American Border Control Executive Director Jon Moseley ON RADIO MONDAY
Andy Caldwell Show Interview
Monday 6/30 7 PM EDT
http://www.talkradio1340am.com/main.php
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
American Border Control website update alert
We have posted ABC Executive Director Jon Moseley's radio interview on Coast To Coast with Goerge Noory on our website. He spoke on the Dubai World port scandal and on the problems with COSCO at Pier J making the link that the two situations are very similar and each is a scandal. It is a great interview.
The mp3 link is on the left side near the top.
Please take the opportunity familliarize yourself with the content of the interview.
We look forward to more media events in the near future. We will keep you posted.
The mp3 link is on the left side near the top.
Please take the opportunity familliarize yourself with the content of the interview.
We look forward to more media events in the near future. We will keep you posted.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Federal prosecution of illegal immigrants soars
Editor's note: We are making a difference! The constant public preasure on our elected officials have made them pay attention and take action.
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Federal prosecution of illegal immigrants soars
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The White House lauds the dramatic increase, but critics cite higher priorities.
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 18 2008
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half the nation's federal criminal caseload.
The complete article can be viewed at:
LA Times
Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com/
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Federal prosecution of illegal immigrants soars
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The White House lauds the dramatic increase, but critics cite higher priorities.
By Nicole Gaouette
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 18 2008
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has sharply ratcheted up prosecutions of illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last year, with increases so dramatic that immigration offenses now account for as much as half the nation's federal criminal caseload.
The complete article can be viewed at:
LA Times
Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com/
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Heat wave provides opportunity for illegal alien rapist
U.S. Border Control wrote:
U.S. Border Control
Heat wave provides opportunity for illegal alien rapist
Posted: 15 Jun 2008 08:40 PM CDT
The temperature hit 94° on June 8 in Rhode Island, bringing crowds to the beaches and an illegal alien rapist to a suburban shopping center. The illegal had just been fired from his job at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant a half mile away. The victim, a 30-year-old woman, sat in the passenger seat of an unlocked vehicle, waiting for a shopper. The ignition was on to keep the air conditioning running. The illegal jumped into the driver's seat, showed the victim his knife, and robbed her. Then he drove to a park about 10 miles away and raped her twice. The rapist fled. The victim quickly identified a photo police captured from a supermarket entrance at the shopping center. By Tuesday night, they had an name, that is, one of the names he used. On Thursday, he was arrested. Marco Riz, 27, the rapist, had given police several aliases, but they were able to determine his true identity. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Riz is a fugitive who was ordered deported. He had defied the order and disappeared. Riz should already have been deported to Guatemala. He is being held for arraignment on Monday, and will be turned over to ICE.
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U.S. Border Control
Heat wave provides opportunity for illegal alien rapist
Posted: 15 Jun 2008 08:40 PM CDT
The temperature hit 94° on June 8 in Rhode Island, bringing crowds to the beaches and an illegal alien rapist to a suburban shopping center. The illegal had just been fired from his job at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant a half mile away. The victim, a 30-year-old woman, sat in the passenger seat of an unlocked vehicle, waiting for a shopper. The ignition was on to keep the air conditioning running. The illegal jumped into the driver's seat, showed the victim his knife, and robbed her. Then he drove to a park about 10 miles away and raped her twice. The rapist fled. The victim quickly identified a photo police captured from a supermarket entrance at the shopping center. By Tuesday night, they had an name, that is, one of the names he used. On Thursday, he was arrested. Marco Riz, 27, the rapist, had given police several aliases, but they were able to determine his true identity. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed that Riz is a fugitive who was ordered deported. He had defied the order and disappeared. Riz should already have been deported to Guatemala. He is being held for arraignment on Monday, and will be turned over to ICE.
Click here to view our entire news blog
You are subscribed to email updates from U.S. Border Control To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.
Email Delivery powered by FeedBurner
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
U.S., Mexico launch unprecedented effort to disrupt cross-border weapons smuggling
Editor's note: Stupid question from editor, "why are they calling the cooperative effort to disrupt weapons trafficking unprecedented." Haven't they done this before? If not why not. Who is sleeping at the switch here?
Dallas News
Dallas News
U.S., Mexico launch unprecedented effort to disrupt cross-border weapons smuggling
11:37 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 10, 2008
By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News dmclemore@dallasnews.com / The Dallas Morning News Laurence Iliff contributed to this report from Mexico City.
HOUSTON -- Tons of heroin and cocaine move north across the Southwestern border. And millions of dollars and truckloads of weapons move south -- feeding the escalating levels of violence that have turned parts of Mexico into war zones and spread as far as North Texas.
At least 80 percent of all of the weapons used by drug traffickers in Mexico to kill one another as well as police and soldiers come from the U.S., Mexican officials say. They've repeatedly asked the U.S. government for more help in stopping the flow of weapons from Texas and other border states into Mexico.
On Monday, U.S. and Mexican customs investigation officials unveiled a cooperative effort called Armas Cruzadas to disrupt cross-border weapons smuggling through the sharing of databases and better monitoring of illicit sales at guns shops and guns shows.
And on Tuesday, the U.S. House authorized spending $1.6 billion over the next three years to help Mexico and other countries counter growing drug violence, including $74 million for the Justice Department to stem the flow of guns south. Funding, however, will have to come separately.
"With the caliber and style of weaponry used and the volume moving across the border into cartel hands, we can see the murderous intent of the cartels," said Julie Myers, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "It's time for the good guys to take control of the environment."
Dewey Webb, special agent-in-charge of the Houston office of the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said the new operation will help provide firmer data on how many weapons are being bought legally or otherwise and moved across the border.
"Right now, we know Texas is the No. 1 source of weapons smuggled into Mexico, with most of them coming from Houston and Dallas," Mr. Webb said. They're bought "by 'straw purchasers' who act as buyers for the cartels."
One of the ATF's biggest cases in Dallas involved a security guard whom agents documented buying 152 firearms, including 78 Romanian-made assault rifles, at a Mesquite gun store over four months in 2003.
more...
GovExec Story: Republican lawmakers press DHS on border fence
Story's Title:
Republican lawmakers press DHS on border fence
A group of House Republicans on Tuesday called on the Homeland Security Department to build 700 miles of double-layered fencing along the border with Mexico, as required under a 2006 law.
Leading the group, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., has introduced legislation that would place such a mandate on the department. Congress removed the requirements in the 2006 law as part of the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill.
But the Republicans said they are committed to seeing the fencing built. "This to me is a matter of national security," Jones said during a news conference. "We believe sincerely that this issue cannot be delayed."
more...
GovExec.com
Go to the link above to read the rest of the story.
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
U.S. Border Control: Illegal alien with stolen Social Security number racks up $787,000 in loans
I think that the status of so many people in the country illegal is a crime magnet. They are already leading a shadowy existence. and in some cases by being in a sanctuary city they are protected by the government officials.
It has turned our cities into a version of the wild west, where people can come and go without any check on who they are and so bad people can hide easily in our midst. This article shows what people think that they can get away with as an illegal alien.
U.S. Border Control: Illegal alien with stolen Social Security number racks up $787,000 in loans
It has turned our cities into a version of the wild west, where people can come and go without any check on who they are and so bad people can hide easily in our midst. This article shows what people think that they can get away with as an illegal alien.
U.S. Border Control: Illegal alien with stolen Social Security number racks up $787,000 in loans
Remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Department of Commerce Secretary Gutierrez at the State of Immigration Address
Editor's note: Attached is a very important news release by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about progress on the border fence and related issues. We are posting this for educational purposes only and have no affilliation with the DHS.
DHS
Remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Department of Commerce Secretary Gutierrez at the State of Immigration Address
Release Date: June 9, 2008
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Washington, D.C.
