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Statement
of Roy Beck
Executive Director of NumbersUSA.com
Submitted to the Immigration and Claims Subcommittee of the U.S.
House Judiciary Committee
Hearing held, May 15, 2001
Introduction
The
staff and citizen network of NumbersUSA.com thank the chairman and
the committee for this opportunity to address issues of general
oversight of the INS.
NumbersUSA.com
was founded as a non-profit, nonpartisan organization in 1997 to
advocate for key recommendations of the national, bi-partisan Commission
on Immigration Reform. Those recommendations were set aside by Congress
in 1996 to be addressed at a later date. As they have yet to be
addressed, we are hopeful that this committee this year will renew
the important work of the Commission and its chairman, the late
Barbara Jordan.
Service
for communities outside the rule of law
We
would like to use this occasion to stress the importance of re-establishing
the "service" in the Immigration and Naturalization Service. American
citizens of all races and walks of life, native-born and foreign-born,
in communities in every region of this country are failing to receive
even the most rudimentary of service when they call on the INS to
deal with the rising tide of illegal immigrants.
In
preparation for this testimony, we communicated with citizens in
more than two dozen communities where immigration laws are violated
openly and without apparent consequence.
The
general mood and feeling of helplessness we found is perhaps best
described in a May 7, 2001, Newsday article by Bob Weimer, a columnist
for the Long Island Newspaper. He was specifically writing about
the Long Island community of Farmingville where citizens have organized
and met repeatedly with the INS and every other level of government--to
no avail. Weimer describes the current scene in Farmingville, but
he could easily be describing a hundred other communities:
"The
[INS] service's well-documented inability to do anything about
the rising influx of undocumented aliens on Long Island demonstrates
a complete bureaucratic breakdown. It has failed to perform its
mission.
"The
word goes south; the aliens come north, and anarchy spreads and
becomes routine. Every day in a thousand ways laws are broken.
Congress made it a crime to aid, abet, conceal or induce an alien
to enter and/or reside in the United States illegally.
"Farmingville
teems with undocumented aliens, but Suffolk police, state officials
and the hopeless INS manage consistently to look elsewhere while
immigration law, tax law, labor law and local housing and sanitary
codes are flouted. Landlords pack the aliens into hazardous and
substandard housing. Contractors work them off the books, thereby
avoiding all the nasty little charges and levies associated with
legal labor transactions.
"Federal
and state laws are broken in a thousand different ways every day
at hiring sites on Long Island. [After all the efforts of citizens
to persuade the INS to enforce the law] nothing has changed. The
influx continues. The burden on the town's worn-out housing stock
mounts. Local officials, state officials and federal officials
continue to avoid the issueÖ.
"The
people of Farmingville feel they have been abandoned. They feel
the cold wind of anarchy."
INS
abandonment of American communities
The
evidence is strong that, except for deporting those who have committed
aggravated felonies, the INS indeed has abandoned most American
communities and left them outside the rule of law as far as immigration
laws are concerned. Citizens cannot understand how illegal immigrants
are allowed to openly gather in large numbers without any attempt
by the INS to apprehend them, or at least disrupt their lawbreaking.
To most citizens, the INS need never do any special investigating
or tracking to apprehend scores of illegal aliens every day in most
cities. They merely have to go where major numbers of illegal immigrants
are well known to gather.
From
Houston, a landlord described to me how the apartment complex she
and her husband owned--as well as other neighboring complexes--began
to be filled by illegal aliens. The owners called the INS with the
information. "We got help only when there were murders," she said.
Eventually, most of the residents were illegal aliens, living openly
in a sanctuary where the federal law apparently refused to reach.
In
Frankfort, Indiana, the newspaper last month reported that the head
of a local immigrant services group said that, of 3,500 foreign-born
residents of the area, about 70 percent are illegal. The uninitiated,
upon seeing so much lawbreaking openly acknowledged in an easy-to-control
rural area, might expect to see federal vans arriving the next day
to start loading up the lawbreakers. But nothing happened. Illegal
aliens are so sure that INS will never make them leave the country
that they stage parades and rallies calling attention to their illegal
status as they push for government benefits and U.S. citizenship.
