Every year, about one million people are caught attempting to enter the United States illegally - just a fraction of the number who actually succeed. A growing percentage of these illegal immigrants are from countries that sponsor terror.
There are only 10,700 Border Patrol agents, tasked to guard 7,500 miles of land borders - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The US government system for monitoring legal border crossings currently records only 22% of foreign visitors as they enter the country - and an even smaller fraction of those departing the country.
Applications for Green Cards, citizenship, work permits, and change of status are routinely processed by adjudicators, many of whom have no access to database records that could indicate whether the applicant might be a known serial killer or a terrorist.
But numbers alone tell only part of the story. The "Tri-Border" area of South America - where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet - is a lawless haven for money-laundering, arms and drug trafficking, counterfeiting, document falsification, and piracy - illicit activities that generate billions of dollars annually. This region also hosts a large community of Arab and Muslim expatriates, including nationals of countries known to sponsor terrorism.
The Tri-Border region is a natural terrorist habitat, affording these operators safe haven, sources of financing, access to illegal weapons, easy movement and concealment, and a sympathetic host population. Finally, ease of movement through Mexico gives ready access to our border.
What Needs To Be Done
Opinion polling consistently shows that the majority of Americans oppose illegal immigration and want it stopped - across all demographic and political groups. Still, the necessary political "critical mass" has not yet been achieved.
1. Take "the Pledge." The "Secure America" Pledge is a set of ten principles that every politician in America should be asked to sign.
2. Establish Secure Borders.
Augment the Border Patrol. The fastest approach would be to bring in military personnel to augment the Border Patrol by helping to locate illegal entrants, and then monitor or detain them.
'We Need a Fence.' High-tech security fences would make it vastly more difficult for illegal immigrants to transit our land borders.
Secure the Mexican border first.
There is evidence that would-be Islamist terrorists have targeted known smuggling operations across our southern frontier as a means of gaining entry into the United States.
The so-called "Tri-Border" area of South America - the area where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet - has become a haven for illicit activities that generate billions of dollars annually.
Ease of movement to and through Mexico gives such groups ready access to our southern border.
Do not neglect Canada. According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), "With the possible exception of the United States, there are more international terrorist organizations active in Canada than anywhere in the world." Canada's permissive asylum and refugee policies serve as the primary magnet for these terrorist groups and their supporters. Consequently, America must make a concerted effort to help the Canadian authorities:
- identify and neutralize such operations across the border
- undertake systemic reform of its asylum policies
- take all practicable steps to monitor and secure our northern frontier
3. Secure the Interior
Establish worksite enforcement. As long as jobs are easily available, some illegal immigration will continue, regardless of what barriers or other measures are put into place to impede such flows.
The 'Basic Pilot.' The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) required the creation of several pilot programs ? including the Basic Pilot, which verifies social security number, name, and date of birth. Congress must make employers' use of the Basic Pilot program mandatory to level the playing field for employers.
Institute an effective, automated entry/exit system. The "United States Visitor Immigration Status Indicator Technology" (US-VISIT) is a step toward addressing the need for computerized entry records. The system fingerprints and photographs arriving aliens and verifies that their biometric data matches the biometric data stored on their visas.
US-VISIT must be used to record the entry into and the departure from the United States of "every alien." That means every non-citizen - not just every visitor or every non-Canadian or non-Mexican visitor - must be screened before he or she is admitted into the country. The departure of every non-citizen should be similarly confirmed.
Augment Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We can readily augment the manpower available for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, by utilizing other appropriate law enforcement personnel and assets. o 650,000 state and local law enforcement officers may come into contact with illegal aliens and other criminal aliens every day in the course of their duties.
All law enforcement officers have the inherent authority to enforce federal immigration laws, just as they enforce other federal laws.
Make federal data available to other law enforcement personnel. Data on illegal and criminal aliens must be made available to authorized personnel via the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database.
4. Increase Visa Vigilance
Perform rigorous security checks before issuing visas. The visa process includes fingerprints, photographs, and extensive background checks on all applicants, designed to reveal whether an applicant has a criminal record or known terrorist connections, or otherwise presents a threat to national security. These data searches are our best line of defense against the next attack on our homeland.
Congress must impress upon both the State Department and USCIS that visa-related background checks are integral to the security of the country.
Adjudicators processing applications for Green Cards, citizenship, work permits, and change of status must have access to data bases required to check the applicant's background. This is, obviously, especially true in cases where the applicants have been identified as potentially dangerous.
Stop the Visa Lottery from being a game of Russian Roulette with terrorists. The "visa lottery" gives away 50,000 visas each year through a random drawing. A number of lottery winners have been involved in terrorism in the United States.
Exclude hateful, violent ideologues. In 1990, Congress rashly dropped ideological grounds as a basis for either excluding visa applicants or deporting aliens once here. In the wake of attacks on its soil, Great Britain has undertaken a series of measures aimed at preventing Islamofascist operatives and front groups from further exploiting its traditions of religious tolerance and its lax immigration policies. The United States must now do likewise, drawing a line between legitimate religious activities and terrorist indoctrination avowing our destruction.
Contributors: Rosemary Jenks, Jim Staudenraus, Amanda Bowman and Colleen Gilbert
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