Secretary Chertoff: Good afternoon everybody. I am joined here by Secretary Gutierrez, the Secretary of Commerce, who I am delighted to have with me. As you probably remember, last August we promised to provide regular updates to the American people on our efforts to secure the border, enforce immigration laws and meet the needs of our economy by reforming temporary worker programs to the extent the current laws permit us to do so.
This will be the third update since the administration announced our 26 immigration reform and transformation initiatives in the wake of the failure of comprehensive immigration reform to pass Congress last year. Today we are going to highlight three major areas: first our continued progress at the border, second our continued efforts to provide employers with better tools to maintain a legal workforce and third, our efforts to strengthen and make more efficient our foreign temporary worker programs.
In each area you will see clear evidence of our progress, and of our commitment to address the nation’s immigration challenges using the tools, resources and authorities at our disposal. But again we will remind you that the need to address this program more comprehensively by Congress remains. And we hope Congress will in the very near future turn to this issue once again.
As in the past, I would like to begin by highlighting our efforts at the border itself, specifically fence construction, border patrol hiring and technology. As you will see, we currently have slightly less than 330 miles of fencing that’s been built. And we are moving toward our goal of 670 miles of fencing by the end of calendar year 2008.
We continue to work with landowners on the southern border to gain the access we need to conduct surveys and make decisions about the right kind of infrastructure to deploy on our border. We have had several hundred meetings, including town halls and meetings with individual landowners. We continue to be open to good-faith discussion about alternatives. But what we are not open to is endless debate or delay. We have an objective that Congress has mandated. It is our intention to meet that objective and to fulfill our obligation to the American people to get this fencing built.
With respect to border patrol staffing, you will see a dramatic increase since the President took office in fiscal year 2002. We have gone from 9,800 border patrol to our current border patrol numbers of 16,471. That by the way, is an over-5,000 Border Patrol agent increase from where we were when we announced the beginning of this effort as part of our Secure Border Initiative.
And we are on track to meet our goal of over 18,000 border patrol agents by the end of this calendar year. Again we are going to continue to post on our web site on the metrics of our progress towards achieving this goal. And we are achieving the goal without compromising on the standard of training, which is so necessary for those agents who are going to be working the very demanding environment of our border.
One of the special initiatives I would like to highlight is Operation Streamline. And this is a particular initiative under which all aliens caught crossing the border in designated high-traffic zones are actually criminally prosecuted before they are deported as part of an administrative process. This of course is a project we undertake in partnership with the Department of Justice and particular prosecutors who work with us to present these cases to the courts.
We initiated Operation Streamline in the Del Rio sector of Texas in December 2005, expanded it to Yuma in December 2006, and further expanded it to Laredo sector in October 2007. The results of this criminal prosecution initiative have been striking. We have seen significant reductions and apprehensions, a decrease in the recidivism rate of aliens prosecuted under the program, meaning once they get prosecuted, they stop trying to come in again, and a reduction in smuggling -- in smuggling organizations and illegal entries in the relevant urban areas.
If you look at apprehensions, you could see a steady decrease from the time we began these initiatives to the present. The reason this works is because these illegal migrants come to realize that violating the law will not simply send them back to try over again, but will require them to actually serve some short period of time in a jail or prison setting. And will brand them as having been violators of the law.
And that has a very significant deterrent impact. In this regard, I want to thank the Department of Justice, which very recently announced a plan to higher an additional 64 prosecutors and 34 -- 35 support staff to help with our various immigration-focused law enforcement initiatives at the Southwest border.
Apart from fencing, apart from people, a very important enabler is technology. And we continue to invest resources to develop, install and integrate our SBInet technology solutions to help Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol get effective control of our nation’s border.
Some weeks back there was a lot of discussion about a prototype project known as Project 28. But contrary to some of the down-beat media reports, Project 28 produced a functioning prototype system that added value to the Border Patrol effort and that we are now prepared to actually operationally deploy in two parts of the border in Arizona.
In fact, as reported on May 8 in The Houston Chronicle, visits down to the border by two members of Congress, members of our Homeland Security Committee Representative Sheila Jackson Lee and Representative Christopher Carney, actually had them observe with approval a lot of the progress that has been made and the value that has been added by this technology project. As a consequence, we plan to award the Arizona Deployment Task Order contract to Boeing to install the first operational configuration of this concept in two areas within the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol. This is, of course, a concept that envisions fixed towers with radar, sensors and remote-controlled camera equipment, unattended ground sensors, and common operating picture equipment and software.
In addition to this, we will continue to roll out our ground-based mobile surveillance systems. We have our four unmanned aerial vehicles operating, and we continue to deploy independent ground sensors. Do these efforts work? The answer is yes. We continue to see a decrease in apprehensions period as compared to the same period in prior years, 16 percent on the Southwest border and 15 percent overall.
Don’t take my word for it. The words of the San Francisco Chronicle on May 16: “The tightening of the border has made it increasingly difficult, dangerous and expensive for laborers to return to the United States if they leave, disrupting the traditional circular flow of farm workers from Mexico to California’s fields into Salinas’ central valleys.”
The Financial Times June 4: “After nearly a decade of double-digit increases, remittances into Mexico have begun to decline. It appears that laws to crack down on Illegal workers are having an impact.” And a recent survey by the Inter-American Development Bank found that the number of Latino immigrants sending remittances home from the U.S. dropped from 73 percent to 50 percent in the past three years. This is attributed at least in part to this increased enforcement of the rules in the interior.
Now there is a negative metric, or a metric that while showing progress is an unhappy one. And that is the increase in border violence. As we have consistently predicted, when enforcement increases, when criminal organizations feel that their criminal businesses are being injured, they will fight back, and they will fight back with violence. Regrettably therefore, violence has continued to increase over the last several months as a consequence of this greater tempo of enforcement.
This fiscal year 744 incidents of violence have been perpetrated against Border Patrol agents, a 26 percent increase over the same time last year. Some of these attacks have shown a remarkable, callous disregard for human life, including one incident where an agent was literally struck and murdered by a vehicle fleeing into Mexico driven by a smuggler. I had the occasion to meet with the family of this agent shortly after he died as a result of this homicide. And I assured them we were going to continue to do everything we can to protect the Border Patrol as they work to protect the American people.
I also have to observe that as a consequence of President Calderon’s courageous and determined decision to proceed after the organized crime cartels on the Mexican side of the border, they have also seen an uptake in violence in Mexico. Hundreds of Mexican law enforcement officers have lost their lives or been attacked by violent drug cartels, including senior officials of the law enforcement establishment. President Calderon should be applauded for his efforts to dismantle these drug cartels and criminal organizations who are literally fighting to control portions of Mexico south of the border.
But we have to do more than applaud his work. We have to actually encourage it and assist it, and support his work as good partners with Mexico, dedicated to dealing with these organized crime organizations. And in these regard I want to call attention to the Merida initiative. We urge Congress to continue to move to pass practice appropriations legislation that will allow this very important plan to get over a half a billion dollars in money this year into Mexico to support this courageous effort to fight drug and organized crime violence.
We have a unique opportunity, one that may not come again, to partner with a determined leader in Mexico, so that we can address a shared problem in a partnership way that we cannot afford to ignore. Now of course we are not only focused on efforts to control the border between the ports of entry, we are increasing our security and our efficiency at the ports of entry themselves. We continue to move forward with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which is slated to go into effect in June 2009 at our land and sea ports of entry.
As you will remember, this initiative reduces the types of identification that can be presented at the border so that we get to a requirement of reliable identification for people who want to enter the United States. And it also has eliminated the old system of allowing people to simply orally declare their citizenship and get waved on through.
We have already implemented the first part of our effort to shrink the kind of acceptable documentation at our airports, and compliance has been close to 100 percent. Likewise, as we’ve increased the rigor of our requirements at the land and sea borders, we have found very high compliance rates. And we are working hard to increase the type of reliable documents, and the number of reliable documents which Americans and Canadians can use once this Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative gets implemented in June of next year.