Perhaps
the greatest outrage to American citizens is the open congregating
of illegal workers on their communities' streets. Although there
are some legal foreign workers mixed in, the undocumented status
of many or most is widely known by all in the community. Said one
citizen: "In every job I have ever had, I have always been asked
to prove my citizenship/legal residency. Can you tell me why the
hundreds of day laborers that converge each day at the West Los
Angeles site three blocks from my apartment do not have to do the
same? The INS deliberately ignores this blatant, daily lawbreaking."
Refusal
of the INS to cooperate with local law enforcement agencies is another
source of bitterness. I spent six months in 1996 on a book tour
for my immigration book published by W.W. Norton & Company. On nearly
every call-in radio show, a local policeman, sheriff's deputy or
highway patrol would call and tell me a story about apprehending
a van-load or a worksite-full of illegal aliens, calling INS and
then being told to release them if they hadn't committed a major
felony. The problem seemed especially pronounced in states like
Pennsylvania not known for high illegal alien traffic.
Increasingly,
local law enforcement won't even bother paying attention to the
illegality of residents or call the INS because of years of neglect
by that agency. This breeds even more contempt among the citizenry
for the idea that they live in a society of laws. A TV photographer
in Georgia told me that he has gone on enough INS operations that
he believes he can accurately spot cars filled with illegal aliens
rather than legal foreign workers. He said, "I
once followed a conversion van that was an obvious load of illegal
aliens. I followed the van for 65 miles and called at least five
law enforcement agencies, but not one would respond. I passed three
patrol cars along the Interstate and called their dispatcher who
would not dispatch them. I have tried to report the same at other
times and had the same reaction."
Rebuffed
citizen assistance
When
citizens first encounter the widespread breaking of immigration
laws in their community, they tend to assume that the federal government
has an agency that will want to know. But the INS seems to make
no effort to enlist the help of the citizenry in its duties. A Minnesota
citizen commented to me: "Did you know
there is no number in the phone book for reporting lawbreaking to
the INS? All the listed numbers are for 'benefits.' None of them
are for law enforcement." A North Carolina citizen said
every time he calls the INS main phone number, he gets a recording.
He has yet to find a way to talk to even an operator.
Not
surprisingly, many citizens don't even try to get help; they just
assume that nothing will happen. "Illegal aliens have taken over
our neighborhood," said a resident near downtown Washington DC.
"We know these people are illegal. It is obvious. They have turned
our area into a drug war zone and taken over. We've lost everything,
and nobody does anything." But she admitted that she had never even
thought of calling the INS for help.
Citizens
and local law enforcement agencies all over the country would help
the INS to identify the immigration lawbreakers if they were only
given a chance and a little encouragement. Instead, citizens are
either rebuffed or told by sympathetic INS officers that the "orders
from above" won't allow them to enforce the law. From Las Vegas,
Raleigh, Prescott, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and many points in between,
we were told by citizens that INS agents had told them variously:
"Not permitted to bother any alien at their domicile, any recreation
play ground or place of worship." "Not permitted to make vehicle
stops when reasonably sure that the occupants might be illegal aliens,
based on many years of experience and training." "No illegal alien
discovered at highly publicized companies has been terminated, deported
nor the firm fined because the INS is working on other arrangements."
An
Arizona woman living 35 miles from the Mexican border told me she
witnesses,
"[daily]
hordes of illegal aliens heading north, both in vehicles and on
foot, sometimes in groups of more than a hundred. The border Patrol
agents in the field, at least for the most part, are doing the
best they can. The problem lies with our governmental hierarchy
that won't let them do their job because of policies fueled by
payoffs from businesses that want the cheap labor. The border
Patrol "grunts" out here are many times told to "not see" groups
of illegals, which as a result, continue unhindered into the land
of milk and honey to take jobs from American citizens.
"The
message we are sending into Mexico is insanely contradictory;
on the one hand we put an armed force on the border to stop anyone
from illegally entering the country and on the other hand, we
have hundreds of businesses actively recruiting these same people.
