“Asylum” for Mexicans?

2009-08-26T18:29:00.001-07:00

During the last year Americans have been consumed with our national election, a collapsing economy, heroics on the Hudson River and a mind-boggling number of job losses. Immigration reform has temporarily left the radar screen, but it could soon return with a vengeance.

The political situation in Mexico is deteriorating by the day. Our troops in Southern California and Arizona have been officially advised that Mexican border towns are now “off-limits.” Media outlets around the world are reporting horrific criminal activity in Mexico, including murders, kidnappings and beheadings. Drug cartels are reportedly in control of many cities and several high-level Mexican officials have been arrested and accused of working for the drug lords. Lawlessness is spreading across the country like a wildfire, and the violence has reached an unprecedented level. Simply put, Mexico is becoming a very dangerous place to live.

Mexico’s emerging political crisis could soon create an enormous immigration problem for America, and it will be bigger than anything we have experienced in the past. Under our current immigration law, most aliens within the U.S. (legally or illegally) who can prove “a well-founded fear of persecution” in their home country, are eligible for “asylum.” If granted, “asylees” are immediately given work permits and after one year become eligible to apply for a Resident Alien “green card.”

Immigration advocates are salivating. Despite the sound defeat of “comprehensive immigration reform legislation” in 2007, “asylum” here in the U.S. for millions of Mexicans is looking more and more like a viable “end run” on our immigration system. If most Mexicans living here file for “asylum”, not only will the system collapse under the shear enormity of the paperwork, the U.S. will have no alternative but to grant temporary legal status to those who apply. In other words, “amnesty!”

When it comes to reforming our immigration laws, who needs the Congress or the Obama Administration? “Amnesty” may soon be a simple by-product of the Mexican drug cartels.

Statistics on Illegal Immigration – To Inflame or to Inform – Question Them All

2009-08-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

Almost daily I receive emails from various groups showing all sorts of statistics about illegal aliens and their impact on America. As one of the few people who had the authority to determine whether someone was here legally or not, I can definitely say it is not as easy and clear cut as people are led to believe.

One reliable statistic that is rarely heard relates to the illegal aliens who never crossed the Mexican border illegally. Approximately 40% of the illegal immigrant population came in as visitors, students and other types of legal non-immigrants, and simply never left. (This statistic is probably one of the most accurate, as the numbers come from U.S. Customs and Border Protection using databases that track entries and departures from the U.S.)

One recent set of statistics actually referenced a website for each and every statistic given. It looked pretty impressive until the mouse clicks divulged the sources. In one case U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) supposedly estimated that $2.2 billion dollars is spent every year on Food Stamps, WIC and free lunches for illegal alien children. Take my word, CIS did not do a meaningful study to come up with these numbers. They currently have a backlog of four million cases, they lost 111,000 files in 2006 and average about one officer a month being indicted for some sort of corruption. Locating and counting illegal alien children eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is not at the top of their priority list.

In another questionable report, Homeland Security estimated that in 2005, between four million and ten million illegal aliens crossed our Southern border. Of those, 19,500 were from “terrorist countries.” Are we really supposed to believe Homeland Security knows 19,500 came from specific countries, when the total spread is six million?

People read and use these statistics as if they are facts. I have heard some referenced in speeches and on talk radio shows, and others used many times in the media and on the internet. The source is often never mentioned.

No one knows the real numbers, and anyone who professes they do is simply guessing. Organizations like the Center for Immigration Studies, Federation of American Immigration Reform, Pew Research, La Raza, LULAC, and MALDEF are all guilty of using statistics to sway public opinion. In fact, their statistics about illegal immigrants are rarely accurate.

The only people who can determine if someone is an "illegal alien" are properly trained law enforcement officers. As far as I know they do not hang around hospitals counting patients or around schools counting students. The agencies responsible for immigration control (ICE, CIS and CBP) are so overwhelmed, they are lucky if they accomplish anything...let alone telling us how many Medicaid patients are illegally in the country.

The point is simple. With all of these dubious numbers floating around no one really knows if they are being inflated as an inflammatory tactic or being reduced to keep our citizenry from revolting. Remember, when reading statistics about illegal immigration – “reader beware!”

Neville Cramer | Immigration Enforcement

“Asylum” for Mexicans?

Statistics on Illegal Immigration – To Inflame or to Inform – Question Them All