For example, the new pass-card being issued by the State Department has received more than 200,000 applications, and production is set to begin this month. I have applied for one myself. I hope you have to, or you will shortly Secretary Gutierrez. What these cards are going to do is not be more reliable, but they will be faster, because instead of having to read a driver’s license, there will be a machine-readables only. You can simply zip through a machine-reader, which will make the process and times faster.
The states have also stepped up and become part of the solution to this issue of secure documentation. The state of Washington is currently issuing its own version of an approved, enhanced driver’s license that will be acceptable at the border. New York has announced that it has completed its business plan to begin producing those enhanced driver’s licenses. And other states are on the way to doing so as well.
As we move away from the borders, we have to also look at the issue of how we enforce the law of the interior, because we know that only by promoting a legal workforce can we reduce the incentives for people to come in illegally in order to do work in this country.
One critical tool for our success is giving the employer the means to check whether the applicant for a job is in fact presenting a valid social security number and name that match what is in our government databases. And the tool used to do this is E-Verify. This system has been a tremendous success, and the proof of the pudding is the marketplace itself. Every week on average, about a thousand new employers join this program. And I will tell you that at this point, I will estimate that is almost -- maybe actually more than ten percent of the new hires being hired in the United States are currently being run through this E-Verify system.
We have almost 70,000 employers currently enrolled. The system works. Of those workers who are legal, 99.5 percent of them roughly are verified essentially instantaneously. And if those workers who have a mismatch -- legal workers who we estimate to be about a half a percent, they are able generally to resolve their issue within less than two days.
Now of course we do have some people who don’t resolve the issue of mismatch. And that’s because in fact the number and the name don’t match, and it’s not merely a clerical error. We recognize that means that they are likely to be here illegally, or be using at least a false social security number and a false name to get work. And those people frankly, shouldn’t be working.
This system is doing the job it should do. It is resolving honest mistakes in a way that protects the worker. It is also identifying those who are not permitted to work because they are not here legally. And that’s what it should do as well. Now last year Congress gave a clear vote of confidence in the program by significantly increasing our appropriation for E-Verify. Several states have also indicated that they believe E-Verify is valuable and have enacted laws encouraging or requiring their businesses to use E-Verify.
We want to continue to have congressional support for this very important program. It should be re-authorized. Funding should be expanded. And to show that we are supporting this not just with words but with deeds, last Friday the President issued an executive order that is going to significantly increase the impact of E-Verify on the federal contracting workforce, because after all if we expect private employers to use E-Verify, the federal government should lead by example and not merely by exhortation.
The President’s executive order directs me to designate an electronic employment eligibility verification system - and I have designated E-Verify - that federal contractors will be required to use to verify the employment eligibility of their new workforce. The President also directed that federal departments and agencies require that the federal contractors use that E-Verify system to check the work authorization of the new hires and all their employees assigned to work on federal contracts.
E-Verify, working with these other agencies, is going to give these contractors the tools they need to make sure that workers who were hired to work on federal contracts are legal workers. It is always embarrassing frankly, when we have these periodic operations in which we discover illegal workers working on federal projects paid for by federal money that is ultimately paid for by the taxpayer.
So we are going to make sure we finish getting our own house in order first, even as we work to continue to make sure that others in the private sector use this system. Also today OMB has concluded its review of a proposed rule amending the federal acquisition regulation to implement the President’s executive order. As with all regulations, there will be a comment period for the regulations that we are issuing, the -- counsel was issuing. But we are looking forward to get this -- new system up and running later this year.
Finally, we are going to continue to keep the pressure up on employers and on illegal aliens by bringing significant cases. As you know recently we brought a case against a meat-processing operation in Iowa. Almost 300 immigrants, illegal immigrants pleaded guilty to using fraudulent documents to get their jobs in an Iowa meat-processing plant. That means they took the identities of innocent Americans and misused those identities. And at least in some instances, caused damage to the innocent American whose identity was stolen.
For those who say that we are only focusing on the illegal workers themselves, I point out that last year we had over 90 employers, or those in a supervisory chain who were convicted of crimes. We have had one CEO or President of a company sent to jail for 10 years. We have had recent conviction of a union official from the United Food and Commercial Workers union for his involvement with the activities at --.
We will continue to pursue employers. I know these cases take a little bit longer. There is a -- it is always more difficult to work up the chain. I can tell you as an old organized crime prosecutor and as an old drug prosecutor, you always start with the bottom ring first, then you work your way up to the top ring. But I guarantee we are continuing to work on making cases against that top ring and we will do so whenever the evidence supports bringing that kind of a case.
All I have talked about so far is enforcement. But, as we said, when we pursued the issue of comprehensive immigration, we know the American economy does need workers. And it’s going to need workers from other countries even though we have had an increase recently in unemployment. But they have got to come in a way that is legal, visible and regulated.
We currently have at least some programs that allow that to take place. And what we are trying to do now is to make those programs as accessible and as attractive as possible so that people can use the legal pathways as much as -- as conveniently as possible in order to satisfy their labor needs.
Let me give you just a brief survey of some of the things we have done recently. In April we published an interim final rule that extends the total period of optional practical training from 12 to 29 months for -- immigrant students with a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, who have accepted mployment with an employer enrolled in E-Verify.
What this does is it allows us to continue to keep smart, well-educated foreign students who want to come over and ultimately get a work visa, allows us to keep them in place doing productive work while they are awaiting the work visa process. And that’s not just good for them. It actually creates jobs in the American economy for others as well. So it’s a win-win both for the students, a win-win for the employers and a win-win for American workers.
The H-1B program, which is similarly focused on getting some of the best and the brightest to get these work visas so they can work and produce, and add value to the United States. This program also has to be refined to be made more fair and more orderly. For this reason, in March of this year we published an interim final rule that prohibits the filing of duplicate -- multiple H-1B petitions by a single U.S. employer for the same foreign worker.
Essentially what happened was it was like buying a lot of lottery tickets. Some people tried to hoard the marketplace, or flood the marketplace by filing duplicate -- multiple applications to try to get as many of these spots as possible.
That wasn't fair to other employers. It didn't do the job of distributing these visas as widely as possible and as efficiently as possible in the economy, so this new regulation will act to prevent employers from flooding the system with petitions and will allow a broader array of employers to participate in a fair and more equitable fashion in this system.
I'm also pleased to announce that we will be extending the validity period of the employment authorization documents that we issue to individuals who are waiting adjustment of status to lawful permit residenture or in colloquial phrase, the green card.
Currently, adjustment applications are granted employment authorization documents with only a one year maximum validity. Beginning later this month, we'll start issuing these documents with a two-year validity period for aliens who are waiting adjustment of status if their application is expected to be pending for more than a year.
This, again, is eliminating a persistent source of frustration for workers who are here, who have a pending adjustment application but have to go and renew their employment documents every single year. It's going to cut the paperwork there.
Finally, I'd like to talk about the H-2B program, which relates to seasonal and temporary non-agricultural workers. As you know, the cap on this went down and we're still awaiting Congressional action to lift the cap up, again, which is going to help not only ease applicants for jobs and not only the employers who want to hire them, but all the other people who benefit when workers produce productive activity and then the benefits ripple through the economy.
Currently, up to 66,000 foreign workers are admitted under this visa category and typical employment for H-2B workers includes landscaping, hotels, crab and clam industries, and resort areas; particularly those things which become more populated during the summer months.
As you know the Labor Department published a proposed rule in May addressing a number of bureaucratic and inefficiency concerns that had been raised about this program. But today we have sent over the Office of Management and Budget here at the Department of Homeland Security a new proposed regulation which would also propose some significant changes designed to increase the effectiveness and attractiveness of this H-2B-9 immigrant classification program.