I spoke only last week to a friend who does business in Mexico
who told me he sees representatives from American companies openly
recruiting."
One
exasperated citizen remarked after being repeatedly told that his
local INS office would not be levying fines or deporting apprehended
illegal aliens, "It appears that the local INS has metamorphosed
from an agency enforcing U.S. borders or employment related immigration
laws into an illegal-immigrant service agency. Clearly, the local
INS is deeply involved in wide-scale harboring of illegal aliens."
The
view from inside the INS
The
citizens' words about the INS in general were often very harsh,
perhaps unfairly so. But we do not overstate by saying that the
INS has become a truly reviled agency among citizens seeking a sense
of order in their communities.
To
better understand why the INS leaves these citizens feeling like
they live outside the reach of the rule of law, we solicited the
views of people inside the INS. Our open request resulted in our
receiving comments from more than two dozen INS officials and people
who have retired both from on-the-ground jobs and from high INS
echelons. As with the citizens we have quoted, we will do our best
to help you talk directly with any of these human resources. The
experience of talking with so many INS officials and citizens in
impacted communities has been enlightening and sobering and one
we recommend to the committee. We encourage the committee regularly
to give a ready ear to both constituencies.
The
description of the work of the INS by the INS agents and officials
is barely less harsh than that of the citizens who live daily with
the results of the INS non-enforcement policies. The overwhelming
message that we draw from our interviews with INS people (and with
most citizens who have had direct contact with INS agents) is that
the INS is filled substantially with dedicated public servants who
not only are willing to enforce our nation's immigration laws but
are exceedingly disconcerted and disillusioned by their lack of
authorization to do so.
Here
are some of the comments from our INS sources:
"Current
regional and headquarters politically motivated policies prohibit
us from enforcing immigration law in the interior for fear of
offending a group or generating negative media attention. This
includes joint operations with local law enforcement, the ability
to work leads and tips without completing and forwarding a detailed
'operation plan' through a maze-like chain of management to pick
apart and review."
An
agent who is popular in his community for aggressive apprehensions
of illegal immigrants reports that when his numbers get too high,
he is sent away for a few weeks to another city outside his region
to supposedly help with office work there.
Recently
in the Southeast, INS agents checked 20 suspects while looking for
a fugitive illegal alien felon. They discovered that only two of
them were legal residents. But they let all 18 illegal aliens go
because their orders were that they didn't have the resources to
detain them.
"We
need the ability to immediately be able to respond to citizen
complaints and take action on day laborers, without fear of media
attention or criticism, and accomplish these things at our own
district level, without headquarters interference, backpedaling
or second-guessing."
Another
source comments,
"Twenty
or thirty years ago, responding to local calls was a priority."
"Local
law enforcement agencies are disgusted with us and don't even bother
calling any more since they know we won't or can't respond,"
says another.
An
experienced INS officer says: "We need an employer sanctions program
back--without a maze of 'operational plans' before entering a business,
notifying businesses before we arrive, more warrants served on scofflaw
businesses and serious response to citizen complaints."
Finally,
a source tells us, "The enforcement people in INS would really like
to start doing our jobs like we did before we were castrated by
the policies of the last decade."
Although
many of our INS sources did not know each other, their descriptions
of what is wrong with the system were remarkably similar. And their
suggestions for how to turn around the agency were also similar.
I offer you my distillation of the principles the INS officials
stated to give you some benchmarks to test on your own. We encourage
this committee to probe the wisdom in the ranks of the retired and
agents on the beat and see if you find the same thing.
Principles
for turning the tide on illegal immigration
I believe
that if you seriously probe to find the views of the rank and file
in the INS and of retired INS officers, you will discover them suggesting
a set of principles very much like the following ones that emerged
from our interviews. Some of these require congressional participation
and are flagged by a notation at the end of the item.
1.
Nothing will turn the tide on illegal immigration without the re-instatement
of interior enforcement. Over the last decade, interior enforcement
has been systematically dismantled until virtually all that is left
is the deportation of people who commit felonies other than breaking
immigration laws. In neighborhoods all over America, citizens are
seething because they can so easily see this dismantling. "Interior
enforcement" means detecting, detaining and deporting illegal aliens
from America's communities in all regions, not just along the borders.
