Comprehensive (Unofficial) Amnesty

[Rick Oltman]

100 days into the Obama Administration and we have a very good idea of what this government is going to do about border security and enforcing our immigration laws. And what we see is very bad news for our country.

Janet Napolitano’s CNN interview has everyone in a tizzy because she said that illegally entering our country is not a crime. It has been pointed out several times that according to 8 U.S.C. 1325, crossing the border illegally is a crime--a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for the second and subsequent offenses, etc., etc. I would just mention in passing that the illegal aliens who are working in our country have each committed at least two felonies to get that job.

Now, the Secretary of DHS knows full well what the law says. And, she is surrounded by people who know what the law is. She is many things, but not incompetent. So why say something that will so obviously result in knee jerk ridicule and scorn? The answer is in the question; to create that knee jerk ridicule and scorn. The news reporting on her statement is how the Obama administration communicates to its corporate patrons, its other open borders supporters and potential illegal aliens around the world that there’s a new sheriff in town. The old laws (which weren’t being enforced all that much to begin with) are now going to be enforced hardly at all. It will be “hardly at all” rather than “not at all” because the government will have to occasionally enforce some immigration laws just so it won’t be reported to the domestic electorate that they are not enforcing any immigration laws.

Bringing Cecilia Munoz into the administration was the first clear sign of trouble. Munoz is a former spokes-mouth for the National Council of the Race (La Raza), a hate filled, race-based (obviously), anti-American, pro-illegal alien group. She is now the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. Never mind what that means. She is now a high ranking Obama Administration official who is working to thwart every immigration law in our land.

Hilda Solis’ appointment to head the Department of Labor was a clear signal of the Obama Administration’s plan to continue the importation of cheap illegal alien workers. Solis is in favor of illegal alien driver licenses and supported illegal aliens both as a California state legislator and congresswoman.

Then there is Janet Napolitano’s public questioning of the worksite enforcement in Bellingham, WA. That was a message to everyone in ICE that this government is not going to be arresting any more illegal alien workers. She subsequently gave the arrested illegal aliens work permits. Got it, yet?

Then with heads literally rolling and blood running red in the streets of Mexican border towns Napolitano boldly proclaimed that 500 additional officers would be going to the border but, incidentally, DHS didn’t need any more money from Congress, thank you. The DHS response would be “revenue neutral.” 500 agents to our porous southern border was a meaningless gesture but served the administration’s purpose which had nothing to do with border security. The translation for “revenue neutral” is; “diverting already scarce resources from the interior enforcement effort.”

The twice delayed implementation of E-Verify for the federal government and their contractors indicates that even government workers, whose wages are paid by tax dollars, will not be screened to ensure they are American workers. Would somebody please name for me the American who won’t work for the government?

On President Obama’s recent photo-op in Mexico he said of illegal aliens, “if they want to stay in the United States, they have an opportunity over time to earn that opportunity for a legal status.” That statement was a message directed like a lightning bolt at all Mexicans as an encouragement. If you can get there, you will not be got rid of. You can, “stay in the United States.”

President Calderon liked that statement and returned the favor after Obama repeated the disproven lie that “90% of guns captured in Mexico come from the United States.” El Presidente, right on queue, called for a renewal of the assault weapons ban. None, that would be NONE of the 16,000 machine guns the Mexican government has confiscated was purchased at an American gun store, gun show or pawn shop. President Bush’s Merida Initiative did provide assistance to Mexico in the form of equipping law enforcement agencies and that included giving them guns. Hmm. Come to think of it, all those SAWs, M-60s and M-16 rifles with attached 40mm 203 grenade launchers probably did come from America; From the American government, to the Mexican government, with half of them going out the back door to the drug cartels.

All of these separate actions and statements are part of the Obama Administration’s strategy to achieve a comprehensive, yet unofficial, amnesty of illegal aliens.

Expect some window dressing enforcement, of course, and the occasional prosecution of an employer for some immigration offense. It will be similar to what Mexico would do when they occasionally arrested some minor drug trafficker just to demonstrate that they were still “serious” about the war on drugs...to keep that American aid flowing in. It’s a public relations game.

Comprehensive (Unofficial) Amnesty is as far as the Obama Administration can go, but it’s far enough. A genuine government-sanctioned-voted-on-by-the-congress-and-signed-by-the-president-Official Amnesty is way too big a political risk. The American people don’t want amnesty for illegal aliens and would say so at the polls in 2010 and maybe 2012. But, the gradualism of this creeping amnesty is not as easy to see and therefore harder to grasp and respond to by Americans busy coping with the economic downturn.

Besides, Comprehensive (Unofficial) Amnesty gives everybody what they want anyway. Business gets a continuous flow of cheap labor and new customers encouraged by the Obama administration’s words and deeds. The administration and its friends are then rewarded by business and unions with help in next year’s mid-term elections.

This status quo works well for the end-users of illegal aliens. It has for almost two decades. So, why ruin it with a 1986 type amnesty, which isn’t politically possible anyway?

