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| Promoting awareness of problems and solutions in U.S. immigration policies |
 AMNESTY TRUTH SHEET
The Truth About Amnesty
U.S. Senate
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007
The Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration
GAO Testimony
Prospects For Biometric US-VISIT Exit Capability Remain Unclear
CBO Testimony
Budgetary Impact of Current and
Proposed Border Security and Immigration Policies |
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Our Nation is at War Radical Islamists Want Us Dead  July 24,2007 -- Let me start out by stating the obvious: our nation is at war with radical Islamists who want us dead! Period! Can I make this any clearer? Can the terrorists make it any clearer? The terrorists we are fighting are determined to kill as many innocent civilians as possible. They do not want to compromise with us. The terrorists want nothing less than the annihilation of the United States and our citizens. They are determined to not only attack the United States but all nations that they have on their "hit list." We have seen deadly attacks being carried out in Europe, especially Great Britain. More importantly, our own nation fell victim to the malevolence of these terrorists nearly 6 years ago, on September 11, 2001, yet it would seem that many of our leaders have virtually forgotten the horrors inflicted on our nation and on thousands of innocent victims that day. In the days and weeks that followed the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001 quite a few politicians made a great showing of standing before any microphones or, better yet, cameras that they could find, and thumped the podium demanding to know why do one had "connected the dots." They expressed their indignation that our nation was unable to protect itself against such an attack. I have decided to attach three news articles below. These articles are, as you will see, interconnected and paint an extremely disturbing picture especially where the risks posed by the Visa Waiver Program are concerned. Consider this commentary as yet another of my attempts to connect the dots! The first article appeared about two weeks ago on the CBS website but I thought it was worth reviewing it. The article explains how the Visa Waiver Program that I have been speaking out against for quite some time imperils our safety and the safety of our nation. Incredibly, Congress is now poised to expand this program at the urging of the travel industry. They have concocted a program known as "Discover America" and have hired Tom Ridge, the former Secretary of Homeland Security to push their goal of expanding the Visa Waiver Program to include even more countries. The second article was published in the New York Times on May 2 of this year and paints an extremely disturbing picture about the 800,000 citizens of Great Britain of Pakistani decent who make an estimated 400,000 trips to Pakistan each year. Note the statement in the first news article about concerns that Al Qaeda may be operating training camps in the Pakistani border region. Also realize that any one who possesses dual nationality can travel on either passport he possesses, thereby covering his tracks. A dual national citizen of Great Britain, for example, could travel to another European country such as Spain or Germany by displaying his British passport. Such a traveler could then travel to the Middle East on his Pakistani passport and then, return to Europe on his Pakistani passport. Upon leaving Germany for England, such a traveler could then use his British passport. In such a situation, his British passport would bear no record of his travel to any country other than Germany. The third article appeared on the BBC website in March of this year and details the issue of passport fraud that has been repeatedly committed in Great Britain included in those who engaged in such fraud were two terrorists. This again calls into question, the integrity of the passport issuing process in Great Britain. For a number of years we have heard a great deal about the porous border the United States shares with Mexico. Certainly the graphic images of illegal aliens running our borders, hopping over fences, swimming the Rio Grande and tunneling under our southern border have provided video clips that are impossible to forget or ignore. The issue that has not received as much attention is the issue of the way that aliens who enter our country through the inspections process then go on to violate the terms of their admission in one way or another. The 19 terrorists who attacked our nation on September 11, 2001 all entered our country through ports of entry. It is currently estimated that some 40% of the illegal aliens who are present in the United States did not run our nation's borders but, in fact, entered the United States through ports of entry and then went on to violate our nation's immigration laws. On March 11, 2006 I testified before the Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives at a hearing entitled, "VISA OVERSTAYS: CAN WE BAR THE TERRORIST DOOR?" I would urge you to read the transcript of that hearing. Today the concern is not only that these illegal aliens might take jobs Americans would take if the wages enabled them to support themselves and their families, but that criminals and especially terrorists might well enter the United States intent on attacking our nation and slaughtering our citizens. Yet, inexplicably, the Visa Waiver Program may well be expanded by members of the United States Congress and the President of the United States! The countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program are: 