It eliminates certain regulatory barriers, adds protection for foreign workers, and increases efficiency and coordination. It also proposes to change the definition of temporary employment to recognize that some H2B employment could last up to three years. Under this change, an employer who demonstrates a temporary need lasting no more than three years could keep the same worker in the same job for all three years provided they can demonstrate that there's no American worker available to do that work, because we do put Americans first.
Again, it's going to answer a complaint that we've heard for a long time from the business community. It implements one of the reformed proposals we tried to get done through comprehensive immigration reform, and it's going to produce benefits not only for the employees themselves, but for everybody else who benefits when we can invigorate businesses, particularly seasonable and temporary businesses that produce benefits throughout the entire economy.
The bottom line is we're doing what we said we were going to do last August. We're doing tougher enforcement; more effective enforcement. We are showing results. We are trying to work with the existing law to make it as easy and non-bureaucratic as possible for temporary workers to be brought in to fill jobs American won't fill.
In the end these are not permanent solutions. A truly permanent solution requires a more comprehensive look at the issue of immigration reform. Only Congress can take that step and although we bought some time, perhaps, this problem is going to persist until Congress grabs the nettle and decides that we're going to put together a comprehensive immigration reform program that everybody can live with.
With that I'd like to ask Secretary Gutierrez up here.
Secretary Gutierrez: Thank you. I would like to talk a little about the business environment and what is happening in the business community as it refers to immigration and the need for immigration reform. There's a lot of discussion about the burden of immigration but there is not enough conversation about the risk of not having enough immigrants, especially a risk to our economy and a risk to our competitive position as it relates to the rest of the world.
So as you can see from the Secretary's comments immigration reform remains a top priority for the Bush Administration. In the absence of legislation from Congress we've been proactively tackling this issue head on with as many administrative actions as possible.
The American people want and deserve a thoughtful, broad-based approach to immigration that focuses on the security and the economic prosperity of our country. Last August, Secretary Chertoff and I announced a package of administrative reforms that sharpened existing tools to protect our citizens and make our immigration system more workable.
We've made strides in securing our border. In fact, we've made great strides in securing our borders and enforcing existing immigration laws. But we cannot neglect our economic security; and that's exactly what we're doing by not passing comprehensive immigration reform.
At a time when we are facing tough economic challenges, our actions must boost our economy, not hamper it. The reality is that we simply do not have enough workers at both ends of the spectrum and I will repeat that. Our reality as a nation is that we do not have enough workers at both ends of the spectrum. That means for low-skilled, field laborers, all the way to high-skilled technology workers.
For example, for the fifth straight year our H-1B cap was filled at or before the start of the fiscal year. This year the cap was reached in one week. That's why, as Secretary Chertoff mentioned, we are proposing administrative reforms to our high-skilled programs and to the H-2B non-agriculture temporary worker program.
In addition, we have proposed changes to the H-2A agricultural seasonal worker program. The changes will make the H-2A system more efficient and ensure an orderly and timely flow of legal, foreign workers. They will also protect the rights of all agricultural workers, American and foreign, and make no mistake we need both. We don't have enough domestic workers to meet the food needs of our country.
The New York Times ran an article with the headline "Shortage of Labor to Cut Food Supply: Farmers Handicapped by Lack of Help Reduce Their Crop Acreage." That headline and the article ran in 1920. Coincidently that was amidst one of the worst anti-immigration waves that we have ever seen.
Nearly a century later we face similar challenges, but this time, rather than reduce consumption we'll have to turn to foreign producers or move our farms overseas to feed our families. In fact, that is already happening. A survey by the U.S. Farm Group, Western Growers, indicated American companies now farm more than 45,000 acres of land in Mexico employing 11,000 people.
At a time when we are looking to further secure our food supply to tighten our import safety and to continue to increase and contribute to world supply because of the prices of food, we should not encourage the outsourcing of American agriculture. And what Congress is doing by avoiding to pass comprehensive immigration reform is effectively encouraging the outsourcing of American agriculture.
We know there are employers who have not been able to fill many jobs with American workers. We simply can't ignore the problem and hope that the issue will go away. A comprehensive solution remains the best and the most long term option. Without it, we're getting a piecemeal approach, which is something we talked about when we mentioned the fact that comprehensive reform had failed, we talked about the fact that we were going to get a piecemeal approach to a national issue.
For example, in 2007 states enacted 240 immigration laws. That's up from 84 the year before. Immigration is being debated in every capital in the country. A total of 1,562 immigration bills were introduced last year. This patchwork of laws is untenable in the long term. So we will continue to look at ways to improve existing programs and address all aspects of immigration. Other major economies around the world have realized the need for immigration policy to help them grow their economies, and we are all competing for growth, and everyone is trying to grow their economies and most major economies have realized that they cannot grow without a comprehensive immigration policy.
Our country has a long history of making immigration work. We have more experience than any other nation and it has been one of our greatest advantages, if you look back through our economic history we would not have accomplished what we have accomplished if it were not for the help and the work of immigrants.
We can make immigration an advantage that will last for a century. The issue is not going to go away. Regardless of who is President and regardless of which party is in power, immigration will remain both a tough challenge but also a tremendous opportunity for our country if we get this right, if we approach it in a thoughtful way, and if we are decisive about confronting a problem that will not go away.
Thank you, and I will be happy to take your questions.
Question: Secretary, I wanted to ask you about --
Secretary Chertoff: Which Secretary; there's two.
Question: -- I'm sorry, Secretary Chertoff. I wanted to ask you about a traveler that was issued by the State Department in April that talked about what we're talking about, the violence along the border; and they say in part it's because of lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.-Mexico border, which indicates that the drug cartels you are speaking of are fighting over the routes for smuggling drugs; and I wondered what that says about securing the border when there's so much violence and it's related to the drug cartels which are trying to fight for routes.
Secretary Chertoff: It says a number of things. First of all, that's typically what happens as you start to enforce and you make it harder, they start to fight over the shrinking pie, so to speak, and who gets the best opportunity to exploit what additional space is left. So that's, in some sense, a good sign. The bad news is it causes a lot of violence and death and it's created a lot of havoc, particularly in Mexico.
I think several lessons flow from this. First, we've got to get this Merida initiative agreed to and funded in a way that's practical, that operates as a partnership as opposed to us simply dictating; and then recognizing that both countries have a common interest in securing the border.
Second, we need to make sure we're protecting ourselves on our side of the border. That means continuing not only to enforce the law the way we've been doing, but continuing to make sure our border patrol has the right mix of technology and infrastructure that gives them the most protection. And one of the arguments about this fencing is not only does it keep drug smugglers and human smugglers out, it makes it harder for them to get across with loads of drugs or whatever, but it also actually protects the border patrols because it makes it harder for people to shoot at them from across the border. We've had occasions of that; or to otherwise commit acts of assault.
So I think the lesson is clear. We certainly can't back down in the fact of violence. We've got to work with the Mexican government to continue to put the pressure on, break these cartels like we've done with organized crime in other settings, and we've got to get to our friends in Mexico the assistance and support that they need.
Question: Secretary Chertoff, about the executive order on E-verify for federal contractors, do you have somewhat of a number of how many contractors that would involve and how many workers potentially?
Secretary Chertoff: I think we were potentially talking about hundreds of thousands, if not millions of workers. This is going to apply to contractors who are getting a new contract. Once this comes into effect they're going to be required to run all their employees through E-verify. Or if they have a contract and they're going to bring new employees onto the contract, they're going to have to do that.
Since I can' t predict what contracting is going to be like in the next two or three years I can't give you a precise number, but it's going to be at a minimum hundreds of thousands and I think maybe millions of people will be run through that program.
Question: Can you tell us whether this will cover subcontractors as well contractors?
Secretary Chertoff: I think now we're getting into exactly the area where we're going to wind up having to write the detailed regulation. There are all kinds of issues about what the contracting entity is, so we're going to get into all kinds of topics that will be fascinating for the lawyers. But I'm not going to try to give the legal analysis from up here.
