Thursday, January 3, 2013

Welcome Illegal Aliens--You're Safe Here

By Alan Caruba

The Obama administration loves to pass unpopular legislation—Obamacare—and release news of unpopular policies on Christmas Eve. The assumption is that people are too distracted to pay attention and, anyway, there’s nothing they can do about it.

Illegal aliens received a Christmas gift when the chief of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), John Morton, released new guidelines for local police who might think it was their job to cooperate with ICE by detaining illegal aliens stopped for probable cause. Previously ICE had a “287 (g) program” that facilitated the process, but no more.

As ICE explained this change, the administration’s goal is to limit the role of local cops with regard to the detention of illegal aliens arrested for misdemeanors (offenses punishable by jail sentences of between 30-days and one year) or violations (offenses punishable by jail sentences of 30-days or less). Apparently there are just so many of these arrests that ICE doesn’t want to bother with them anymore. And, after all, it only involves someone here ILLEGALLY.

According to ICE, the policy change will “further enhance our ability to focus enforcement efforts on serious offenders” by “changing who ICE will issue detainers against.” 

Need it be said that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pushed hard to get this policy change, along with a variety of immigrant and refugee advocacy groups, including the Arab-American Institute.

I was reading a new book by Brett Braaten, “Homeland Insecurity: Failed Politics, Policies, and a Nation at Risk”, when the new ICE policy was announced. The author is a former special agent whose career spans 29 years with both the U.S. Customs Service and, after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He saw how these agencies operated from the inside.

In his book, he warns that “The tangled web of guidelines, each one more convoluted than the last, stifles every innovative though that might otherwise see the light of day. The political correctness and cultural sensitivities that abound in the federal system, shackle law enforcement officers who are simply trying to do right by the American taxpayer and get everyone home safe at the end of the day.”

What he learned along the way is the pecking order of the FBI, the IRS, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.) “There had never been, nor would there ever be, a selfless spirit of cooperation among these agencies.” After 9/11 the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 was supposed to create greater cooperation among its components, but old rivalries die hard. At the bottom of the pecking order was and remains now the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Customs personnel quickly found that dealing with illegal alien processing and deportation was unwieldy and mind numbing. Layers of bureaucratic fine print, immigration laws saturated with loopholes, and exceptions to exceptions, slow the process to a near halt.” During its first term, it became obvious to anyone paying attention that deporting illegal aliens had a very low priority.

If you are here illegally, unless you engage in serious crimes, you are not likely to be returned to your homeland. Indeed, the U.S. has become your homeland and one that where you can get a job and have access to multiple social programs which should be reserved for U.S. citizens.

Under the aegis of the Homeland Security Department, immigration enforcement has become a bad joke. The Center for Immigration Studies recently criticized DHS saying that “the agency responsible for overseeing educational institutions hosting foreign students rarely exercises its enforcement authority.” There are nearly 1.2 million foreign students and their dependents in the U.S., attending close to 7,000 educational institutions. We are likely to learn that some of them are here for purposes of terrorism, but by then it will be too late.

Braaten warns that “There is no way that law enforcement can be efficient in the execution of its mission when it is little more than an expression of the political policies designed to serve the best interests of the current administration, regardless of affiliation.” The nation’s problem with illegal aliens has a long history. Occasional amnesties have only served as an inducement to enter illegally.

To those Americans who think border control is not a priority or that the presence of illegal aliens pose no real problem, Braaten says, Whether (they) like it or not, illegal aliens bring the ills of their respective societies with them. Lacking any reasonable societal pressure from (native born and naturalized Americans), there is no impetus to assimilate into American culture. There’s no pressure to learn English in a society that falls all over itself to accommodate a vast population that lacks the interest or ability to learn it.”

Large portions of California and the Southwest have literally been reclaimed by their illegal populations. “The southwest border,” says Braaten, “has devolved to a state of near chaos. Communities, overrun with a crippling demand for social services from a foreign populace, find themselves falling deeper and deeper into deficient spending with no relief in sight.”

The Obama administration has managed to cover up the “Fast and Furious” scandal in which the ATF allowed nearly 2,000 guns to get into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. It cost the life of a border patrol officer and is currently protected against further Congressional investigation by an executive order. In the course of the investigations, however, Eric Holder became the first Attorney General to be held in contempt of Congress.

