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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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Specter Has New Immigration Package Another Attempt at a Fatally Flawed Approach to Immigration Reform  August 7, 2007 -- The "specter" of another attempt at a fatally flawed approach to immigration is being resurrected by Senator Arlen Specter. It would seem that he believes in the adage, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!" I do not know the particulars of the bill that Senator Specter is concocting, but it would seem that he is of the belief that to simply remove the Z visa would make his bill more palatable. Let me make clear why this approach is fatally flawed. At present there are millions of illegal aliens in the United States. Estimates range from 12 million to 20 million or more. Many of them have absolutely no way of furnishing any official identification documents to not only substantiate their names, but they cannot even provide secure evidence as to their nationalities. The first question that needs to be asked is, what name, nationality and entry data would you put on an official identity document that could be used as a "breeder document?" In considering this critically important question I would urge you to ask yourself a fundamental question; what is the purpose of an identity document? Obviously the whole point to providing identity documents is to provide security for the people who interact with those who proffer those identity documents. Today identity theft is the fastest growing white collar crime. We also know that criminals and terrorists use false identities in order to conceal their true identities and their intentions. As I have stated on many occasions, the bad guys use false identities the way that a chameleon uses changes in coloration in order to hide in plain sight. The 9/11 Commission referred to this process of hiding in plain sight as "embedding." The 19 terrorists who attacked our nation on September 11, 2001 used a total of 364 false aliases and alterations in their names and dates of birth to enable them to embed themselves in the various communities in the United States as they prepared for the worst terrorist attack (and mass murder) ever committed inside the borders of our nation. The only thing worse than no security is false security. By providing millions of illegal and undocumented aliens with official identity documents when our officials would be utterly unable to verify the true identities of these aliens certainly creates false security at a time our nation is engaged in a war against terrorists who have already proven their ability to enter our nation on many occasions and game the system to obtain identity documents in false names. This is the reason that the Real ID Act was passed, to combat this sort of activity based on the lessons our nation should have learned after the attacks of 9/11 that were well documented in the 9/11 Commission Report and further documented in a report entitled, 9/11 and Terrorist Travel. In addition to the extreme national security implications of any program that would provide illegal and undocumented aliens with official identity documents I also believe it is important to consider the other implications of such a program. First of all, many aliens who simply come to the United States to work and send money home do not want to become citizens of our nation, they only want the money and other benefits that they can accrue by being here, whether legally or illegally. Some time ago, I coined the expression that "No one would break into an amusement park if they could not get to go on the rides." The corollary is that no one stays at the amusement park when they turn off the lights and shut down the rides. If we remove the incentives that bring illegal aliens across our borders, many will simply leave of their own volition and at virtually no cost to our government or our citizens if we make it clear that those who violate our laws and our borders will not be able to accomplish their objectives of working and sending money home. To once again visit the amusement park, I have been to Disney World and to other such amusement parks. It is common to see long lines of patrons waiting on long lines in the hot sun willing to fork over substantial admission fees in order to go on the rides. Simply requiring illegal aliens to pay a fine does not remove the incentives for them to come here in violation of law. The issue of whether or not the imposition of a fine removes the claim that this program is an amnesty program is false argument that is not worth getting drawn into. Of course this is an amnesty, but the more important question is whether or not this strategy would restore integrity to the immigration system. The answer to this question is clearly and unequivocally a resounding "NO!" To quickly touch on the issue of amnesty, I would ask that you consider a similar situation. Suppose that the DEA decided that when a drug trafficker was caught with a load of narcotics and was simply told to pay a fine and go on his way with his load of narcotics, would you consider that to be an effective strategy to combat drug trafficking? The drug dealer would then be free to sell his load of dope which was the reason he had it in his possession in the first place. The fine would simply constitute a sort of governmental "surcharge." Similarly, simply fining an illegal alien for violating our laws and our borders is not an effective strategy unless the goal is to keep the lines of illegal aliens running our borders to provide and endless source of cheap labor. Another reason that this strategy of providing legal status to millions of illegal aliens can be found in the Amnesty of 1986. As soon as you provide the illegal aliens with legal status, they will become emboldened to demand proper wages and proper working conditions. This will make them far less attractive employees and without secure borders and with the Visa Waiver Program alive and well and a relative handful of special agents at ICE to perform interior enforcement, the unscrupulous employers will simply hire the next wave of illegal aliens. This is why we now have a record number of illegal aliens in our country today after the Amnesty of 21 years ago. The insult uttered by many politicians who claim that the illegal aliens do the work Americans can't or won't do is an affront to every hard working American worker. Yesterday a coal mine cave-in in a mine in Utah reminded me of the sorts of hard, dangerous and filthy work Americans do every day. If, indeed, Americans will work in coal mines and steel foundries or head to their jobs in the construction trades as did my dad who was a plumber, then I do not believe that there is a job an American won't do; for a living wage! On July 12, 2006 I was called to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing on the topic, “EXAMINING THE NEED FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM, PART II". You can read my prepared testimony. I made my many concerns where "comprehensive immigration reform" is concerned. It would appear that Senator Specter refused to take my concerns into account. Interestingly, Senator Kennedy left the hearing room just as I began to deliver my prepared testimony and then returned just as I was uttering my last word. While Chairman Specter provided Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez with an inordinate amount of time to deliver his prepared testimony, Specter told me to begin my testimony before everyone was seated and then stopped me at just about the 5 minute mark. Admittedly witnesses are supposed to speak for only five minutes and I was not a member of the President's cabinet, but in my many appearances before Congressional hearings, I have never witnessed this sort of rank disparity. I had the distinct impression that I was simply there so that they could claim to have listened to the voices on the "other side" of the debate. It is also interesting that about a week after the hearing, I received a letter from Chairman Specter explaining that Senator Kennedy had written a number of questions that he wanted me to respond to in writing. I have attached Senator Kennedy's questions and my responses to this commentary. On September 1, 2006 I was invited to testify at a field hearing in Dubuque, Iowa by F. James Sensenbrenner, then Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that conducted a hearing on the topic, "IS THE REID-KENNEDY BILL A REPEAT OF THE FAILED AMNESTY OF 1986?" You can read the published transcript of that hearing. We the People forced the Senate to abandon its most recent effort to ram "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" down our throats with an insane bill I cam to refer to as the "Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007." We the People made so many phone calls to our senators that the switchboard shut down! Democracy does work when We the People are involved! When we go to a restaurant we do not let the waiter decide on what we will eat for dinner. We tell the waiter or waitress precisely what we want and how we want it! Similarly, we should not allow the politicians to determine our destiny but rather tell them precisely what we want! We must become as involved as possible! We must educate ourselves as much as we can about these critical issues and then not only vote, but develop a close relationship with our employees, the members of the United States Senate, the House of Representatives and all of the other elected officials who purport to "represent us." They need to hear from us regularly and often. We the People need to take the responsibilities that go with our citizenship seriously! Democracy is not a spectator sport! Lead, follow or get out of the way!
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