The basic principle is this: if you're working for the federal government and you're being paid with federal taxes you ought to make sure that you're employees are obeying federal law when it comes to their employment authorization, and this executive order as implemented in detail by the regulation will do precisely that.
Question: Mr. Secretary, do you have any concerns of lately the failure of the Merida initiative not only can put at risk the struggle from the Mexican government, I guess the drug smuggling, but also can affect the current cooperation between -- in securing the border.
Secretary Chertoff: I assume it's going to succeed. I think the logic for the Merida Initiative is strong. I know that many people have been making the case for it. I've made the case for it. I know my cabinet colleagues have made the case for it. I know the Mexican government's made the case for it. It seems to be indisputable that it's a joint problem we have at the border and it's something that we have to jointly solve. This President has not only said the right things, President Calderon; our President as well; but not only has said the right things but he's done the right things and he's done them at a considerable cost to some members of his government who have been the target of assassination plots. So I think we have a moral responsibility to work with the Mexican government but I also think that we have very practical self-interest reasons to work with Mexico on breaking the back of these drug organizations.
Question: And in regards to the raids and the enforcement issue, don't you think that maybe you are affecting somehow the rights of almost 400,000 U.S. citizens which are the children of the illegal immigrants.
Secretary Chertoff: You know, it's always very sad when a child winds up paying a price for an offense or violation of law that the parent commits, and we try to deal with the issue of arresting people in a way to make sure children are not left unattended. We recognize when people are deported they're likely to take their young children with them, even though they're American citizens. But we cannot allow the fact that someone who has a child who's an American citizen to create a de facto immunity from the law. And, you know, it's like any other violation of law. Sometimes I've seen situations where parents have had to go to jail for violations of the law and they've had children in the courtroom and the judge said, you should have thought about that when you committed the violation. So it's a sad thing to do. Again, that's why we talked about comprehensive immigration reform. We wanted to deal with these issues in a way that was fair and also respected the law, but the law being what it is we're going to enforce it.
Question: Do you expect to have the border secure by the end of the Bush administration?
Secretary Chertoff: I think we'll have made a dramatic amount of progress. I think if we continue on the course we've set now we can get the border secure by the border patrols definition sometime in 2011, maybe a little earlier. If we can do comprehensive immigration reform and if we could get a real temporary worker program, we could actually do it faster because that would relieve some of the pressure from the economic migrants. They would then move over and take a legal pathway instead of an illegal pathway. But if we don't have that tool it's going to take a little bit longer, but I think we can get it done by 2011.
Question: On the executive order there's been some criticism on the Merida system in terms its ability to actually handle a big increase in the number of workers that would be -- when they were talking about --. Are you at all concerned about getting in all these federal contractors potentially looking for people, that's going to put a strain on E-Verify to compromise --.
Secretary Chertoff: Well, first of all, I don't think we're going to get hundreds of thousands or millions all at once. What's going to happen is the system will phase in as you get a new contract the workers will be verified under that contract. We have seen -- we're very capable of dealing with an increase of a thousand a week and obviously Congress will need to continue to support the system with appropriations as they've done. But once you've got the -- you know, this has been road tested and did fairly well and it's gotten rave reviews. And, again, don't take my word for it. The marketplace is moving to the system. That's why we're getting thousand people to sign up every week, so I'm confident that provided we get the appropriations we need, which I'm sure we will get, that this is not going to be a problem to scale up.
Question: But just to follow up, an official from Arizona testified at the Congressional hearing recently that it wasn't getting rave reviews from some of the employers there. They were getting lots of false positives, they were having trouble explaining the system, and particularly smaller employers were having trouble dealing with the system so not everybody thinks it's working okay.
Secretary Chertoff: Well, the first thing I can tell you is, again, let's look at the numbers. I mean, if it was something people didn't want to participate in because it's a voluntary program at this point we wouldn't be getting a thousand a week. I've given you the numbers on the error rates. Now I can't tell you that every employer may have difficulty understanding the system or getting it to work. I have talked to a lot of employers and those employers have been very supportive and have appreciated and have really endorsed the system. Obviously, you know, you've got to learn how to use the system. You've got to have the right computer IT connections. But, again, I can't argue with the numbers. The numbers are clear. People are continuing to join and they're joining because they think it's a good system.
Moderator: Two more questions.
Question: One of -- for one, on the contractors, number one, the E-verify is voluntary? Is it voluntary for them or is it --
Secretary Chertoff:No.
Question: -- going to be mandatory for them?
Secretary Chertoff: No, for federal contractors who are getting new contracts who are putting new employees on existing contracts, it's going to be -- it's not going to be voluntary. They will have to do it as a condition of getting the contract.
Question: And if they are found, for example, you surprise them with workers who are not documented to work in the United States, what is the consequence for them? Do they lose the contract? Are they fined? What would be the consequence?
Secretary Chertoff: Again, I don't want to start writing regulations from the podium. In general, the way E-verify works is if you're using the system in good faith you're not going to be held liable, you're not going to be punished. If it turns out that somebody either games the system because they steal the real identity so that it passes muster or if, you know, an honest mistake is made. I mean, the idea here is not to create pitfalls for the unwearied. The idea is to give people a good faith opportunity to comply. If they do, they're going to be held harmless even if it turns out that someone took advantage of them or somehow there was an honest mistake.
Moderator: last question.
Question: Can you refer to the fact that sometimes you have found yourselves in an embarrassing situation where your legal workers --
Secretary Chertoff: Not me, personally. I mean --
Question: -- how prevalent has this been and --?
Secretary Chertoff: If you go back and look over press releases we've issued over the last two, three years you'll see periodically there are enforcement operations that occur at military bases, government facilities. I think many years ago, this goes way back, maybe 10 years ago, when I was in the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York that found illegal workers doing the painting in the U.S. Attorney's Office. You know, this kind of stuff, these kinds of stories, are always, you know, in the papers at various points in time. And I think the public looks at this and they say, well, if the government can't tell that the people working under government contracts are legal, then how can they tell us to make the same effort. So I think we're trying to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
Question: What sector in this chain is being more effective for the lack of foreign workers and then what would be the consequences if this situation continues for this year?
Secretary Gutierrez: We are seeing it in agriculture and the actual food production for the raw materials that many companies use in their processing. So that would be the main part but that is not the only part. We are seeing it in service jobs throughout the economy. In this specific instance we talk about farms moving overseas because they can't find enough workers. At a time when we are concerned about (a) our food supply; and (b) food safety. So I would say in terms of food chain, it goes across in some cases manufacturing; in some cases distribution. But the primary area would be in the production in the farming.
Moderator: last question.
Question: Mr. Secretary Chertoff, you asked for 100 million this year for E-verifying in the budget and I'm just wondering is that enough to cover this order that -- will be needed? Finally, I also just want to ask, one thing you didn't mention about your initiatives is citizenship applications. It doesn't seem like we're tapping on that as like what happened on passports. There was this all out effort to make sure Americans got their passports on time, but it seems like people are still having to wait to see if they get their citizenship or not.
Secretary Chertoff: A couple of things. First of all, I do think the money that we have is sufficient. Obviously Congress appropriates. We only propose a budget. On the issue of citizenship let me say a couple things. First of all we have worked to attack the problem of the backlog, the security check backlog. The FBI, of course, has the responsibility. We've worked with them to find a way to really move through that backlog and they've been making progress.
Secondly, I think we actually obviously got a big flood of citizenship applications that came last year and earlier this year. Our estimates of the amount of time it will take to get through that process have been decreasing as we've hired more people to process them. Obviously when you get -- I think we may have been as much as doubling or close to it, of new applicants, that's going to cause a strain on the system. But we are, again, our pace is accelerating and we have, in fact, made a very concerted effort to hire people. Obviously they have to be properly trained and to process people for citizenship as quickly as possible, but, and I underline the but, without compromising on the security. That's the one thing we're not going to compromise on.