The visa requirement is not always done as thoroughly as I believe it should be, but it does offer five distinct advantages that are worth considering. 1. By requiring visas of aliens who seek to enter the United States, this process helps to screen potential passengers on airliners that are destined to the United States. Richard Reid, the so-called "Shoe Bomber" was able to board an airliner to come to the United States although he had no intentions of entering the United States, his apparent goal was to blow up the airliner and its many passengers somewhere over the depths of the Atlantic Ocean by detonating explosives he had concealed in his shoes. Because he is a subject of Great Britain, a country that participates in the Visa Waiver Program, Reid did not obtain a visa before he boarded that airliner. 2. The CBP inspectors are supposed to make a decision in one minute or less as to the admissibility of an alien seeking to enter the United States. The visa requirement helps them to do a more effective job. Their's is a tough job I can certainly relate to, I began my career at the former INS as an immigration inspector at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and worked there for 4 years before I became a special agent. 3. The application for a nonimmigrant visa contains roughly 40 questions that could provide invaluable information to law enforcement officials should that alien become the target of a criminal or terrorist investigation. The information could provide intelligence as well as investigative leads. Check out the application for a nonimmigrant (tourist) visa. 4. If an alien applicant lies on the application for a visa that lie is called "visa fraud." The maximum penalty for visa fraud starts out at 10 years in jail for those who commit this crime simply in order to come to the United States, ostensibly to seek unlawful employment or other such purpose. The penalty increases to 15 years in jail for those aliens who obtain a visa to commit a felony. For aliens who engage in visa fraud to traffic in narcotics or commit another narcotics-related crime, the maximum jail sentence that can be imposes rises to 20 years. Finally, when an alien can be proven to have engaged in visa fraud in furtherance of terrorism, the maximum penalty climbs to 25 years in prison. It is important to note that while it may be difficult to prove that an individual is a terrorist, it is usually relatively simple to prove that the alien has committed visa fraud when there is fraud involved in the visa application. Indeed, terror suspects are often charged with visa fraud. 5. The charge of visa fraud can also be extremely helpful to law enforcement authorities who want to take a bad guy off the street without tipping their hand to the other members of a criminal conspiracy or terrorism conspiracy that the individual arrested was being arrested for his involvement in terrorism or a criminal organization. Under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program, none of the significant benefits to law enforcement or national security apply. This is not solely my opinion, the huge vulnerability created by the Visa Waiver Program is one that is also on the mind of other security experts as noted in the news story below. I have taken the liberty of highlighting the relevant sentences where this program is concerned. Where the sentence was of especially critical significance, I used a bold font and italicized the sentence. Clearly the Visa Waiver Program represents a major security breach yet Congress is now hard at "work" seeking to expand a program that may cost many Americans their lives in the months and years ahead! The travel industry has created a public relations program called "Discover America." Their profit-driven premise can be summed up by the phrase, "To know us is to love us!" In point of fact, the terrorists have already discovered America. A number of them spent many years here as students, becoming intimately familiar with our people and our customs. They were not dissuaded from wanting to kill us, and indeed some of them did just that! I believe that trade is important, but I believe that as any responsible parent would teach his child, the principle most important is "Safety First!" The facts I have written about are irrefutable. The Visa Waiver Program represents a grave danger to our safety. Any member of Congress who votes for an expansion of the Visa Waiver Program is voting against our safety. Period! The good thing about their voting records is that they can be reviewed. When election day roles around, do your homework and make certain you know where your elected representatives stand on issues concerning the safety and survival of our nation and our citizens. We the People must make them accountable! Our lives and our children's lives hang in the balance! Democracy is not a spectator sport! Lead, follow or get out of the way!
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