"Any alien that makes it in now is almost guaranteed a life without
interruption by INS or the Border Patrol."
2.
Putting more people on the border won't do much good unless people
in other countries think they could be sent back if they succeed
in getting past the Border Patrol. "Throwing more agents at
the border won't stop the flow without interior enforcement." Even
people whose primary career focus has been the border said the best
immediate help for controlling the border would be beefing up interior
enforcement. It is the lack of interior enforcement that entices
so many to risk their lives to illegally enter the country across
deserts, in unsafe trucks and train cars, and welded inside ship
cargo units.
3.
Interior enforcement relies on creating credible fear among all
illegal aliens that they could get caught and, if caught, could
be deported. Swift, firm enforcement on just a few can cause
many to decide to return home if the enforcement appears possible
on every kind of illegal alien. Today, only illegal aliens who break
other laws have any significant fear. One officer said: "You have
to reduce the comfort level of being an illegal immigrant. Right
now, you can bring your family here and live like Americans. We
have to make it so they are always looking over their shoulder."
The INS needs more money to ensure swift processing and deportation
for a credible number of illegal aliens out of each community. When
the illegal aliens in those communities see people disappear and
not come back, they will begin to think seriously about whether
they want to live with that kind of uncertainty. This requires resources
to ensure that a certain random percentage of illegal aliens who
are apprehended will be personally escorted through every stage
of the process until they are out of the country.
CONGRESSIONAL
ACTION NEEDED: Ensure sufficient funding.
4.
For the most part, new laws are not needed to solve the problem.
"There has been too much reinventing of the wheel instead of
concentrating on putting the resources behind laws already in place."
Let the agents use the tools they had in the 1980s, and especially
in the 1950s and 1960s, and they can make an incredible dent in
the millions of illegal alien population. Most of the tools still
exist under law but have been taken away by administrative decision.
5.
Invest in an identification system that will allow every agent to
get prints on all apprehended aliens and to check the prints before
considering letting them loose with a ticket to appear in court
later. Since there isn't enough jail space to detain every illegal
alien until a hearing date, it is imperative that agents be able
to jail the ones who are repeat offenders and who have a record
of having failed to show up at a previous hearing. Reliance on the
FBI print system currently forces agents to wait a couple of weeks
for prints to be processed. Agents need something that will report
back in an hour or two. The INS has such a system in limited use
primarily on the border but it already has exceeded capacity. The
INS needs to determine the fastest, most efficient way to resolve
this problem and move forward with the extra funding provided by
Congress.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION NEEDED: Request proposals and sufficiently fund a system once satisfied.
6.
Encourage the apprehension and finger-printing of every possible
illegal alien, even if there aren't enough resources to deport most
of them. This not only will be disruptive to their communities
- especially if people are randomly pulled from the pool to go through
the swift deportation system - but it will kick in the 10-year exclusion
rule on them, preventing them from benefiting from any legal access
to the United States. Widely publicizing this can start to act as
a real deterrent.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION
NEEDED: Congress must resist constantly violating its own laws by
giving illegal aliens loopholes around the 10-year exclusion rule.
7.
Make sure that aliens who enter illegally after being deported are
treated as felons as the law allows, earning them guaranteed jail
time. Most illegal aliens break immigration laws to make money.
They can't make money in jail. A better fingerprint system will
begin finding these "repeaters" in large quantities. It won't take
long for the word to get out that "repeating" bears risk of serious
inconvenience to the business plan.
8.
The INS must try for the first time to enforce the 1986 employer
sanctions law. Everybody agrees that pressures from those who
economically benefit from trafficking in illegal workers has kept
the INS from ever seriously attempting to carry out the law. Disrupt
the economic gain from illegal immigration and there won't be much
reason to break the law. A relentless presence at street-hiring
sites is bound to disburse the illegal aliens and leave the jobs
for those at the sites who have a legal right to be here.
9.