Moderator: Thank you very much.
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This page was last reviewed/modified on June 9, 2008.
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1213101513448.shtm
DHS
Remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Department of Commerce Secretary Gutierrez at the State of Immigration Address
Release Date: June 9, 2008
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Washington, D.C.
Secretary Chertoff: Good afternoon everybody. I am joined here by Secretary Gutierrez, the Secretary of Commerce, who I am delighted to have with me. As you probably remember, last August we promised to provide regular updates to the American people on our efforts to secure the border, enforce immigration laws and meet the needs of our economy by reforming temporary worker programs to the extent the current laws permit us to do so.
This will be the third update since the administration announced our 26 immigration reform and transformation initiatives in the wake of the failure of comprehensive immigration reform to pass Congress last year. Today we are going to highlight three major areas: first our continued progress at the border, second our continued efforts to provide employers with better tools to maintain a legal workforce and third, our efforts to strengthen and make more efficient our foreign temporary worker programs.
In each area you will see clear evidence of our progress, and of our commitment to address the nation’s immigration challenges using the tools, resources and authorities at our disposal. But again we will remind you that the need to address this program more comprehensively by Congress remains. And we hope Congress will in the very near future turn to this issue once again.
As in the past, I would like to begin by highlighting our efforts at the border itself, specifically fence construction, border patrol hiring and technology. As you will see, we currently have slightly less than 330 miles of fencing that’s been built. And we are moving toward our goal of 670 miles of fencing by the end of calendar year 2008.
We continue to work with landowners on the southern border to gain the access we need to conduct surveys and make decisions about the right kind of infrastructure to deploy on our border. We have had several hundred meetings, including town halls and meetings with individual landowners. We continue to be open to good-faith discussion about alternatives. But what we are not open to is endless debate or delay. We have an objective that Congress has mandated. It is our intention to meet that objective and to fulfill our obligation to the American people to get this fencing built.
With respect to border patrol staffing, you will see a dramatic increase since the President took office in fiscal year 2002. We have gone from 9,800 border patrol to our current border patrol numbers of 16,471. That by the way, is an over-5,000 Border Patrol agent increase from where we were when we announced the beginning of this effort as part of our Secure Border Initiative.
And we are on track to meet our goal of over 18,000 border patrol agents by the end of this calendar year. Again we are going to continue to post on our web site on the metrics of our progress towards achieving this goal. And we are achieving the goal without compromising on the standard of training, which is so necessary for those agents who are going to be working the very demanding environment of our border.
One of the special initiatives I would like to highlight is Operation Streamline. And this is a particular initiative under which all aliens caught crossing the border in designated high-traffic zones are actually criminally prosecuted before they are deported as part of an administrative process. This of course is a project we undertake in partnership with the Department of Justice and particular prosecutors who work with us to present these cases to the courts.
We initiated Operation Streamline in the Del Rio sector of Texas in December 2005, expanded it to Yuma in December 2006, and further expanded it to Laredo sector in October 2007. The results of this criminal prosecution initiative have been striking. We have seen significant reductions and apprehensions, a decrease in the recidivism rate of aliens prosecuted under the program, meaning once they get prosecuted, they stop trying to come in again, and a reduction in smuggling -- in smuggling organizations and illegal entries in the relevant urban areas.
If you look at apprehensions, you could see a steady decrease from the time we began these initiatives to the present. The reason this works is because these illegal migrants come to realize that violating the law will not simply send them back to try over again, but will require them to actually serve some short period of time in a jail or prison setting. And will brand them as having been violators of the law.
And that has a very significant deterrent impact. In this regard, I want to thank the Department of Justice, which very recently announced a plan to higher an additional 64 prosecutors and 34 -- 35 support staff to help with our various immigration-focused law enforcement initiatives at the Southwest border.
Apart from fencing, apart from people, a very important enabler is technology. And we continue to invest resources to develop, install and integrate our SBInet technology solutions to help Customs and Border Protection and the Border Patrol get effective control of our nation’s border.
Some weeks back there was a lot of discussion about a prototype project known as Project 28. But contrary to some of the down-beat media reports, Project 28 produced a functioning prototype system that added value to the Border Patrol effort and that we are now prepared to actually operationally deploy in two parts of the border in Arizona.
In fact, as reported on May 8 in The Houston Chronicle, visits down to the border by two members of Congress, members of our Homeland Security Committee Representative Sheila Jackson Lee and Representative Christopher Carney, actually had them observe with approval a lot of the progress that has been made and the value that has been added by this technology project. As a consequence, we plan to award the Arizona Deployment Task Order contract to Boeing to install the first operational configuration of this concept in two areas within the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol. This is, of course, a concept that envisions fixed towers with radar, sensors and remote-controlled camera equipment, unattended ground sensors, and common operating picture equipment and software.
In addition to this, we will continue to roll out our ground-based mobile surveillance systems. We have our four unmanned aerial vehicles operating, and we continue to deploy independent ground sensors. Do these efforts work? The answer is yes. We continue to see a decrease in apprehensions period as compared to the same period in prior years, 16 percent on the Southwest border and 15 percent overall.
Don’t take my word for it. The words of the San Francisco Chronicle on May 16: “The tightening of the border has made it increasingly difficult, dangerous and expensive for laborers to return to the United States if they leave, disrupting the traditional circular flow of farm workers from Mexico to California’s fields into Salinas’ central valleys.”
The Financial Times June 4: “After nearly a decade of double-digit increases, remittances into Mexico have begun to decline. It appears that laws to crack down on Illegal workers are having an impact.” And a recent survey by the Inter-American Development Bank found that the number of Latino immigrants sending remittances home from the U.S. dropped from 73 percent to 50 percent in the past three years. This is attributed at least in part to this increased enforcement of the rules in the interior.
Now there is a negative metric, or a metric that while showing progress is an unhappy one. And that is the increase in border violence. As we have consistently predicted, when enforcement increases, when criminal organizations feel that their criminal businesses are being injured, they will fight back, and they will fight back with violence. Regrettably therefore, violence has continued to increase over the last several months as a consequence of this greater tempo of enforcement.
This fiscal year 744 incidents of violence have been perpetrated against Border Patrol agents, a 26 percent increase over the same time last year. Some of these attacks have shown a remarkable, callous disregard for human life, including one incident where an agent was literally struck and murdered by a vehicle fleeing into Mexico driven by a smuggler. I had the occasion to meet with the family of this agent shortly after he died as a result of this homicide. And I assured them we were going to continue to do everything we can to protect the Border Patrol as they work to protect the American people.
I also have to observe that as a consequence of President Calderon’s courageous and determined decision to proceed after the organized crime cartels on the Mexican side of the border, they have also seen an uptake in violence in Mexico. Hundreds of Mexican law enforcement officers have lost their lives or been attacked by violent drug cartels, including senior officials of the law enforcement establishment. President Calderon should be applauded for his efforts to dismantle these drug cartels and criminal organizations who are literally fighting to control portions of Mexico south of the border.
But we have to do more than applaud his work. We have to actually encourage it and assist it, and support his work as good partners with Mexico, dedicated to dealing with these organized crime organizations. And in these regard I want to call attention to the Merida initiative. We urge Congress to continue to move to pass practice appropriations legislation that will allow this very important plan to get over a half a billion dollars in money this year into Mexico to support this courageous effort to fight drug and organized crime violence.
We have a unique opportunity, one that may not come again, to partner with a determined leader in Mexico, so that we can address a shared problem in a partnership way that we cannot afford to ignore. Now of course we are not only focused on efforts to control the border between the ports of entry, we are increasing our security and our efficiency at the ports of entry themselves. We continue to move forward with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which is slated to go into effect in June 2009 at our land and sea ports of entry.
