legislation is toothless and administrative leaning instead of criminal enforcement minded.
A possible band-aid to this farce is a comprehensive national employment authorization based on a VALID Social Security Number. When Australia decided it had too many New Zealanders working in its country, it mailed 60,000 letters out telling them to get lost. Pretty effective given that you need gov't authorization to work there or conduct even the basic transactions of a resident.
The former communist liberal left, now in-charge of the LA and NY Times, consistently destroy any government efforts to secure a national identity card or verification program. Basically, hiding who you are and how much you owe in taxes seems to drive any law enforcement proposal into the trash bin.
Another amnesty will bury our lives as we know it, coast to coast, like the 1988 program did to Los Angeles. Fifteen plus years later and the biggest fraud in our history is still in the court system abused on a daily basis.
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10540
To the former INS officer in New Orleans who is now in ICE, I have a bit of advice: Trying to belittle former Customs Agents (who are now reluctantly in ICE) by giving the impression that they normally work counterfeit T-shirt cases you lose credibility and everything you say becomes suspect. You very well know that over 75 percent of the cases that Customs Agents work are narcotics and moneylaundering investigations. The remaining 25 percent involve fraud (general counterfeiting), child pornography, and export enforcement. Why don't you grow up and stop embarassing yourself and your colleagues by distorting the truth. Regarding immigration enforcement, I can tell you that I morally disagree with the current racist immigration policy that you so proudly promote. As soon as a new administration comes into power and sees this abuse of authority, your version of "immigration enforcement" will come to an end. Have a good life.
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10539
Why not fund the ICE legal staff's salaries out of the enforcement fines they collect for violations. I bet that would stop the negotiation downward of fines for violations in settlement agreements. This illegal immigration situation has gotten way out of control. Powerful business and agricultural interest for years have opposed effective enforcement of these immigration laws in order to benefit from cheap illegal immigrant labor. Now we have post 9/11 and a new paradigm where the political leadership is nervous over terrorists coming in with the illegal immigrants, and the potential outrage this will cause among the public, if they do so.
This is a difficult and complex problem without simple solutions, or an easy panacea. It must be addressed and addressed successfully (and equitably). Folks looking for opportunity and a better life must be given a chance to find it, but the nation must be protected as well. Then there are the economic, social, and cultural impacts to the nation of absorbing so many of these aliens at once without time for assimilation. This nation was built on the industry and energy of immigrants, and we need to remember that we need their contributions, but that was prior to terrorist and nuclear devices. It was also prior to the "target America" mentality that is so widespread in the world today.
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10538
Good comments from the ICE guys still on the front lines! Yes, Customs and Immigration are different agencies, with different mandates, despite the post-9/11 madness called DHS. Perhaps the ONLY way to begin shipping the illegal infiltrators back to 'Zorro's den' is to work with local law enforcement. As there are many more local and state cops, they should be able to aid the ICE agents with workforce policing. Why not? In Suffolk County, Long Island, New York local police are already cooperating w/ ICE agents, detaining and helping to deport criminal aliens. Enforce the Immigration laws fairly, punish ALL businesses utilizing Illegal Infiltrators, and maybe we can turn this mess around...
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10524
I have to agree somewhat with the ICE agent from New Orleans. Workplace enforcement is not a priority of this administration. However, it also wasn't a priority of previous administrations, and the former INS, despite laws that were on the books for years.
Regarding the comment about legacy Customs SACs and "counterfeit t-shirt" operations, I have to disagree. The real problem lies in the fact that Congress created DHS and ICE as a knee-jerk reaction to 9/11. INS and Customs agents should NEVER have been combined into one agency, because their jobs are so totally DIFFERENT. Legacy Customs agents in my office have been taken off narcotics, money laundering, weapons, and yes, counterfeit investigations to participate in round-ups of parolees for immigration violations, so this goes both ways.
The solution is to let INS do what it does best, and Customs do what it does best, as SEPARATE agencies, with adequate funding, manpower, and POLITICAL WILL, to enforce their respective laws!
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10518
There are two primary reasons that ICE does not enforce worksite Immigration laws. First, the Bush administration has demonstrated a lack of conmmitment to enforcing our Immigration and Nationality laws as they have been written by Congress, they do not want to offend big business that hires the Illegal aliens nor offend Presidente Vicente Fox. Second, nearly all, except a few of the Special Agents in Charge (SAC) of the various regions across the country are Legacy Customs and do not seem to feel, in my humble opinion , that worksite enfocement should receive a high priority or any priority in the enforcement scheme. This despite the fact that the SAC office will detail Agents to work a "counterfeit tee shirt " operation that is selling knock off Nascar tee shirts. With limited resources and manpower, which should the American tax payers expect ICE Agents to enforce; Counterfeit Tee shirts operations or worksite enforcement operations that can very well provide a deterrent to knowingly employing or hiring illegal aliens. The trouble with this agency ,ICE, is that it is still floundering after two plus years with no leadership direction from the top, Washington down to the various District and field offices.
signed,
Melted ICE
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