“ICE arrests 44 during 5-day operation targeting criminal aliens, immigration fugitives in Chicago area”

Based on an ICE news release from July 20, 2012, it would appear that the removal of any criminal from the streets of our cities and towns is a worthwhile achievement.  However, it is important to look beyond the headline; ““ICE arrests 44 during 5-day operation targeting criminal aliens, immigration fugitives in Chicago area”

An excerpt from that news release describes those who were arrested:

Of the 44 arrested, 33 had criminal convictions for crimes such as: cocaine possession, burglary, battery, assault, distributing marijuana, fraud, aggravated DUI and domestic violence. Eighteen of the 44 were immigration fugitives who had been previously ordered to leave the country but failed to depart; 14 of those are convicted criminals in addition to having outstanding deportation orders. Ten of the 44 – including five convicted criminals – had been previously deported and illegally re-entered the United States, which is a felony.

Following is the nationality breakdown of the 44 men who were arrested during this operation: Mexico (33), Poland (5), Guatemala (3), Philippines (1), Mongolia (1), Slovakia (1). Chicago had the most arrests (14); additional arrests were made in the following 23 northern Illinois cities: Aurora, Bensenville, Cicero, Des Plaines, Elgin, Elmwood Park, Franklin Park, Glenview, Highwood, Ingleside, Morton Grove, Mundelein, Naperville, North Chicago, Oswego, Park City, Park Ridge, Round Lake, Round Lake Beach, Schaumburg, St. Charles, Wheeling and Winfield.

For decades our political leaders have dismissed concerns about illegal immigration claiming that illegal aliens were simply doing the work that “Americans would not do.”  We’ve heard this from leaders of both political parties and from spokespersons from a wide variety of organizations that oppose immigration law enforcement.  Unless those politicians and others considered crime as “work,” it is clear that in addition to “importing” foreign workers who could easily be exploited, we were permitting criminals to enter our country to ply their criminal “trades” throughout America.  It should also be noted that criminal aliens often hold down pedestrian jobs in the United States by day and engage in gang-related crimes at night.  Terrorists seeking to embed themselves in our country generally seek jobs that provide them with camouflage and mobility enabling them to “hide in plain sight.”

Of course the majority of illegal aliens in our country are from Latin America- this is a function of geography.  However, not all illegal aliens are from Latin America and many don't enter our country by running that highly porous border.  In fact, roughly one fourth of the aliens who were arrested in the effort memorialized in the ICE news release were not from Latin America but from Europe and Asia.

“Eighteen of the 44 were immigration fugitives who had been previously ordered to leave the country but failed to depart; 14 of those are convicted criminals in addition to having outstanding deportation orders.”

If these deportable aliens were ordered deported, how in the world did they wind up back on the street?  Why were they not kept in custody until they were deported from the United States?  If these aliens were identified as being criminals and the point of the ICE news release was to tout the success of removing these aliens from our midst, how many times does ICE need to arrest an alien who poses a threat to community safety and has already been in ICE custody?  For years we've heard stories about “Catch & Release” being a practice of the beleaguered Border Patrol, but what has never been acknowledged is that this madness is also the policy for ICE.

Secretary of Homeland Security Napolitano continually repeats the mantra that “Our borders are secure.”  Just how secure are our borders when we also are provided with numerous reports of aliens being deported from the United States, only to quickly return illegally?

A failure to secure our borders and effectively enforce and administer our immigration laws exacerbates nearly every challenge and threat America faces.  The purpose for our immigration laws can be summed up by six words:  Save American lives; save American jobs!