As you will remember, this initiative reduces the types of identification that can be presented at the border so that we get to a requirement of reliable identification for people who want to enter the United States. And it also has eliminated the old system of allowing people to simply orally declare their citizenship and get waved on through.
We have already implemented the first part of our effort to shrink the kind of acceptable documentation at our airports, and compliance has been close to 100 percent. Likewise, as we’ve increased the rigor of our requirements at the land and sea borders, we have found very high compliance rates. And we are working hard to increase the type of reliable documents, and the number of reliable documents which Americans and Canadians can use once this Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative gets implemented in June of next year.
For example, the new pass-card being issued by the State Department has received more than 200,000 applications, and production is set to begin this month. I have applied for one myself. I hope you have to, or you will shortly Secretary Gutierrez. What these cards are going to do is not be more reliable, but they will be faster, because instead of having to read a driver’s license, there will be a machine-readables only. You can simply zip through a machine-reader, which will make the process and times faster.
The states have also stepped up and become part of the solution to this issue of secure documentation. The state of Washington is currently issuing its own version of an approved, enhanced driver’s license that will be acceptable at the border. New York has announced that it has completed its business plan to begin producing those enhanced driver’s licenses. And other states are on the way to doing so as well.
As we move away from the borders, we have to also look at the issue of how we enforce the law of the interior, because we know that only by promoting a legal workforce can we reduce the incentives for people to come in illegally in order to do work in this country.
One critical tool for our success is giving the employer the means to check whether the applicant for a job is in fact presenting a valid social security number and name that match what is in our government databases. And the tool used to do this is E-Verify. This system has been a tremendous success, and the proof of the pudding is the marketplace itself. Every week on average, about a thousand new employers join this program. And I will tell you that at this point, I will estimate that is almost -- maybe actually more than ten percent of the new hires being hired in the United States are currently being run through this E-Verify system.
We have almost 70,000 employers currently enrolled. The system works. Of those workers who are legal, 99.5 percent of them roughly are verified essentially instantaneously. And if those workers who have a mismatch -- legal workers who we estimate to be about a half a percent, they are able generally to resolve their issue within less than two days.
Now of course we do have some people who don’t resolve the issue of mismatch. And that’s because in fact the number and the name don’t match, and it’s not merely a clerical error. We recognize that means that they are likely to be here illegally, or be using at least a false social security number and a false name to get work. And those people frankly, shouldn’t be working.
This system is doing the job it should do. It is resolving honest mistakes in a way that protects the worker. It is also identifying those who are not permitted to work because they are not here legally. And that’s what it should do as well. Now last year Congress gave a clear vote of confidence in the program by significantly increasing our appropriation for E-Verify. Several states have also indicated that they believe E-Verify is valuable and have enacted laws encouraging or requiring their businesses to use E-Verify.
We want to continue to have congressional support for this very important program. It should be re-authorized. Funding should be expanded. And to show that we are supporting this not just with words but with deeds, last Friday the President issued an executive order that is going to significantly increase the impact of E-Verify on the federal contracting workforce, because after all if we expect private employers to use E-Verify, the federal government should lead by example and not merely by exhortation.
The President’s executive order directs me to designate an electronic employment eligibility verification system - and I have designated E-Verify - that federal contractors will be required to use to verify the employment eligibility of their new workforce. The President also directed that federal departments and agencies require that the federal contractors use that E-Verify system to check the work authorization of the new hires and all their employees assigned to work on federal contracts.
E-Verify, working with these other agencies, is going to give these contractors the tools they need to make sure that workers who were hired to work on federal contracts are legal workers. It is always embarrassing frankly, when we have these periodic operations in which we discover illegal workers working on federal projects paid for by federal money that is ultimately paid for by the taxpayer.
So we are going to make sure we finish getting our own house in order first, even as we work to continue to make sure that others in the private sector use this system. Also today OMB has concluded its review of a proposed rule amending the federal acquisition regulation to implement the President’s executive order. As with all regulations, there will be a comment period for the regulations that we are issuing, the -- counsel was issuing. But we are looking forward to get this -- new system up and running later this year.
Finally, we are going to continue to keep the pressure up on employers and on illegal aliens by bringing significant cases. As you know recently we brought a case against a meat-processing operation in Iowa. Almost 300 immigrants, illegal immigrants pleaded guilty to using fraudulent documents to get their jobs in an Iowa meat-processing plant. That means they took the identities of innocent Americans and misused those identities. And at least in some instances, caused damage to the innocent American whose identity was stolen.
For those who say that we are only focusing on the illegal workers themselves, I point out that last year we had over 90 employers, or those in a supervisory chain who were convicted of crimes. We have had one CEO or President of a company sent to jail for 10 years. We have had recent conviction of a union official from the United Food and Commercial Workers union for his involvement with the activities at --.
We will continue to pursue employers. I know these cases take a little bit longer. There is a -- it is always more difficult to work up the chain. I can tell you as an old organized crime prosecutor and as an old drug prosecutor, you always start with the bottom ring first, then you work your way up to the top ring. But I guarantee we are continuing to work on making cases against that top ring and we will do so whenever the evidence supports bringing that kind of a case.
All I have talked about so far is enforcement. But, as we said, when we pursued the issue of comprehensive immigration, we know the American economy does need workers. And it’s going to need workers from other countries even though we have had an increase recently in unemployment. But they have got to come in a way that is legal, visible and regulated.
We currently have at least some programs that allow that to take place. And what we are trying to do now is to make those programs as accessible and as attractive as possible so that people can use the legal pathways as much as -- as conveniently as possible in order to satisfy their labor needs.
Let me give you just a brief survey of some of the things we have done recently. In April we published an interim final rule that extends the total period of optional practical training from 12 to 29 months for -- immigrant students with a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, who have accepted mployment with an employer enrolled in E-Verify.
What this does is it allows us to continue to keep smart, well-educated foreign students who want to come over and ultimately get a work visa, allows us to keep them in place doing productive work while they are awaiting the work visa process. And that’s not just good for them. It actually creates jobs in the American economy for others as well. So it’s a win-win both for the students, a win-win for the employers and a win-win for American workers.
The H-1B program, which is similarly focused on getting some of the best and the brightest to get these work visas so they can work and produce, and add value to the United States. This program also has to be refined to be made more fair and more orderly. For this reason, in March of this year we published an interim final rule that prohibits the filing of duplicate -- multiple H-1B petitions by a single U.S. employer for the same foreign worker.
Essentially what happened was it was like buying a lot of lottery tickets. Some people tried to hoard the marketplace, or flood the marketplace by filing duplicate -- multiple applications to try to get as many of these spots as possible.
That wasn't fair to other employers. It didn't do the job of distributing these visas as widely as possible and as efficiently as possible in the economy, so this new regulation will act to prevent employers from flooding the system with petitions and will allow a broader array of employers to participate in a fair and more equitable fashion in this system.
I'm also pleased to announce that we will be extending the validity period of the employment authorization documents that we issue to individuals who are waiting adjustment of status to lawful permit residenture or in colloquial phrase, the green card.
Currently, adjustment applications are granted employment authorization documents with only a one year maximum validity. Beginning later this month, we'll start issuing these documents with a two-year validity period for aliens who are waiting adjustment of status if their application is expected to be pending for more than a year.
This, again, is eliminating a persistent source of frustration for workers who are here, who have a pending adjustment application but have to go and renew their employment documents every single year. It's going to cut the paperwork there.
Finally, I'd like to talk about the H-2B program, which relates to seasonal and temporary non-agricultural workers. As you know, the cap on this went down and we're still awaiting Congressional action to lift the cap up, again, which is going to help not only ease applicants for jobs and not only the employers who want to hire them, but all the other people who benefit when workers produce productive activity and then the benefits ripple through the economy.
Currently, up to 66,000 foreign workers are admitted under this visa category and typical employment for H-2B workers includes landscaping, hotels, crab and clam industries, and resort areas; particularly those things which become more populated during the summer months.