The entire Illegal Alien Industrial Complex of business, unions, churches, varied activist groups like La Racists, MALDEF and the country of Mexico, among others, will see illegal aliens given virtual citizenship, with no worry of prosecution. And C(U)A is a better outcome anyway especially for the illegal alien support groups. Official amnesty would pretty much end their reason for being. By not attaining the “official amnesty” it keeps the activist groups in business with an issue they will continue to use to raise money from their corporate sponsors, which they will then use to denounce calls for immigration law enforcement. And most importantly, it keeps the talk going about jobs in America for the foreign audience to hear and respond to by coming to America.

Oh, and for the enforcement minded public official there is this; The quickest response the Obama Administration has made in the past 100 days is the investigation/inquisition of Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his enforcement of immigration laws in Maricopa County (Phoenix, AZ). And, the scrutiny and harassment the feds will give Sheriff Joe for the next three years (there will be no rush to prosecute) will be full of bluster designed to get continuous news coverage for the purpose of discouraging other elected officials in the country from doing what they can, and they can do a lot under the law, to prevent their communities from becoming crime ridden illegal alien barrios. And, it’s more PR with a welcoming message for illegal aliens.

So what can be done to stop C(U)A? In Washington efforts can be made to block bad legislation, of course. But this unofficial de-facto amnesty doesn’t need legislation, as we see.

As the federal government dismantles the immigration enforcement infrastructure in the country, citizens and activists need to get their local governments to do what they can to enforce immigration law. We have to defend our nation one community at a time. Maybe that’s that way it has always been. Other movements have mistakenly believed they could take their cause, however valid, to Washington, DC and succeed. Few have. The success is always in the towns, large and small because that is where America’s heart and soul are located. Towns and cities need to have the courage to send the unequivocal message to the illegal aliens that they are not welcome, period. Local government officials will find that courage if the people will support them.

Think globally, act locally as they say.

CAPS Home page: http://www.capsweb.org

[bobprop106]

Rick, great analysis as usual. Wholeheartedly agree. I say "Solutions not Problems." [b]Law Enforcement Support Center
ICE makes its investigative expertise more widely available by providing support to state and local law enforcement through the LESC located in Burlington, Vt. The center's primary mission is to help local law enforcement agencies determine if a person they have contact with, or have in custody, is in fact an illegal, criminal, or fugitive alien. The LESC provides an around-the-clock link between federal, state, and local officers and the immigration databases maintained now by ICE.

When a law enforcement officer encounters an alien, LESC personnel are able to provide that officer with vital information and guidance, and if necessary, place the officer in contact with a ICE immigration officer in the field.

1. Policies to establish protocols for when to screen for status – best practice is anyone in custody or under investigation should be asked citizenship and then screened for status (not victims or witnesses). Also all federal warrants, both administrative and criminal, must be honored.
2. Portable, wireless Live Scan – to fix identity, warrants and criminal history at point of contact can be viewed as a force multiplier requiring little or no training, answers truthfully, is multilingual and non-discriminatory. No chasing down an available ICE agent. (See below)
3. Jurisdictions should collect data on alien arrests and incarceration, including status, as verified by ICE.
4. SSNs of incarcerated aliens should be verified.
5. Cooperate with other jurisdictions to share info, pool resources and speak with a louder voice in requesting help from feds. Increase detention space.
6. With video teleconferencing in place, any number of ICE/Border Patrol processing centers could be established, it doesn’t matter where, probably with little or no increase in personnel. Expansion, if necessary, of LESC could be an answer:
1) to prepare the paper work and records checking;
2) determine whether to grant voluntary departure, removal or prosecution; and,
3) call the nearest “contract” prisoner transportation service for disposition. (State representatives should be called upon for assistance for such funding.) With processing completed and disposition decided, many aliens could be taken directly to the border or nearest staging facility, thus reducing detention costs. Cooperation of ICE/Border Patrol should be sought at the earliest.
4) Again, today’s technology should be used to the greatest extent. Classroom instruction should be made available on DVD, Web based courses or video conferencing enabling officers to remain in their home districts.

LlVE SCAN (RapID)
Benefits to the Public:
* Aids employers in quicker background checks and hiring of criminal justice employees, school teachers and health care professionals.

* More accurate and up to date criminal history records for persons applying for concealed weapons permits, private security guard licensing, sex offender registration etc.
Additional Indirect, but Ultimate, Benefit to the Public:
Police/Prisons:

* Protect the public by not releasing a wanted person who gave a false identity/alias. (Ed. The Erfle tragedy comes to mind)

* Protect the rights of innocent citizens by proving identity before the person’s arrest or incarceration.

* Link suspects to other crimes by checking their fingerprints against other prints in an unsolved latent fingerprint database.

* Getting officers back patrolling the streets with less delays by quickly identifying their suspects.

* Aids police officers in making decisions on additional charges based on the person’s criminal history prior to citing, arresting or releasing.

* Helps correction officers ensure inmate identities and any active warrants prior to their release from prison.
Courts and Prosecutors:
* Real-time updates to an individual’s criminal history record with arrest data at the time of arrest.

* Provides more accurate criminal history information for the prosecutor to make charging decisions.

* Provides a comprehensive criminal history for the court to review when making decisions on setting bail and sentencing.