While Braaten focused on revelations about customs and immigration enforcement, he also took note of Department of Homeland Security failures that we know about, the uselessness of the Transportation Safety Administration that makes air travel a nightmare, and, in effect, the widespread belief that the U.S. is adequately and actually being protected by the alphabet soup of DHS agencies, and others charged with protecting the nation.

© Alan Caruba, 2013

6 comments:

Trimaransailor57 said...

The DHS may say it is for the protection of the American people, but its' true purpose is to protect the federal government i.e. the Politicians and bureaucrats. They do not need 1.7 billion rounds of small arms ammunition (purchased over the past year), several hundred armored personnel vehicles and armored mobile checkpoints to protect the American people - they are all to be used in a war AGAINST the American people.

Alan Caruba said...

That would appear to be the case. The DHS is not supposed to be some kind of army.

Trimaransailor57 said...

When the people learn of the treachery and treason of the bureaucrats, the politicians and the international bankers, they will need the DHS rent-a-cops to protect them from the wrath of the people. It is no wonder that the leftist progressives and authoritarian collectivists want to disarm all of us.

Unknown said...

Illegals have caused 60 hospitals to close down, cost California MANY Billions of dollars each year, we're charged illegal taxes called fees, surcharges, etc. to help our poorly-run government make ends meet in their attempt at hiding some of the actual expenditures for illegal aliens. Our low-income subsidized housing, free food, free cash monies, education, extra city resources (fore, police, etc., etc...), free medical, jobs once held by our students, seniors and US workers who've little or no-skills to do work we WOULD do (Hear that vote-out-Feinstein)! Illegal alien students get FREE college education while OUR children's tuition goes SKY HIGH these past several years (thank you stupid legislature & Brown-then-flush-it). Illegals in Los Angeles alone costs over $1.6 BILLION dollars, and the Democraps in California want to let the super-dangerous-murderous-rapists-drug pushers, etc.criminals out of jail, as they couldn't convince HAD-ENOUGH voters to subsidize more BILLIONS to prisons and jails FULL pf illegals, which BTW cost us $30,000 each/year, TOTAL cost of jail/prison for illegals over $1-BILLION year!

Should I go one and on and on and ....
Damn political parties, BOTH of the stupid Dems & Repub want illegals, as illegals suit the political hacks' needs, but we, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, have laws to protect OUR country. If you want to take care of the illegals then take care of them in their own respective countries, but, again, NOT at my cost! No one asked me if I wanted to adopt an illegal, and NO we don't EVER! Our ALREADY existing laws are NOT being enforced, which means ALL officials are continuously contributing to major criminal felonies, offenses, and activities in Cities, Counties, States and Federal Governments. These officials should be treated as criminals, of course.

Also, I notice that the MOST racist people I've met here in California are mostly Mexicans! I'm a nationalist of the USA, just like illegal Mexicans mostly like to be Mexican-nationalists above all else. The greatest six societies in all of history were destroyed by cultures who changed their culture to suit others they'd incorporated, losing their own societies. I LIKE the USA's culture, and YES people, we in the USA DO have a culture unique to other countries'. There's national pride in other countries, and I totally respect that, but we've got to stop being ashamed of the USA's culture. We can still be the greatest nation in the world. Just get our country back on track with laws, which protect its people, AND, vote out ALL political hack incumbents ! I mean, are YOU happy with the status quo? No? Then why keep voting for the same mistakes!? Duh! NOW THAT'S A NO-BRAINER! At least to thinking people.

Alan Caruba said...

Thanks for your feedback, Freethinkger.

Unknown said...

Totally welcome for the feedback, Alan.

People ought to turn off the controlled-major-media-TV & hype-news and pay attention with those senses we're supposed to have been born with,

...and oh...their brain while they're at it. Everyone seems to forget who's bought up the major media, many people have become stupidized by the media. Hey, forget what the man behind the curtain's doing and watch this car chase for 2 hours on every channel, while presidente` Obama says we should bend over backwards for his national welfare medicine & illegals, and take our guns as some people kill with it while others use guns to protect themselves instead, which actually prevents more killing!

Again, vote out ALL the mistakes and we'll have less to complain about, and make sure none of them holds any public office in ANY capacity again! Jeez!