Not much will happen unless the top echelon and middle management
of INS believe in enforcing immigration laws. "The reason for
the problems is that the INS force has been handcuffed by its leaders."
The overwhelming opinion among the rank and file is that the leadership
of the INS has been filled with people who favor illegal immigration
or who are politically afraid of those groups in American society
who gain money and power off illegal immigration. The mission of
the INS has been corrupted and cannot be restored to provide service
to the American people again unless there is a wholesale change
in the top echelons of the agency. As in other parts of the Justice
Department, people should not be allowed to hold jobs if they believe
they can pick and choose which laws to enforce.
10.
Congress must stop making the INS job impossible by enticing millions
more illegal aliens through amnesties and incremental amnesties.
"The amnesty programs have devastated our enforcement efforts."
The various kinds of amnesties approved in 1997, 1998 and 2000 -
in addition to the memory of the giant one in 1986 - have sent a
message to the rest of the world that the Border Patrol and INS
agents are merely for show, that the United States actually wants
people to come here illegally. "I have talked to many illegal migrants
coming back after deportation or voluntary departure. They will
tell you that they are saving all their papers that show they have
been here and are waiting for the next amnesty program."
CONGRESSIONAL
ACTION NEEDED: Members of Congress need to publicly take the no-amnesty
pledge to send a signal to the rest of the world.
11.
Congress should provide the funding so that the INS can pledge 100%
service to those communities that are calling for help in removing
illegal immigrants. Quick Response Teams (QRTs) have been tried
but not properly funded. Their presence will inspire more local
authorities to identify illegal aliens. The first INS interview
can often be conducted over the phone. If the INS agent determines
probability, the alien will stay in local custody for no more than
a few days until QRT arrives. "We have a lot of older experienced
retired agents who can return to work on a one-year contract to
work the cities that have large numbers of known illegal migrants.
This approach will give a wakeup call that illegal migration will
have consequences." Never again should a local law enforcement agency
be told to release a suspected illegal immigrant into the public.
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION NEEDED: Sufficient
funding for a credible QRT effort, with a pledge to expand funding
as long as Americans in local communities still are reporting INS
abandonment.
Conclusion
The
chairman of the Commission on Immigration Reform, the late Barbara
Jordan, testified before this committee on Feb. 24, 1995. She said:
"Credibility
in immigration policy can be summed up in one sentence: Those
who should get in, get in; those who should be kept out, are kept
out; and those who should not be here will be required to leave."
This
committee's oversight task is an incredibly important and challenging
one because the INS currently is making virtually no effort to
ensure that "those who should not be here are required to leave."
And
because of that lack of interior enforcement, our amplified efforts
on the border to ensure that "those who should be kept out, are
kept out" are failing. Around the world, the word is out: if you
can succeed in evading the U.S. Border Patrol on your way in, and
if you do not commit an aggravated felony once you travel a few
miles into this country, you have virtually no chance of ever being
forced to leave. With that kind of incentive, would-be illegal aliens
around the world will do almost anything--including risking dying
in the desert--to outmaneuver our Border Patrol.
The
general spirit of lawlessness in which so many communities find
themselves tends to create a cycle of behavior that only moves the
communities further toward anarchy. A leader of one group of citizens
lamented that quiet homeowners after repeated frustration with the
INS turned to the streets in public demonstrations outside their
general experience: "Citizens are forced to the streets to protest
their own government because of its constructive abandonment of
its duties to its citizens. Citizens are arrested while illegal
aliens go about their business freely and act contrary to the law,
with impunity."
On
the border, citizens have drawn national news coverage for taking
up arms and taking the law into their own hands as they defend their
property from an invasion of sometimes a hundred illegal immigrants
a day. These developments presage darker impulses that could be
stirred. The abandonment of the enforcement of the law by the INS
fans the embers of vigilantism that seem never to be fully extinguished
in the spirits of human beings seeking a society of order over disorder.
If
this committee does not find a way to help the INS re-institute
credible interior enforcement, the amount of money provided in the
INS budget is of no particular consequence--except for the amount
of the taxpayers' dollars that are being wasted.
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