As you know the Labor Department published a proposed rule in May addressing a number of bureaucratic and inefficiency concerns that had been raised about this program. But today we have sent over the Office of Management and Budget here at the Department of Homeland Security a new proposed regulation which would also propose some significant changes designed to increase the effectiveness and attractiveness of this H-2B-9 immigrant classification program.
It eliminates certain regulatory barriers, adds protection for foreign workers, and increases efficiency and coordination. It also proposes to change the definition of temporary employment to recognize that some H2B employment could last up to three years. Under this change, an employer who demonstrates a temporary need lasting no more than three years could keep the same worker in the same job for all three years provided they can demonstrate that there's no American worker available to do that work, because we do put Americans first.
Again, it's going to answer a complaint that we've heard for a long time from the business community. It implements one of the reformed proposals we tried to get done through comprehensive immigration reform, and it's going to produce benefits not only for the employees themselves, but for everybody else who benefits when we can invigorate businesses, particularly seasonable and temporary businesses that produce benefits throughout the entire economy.
The bottom line is we're doing what we said we were going to do last August. We're doing tougher enforcement; more effective enforcement. We are showing results. We are trying to work with the existing law to make it as easy and non-bureaucratic as possible for temporary workers to be brought in to fill jobs American won't fill.
In the end these are not permanent solutions. A truly permanent solution requires a more comprehensive look at the issue of immigration reform. Only Congress can take that step and although we bought some time, perhaps, this problem is going to persist until Congress grabs the nettle and decides that we're going to put together a comprehensive immigration reform program that everybody can live with.
With that I'd like to ask Secretary Gutierrez up here.
Secretary Gutierrez: Thank you. I would like to talk a little about the business environment and what is happening in the business community as it refers to immigration and the need for immigration reform. There's a lot of discussion about the burden of immigration but there is not enough conversation about the risk of not having enough immigrants, especially a risk to our economy and a risk to our competitive position as it relates to the rest of the world.
So as you can see from the Secretary's comments immigration reform remains a top priority for the Bush Administration. In the absence of legislation from Congress we've been proactively tackling this issue head on with as many administrative actions as possible.
The American people want and deserve a thoughtful, broad-based approach to immigration that focuses on the security and the economic prosperity of our country. Last August, Secretary Chertoff and I announced a package of administrative reforms that sharpened existing tools to protect our citizens and make our immigration system more workable.
We've made strides in securing our border. In fact, we've made great strides in securing our borders and enforcing existing immigration laws. But we cannot neglect our economic security; and that's exactly what we're doing by not passing comprehensive immigration reform.
At a time when we are facing tough economic challenges, our actions must boost our economy, not hamper it. The reality is that we simply do not have enough workers at both ends of the spectrum and I will repeat that. Our reality as a nation is that we do not have enough workers at both ends of the spectrum. That means for low-skilled, field laborers, all the way to high-skilled technology workers.
For example, for the fifth straight year our H-1B cap was filled at or before the start of the fiscal year. This year the cap was reached in one week. That's why, as Secretary Chertoff mentioned, we are proposing administrative reforms to our high-skilled programs and to the H-2B non-agriculture temporary worker program.
In addition, we have proposed changes to the H-2A agricultural seasonal worker program. The changes will make the H-2A system more efficient and ensure an orderly and timely flow of legal, foreign workers. They will also protect the rights of all agricultural workers, American and foreign, and make no mistake we need both. We don't have enough domestic workers to meet the food needs of our country.
The New York Times ran an article with the headline "Shortage of Labor to Cut Food Supply: Farmers Handicapped by Lack of Help Reduce Their Crop Acreage." That headline and the article ran in 1920. Coincidently that was amidst one of the worst anti-immigration waves that we have ever seen.
Nearly a century later we face similar challenges, but this time, rather than reduce consumption we'll have to turn to foreign producers or move our farms overseas to feed our families. In fact, that is already happening. A survey by the U.S. Farm Group, Western Growers, indicated American companies now farm more than 45,000 acres of land in Mexico employing 11,000 people.
At a time when we are looking to further secure our food supply to tighten our import safety and to continue to increase and contribute to world supply because of the prices of food, we should not encourage the outsourcing of American agriculture. And what Congress is doing by avoiding to pass comprehensive immigration reform is effectively encouraging the outsourcing of American agriculture.
We know there are employers who have not been able to fill many jobs with American workers. We simply can't ignore the problem and hope that the issue will go away. A comprehensive solution remains the best and the most long term option. Without it, we're getting a piecemeal approach, which is something we talked about when we mentioned the fact that comprehensive reform had failed, we talked about the fact that we were going to get a piecemeal approach to a national issue.
For example, in 2007 states enacted 240 immigration laws. That's up from 84 the year before. Immigration is being debated in every capital in the country. A total of 1,562 immigration bills were introduced last year. This patchwork of laws is untenable in the long term. So we will continue to look at ways to improve existing programs and address all aspects of immigration. Other major economies around the world have realized the need for immigration policy to help them grow their economies, and we are all competing for growth, and everyone is trying to grow their economies and most major economies have realized that they cannot grow without a comprehensive immigration policy.
Our country has a long history of making immigration work. We have more experience than any other nation and it has been one of our greatest advantages, if you look back through our economic history we would not have accomplished what we have accomplished if it were not for the help and the work of immigrants.
We can make immigration an advantage that will last for a century. The issue is not going to go away. Regardless of who is President and regardless of which party is in power, immigration will remain both a tough challenge but also a tremendous opportunity for our country if we get this right, if we approach it in a thoughtful way, and if we are decisive about confronting a problem that will not go away.
Thank you, and I will be happy to take your questions.
Question: Secretary, I wanted to ask you about --
Secretary Chertoff: Which Secretary; there's two.
Question: -- I'm sorry, Secretary Chertoff. I wanted to ask you about a traveler that was issued by the State Department in April that talked about what we're talking about, the violence along the border; and they say in part it's because of lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.-Mexico border, which indicates that the drug cartels you are speaking of are fighting over the routes for smuggling drugs; and I wondered what that says about securing the border when there's so much violence and it's related to the drug cartels which are trying to fight for routes.
Secretary Chertoff: It says a number of things. First of all, that's typically what happens as you start to enforce and you make it harder, they start to fight over the shrinking pie, so to speak, and who gets the best opportunity to exploit what additional space is left. So that's, in some sense, a good sign. The bad news is it causes a lot of violence and death and it's created a lot of havoc, particularly in Mexico.
I think several lessons flow from this. First, we've got to get this Merida initiative agreed to and funded in a way that's practical, that operates as a partnership as opposed to us simply dictating; and then recognizing that both countries have a common interest in securing the border.
Second, we need to make sure we're protecting ourselves on our side of the border. That means continuing not only to enforce the law the way we've been doing, but continuing to make sure our border patrol has the right mix of technology and infrastructure that gives them the most protection. And one of the arguments about this fencing is not only does it keep drug smugglers and human smugglers out, it makes it harder for them to get across with loads of drugs or whatever, but it also actually protects the border patrols because it makes it harder for people to shoot at them from across the border. We've had occasions of that; or to otherwise commit acts of assault.
So I think the lesson is clear. We certainly can't back down in the fact of violence. We've got to work with the Mexican government to continue to put the pressure on, break these cartels like we've done with organized crime in other settings, and we've got to get to our friends in Mexico the assistance and support that they need.
Question: Secretary Chertoff, about the executive order on E-verify for federal contractors, do you have somewhat of a number of how many contractors that would involve and how many workers potentially?
Secretary Chertoff: I think we were potentially talking about hundreds of thousands, if not millions of workers. This is going to apply to contractors who are getting a new contract. Once this comes into effect they're going to be required to run all their employees through E-verify. Or if they have a contract and they're going to bring new employees onto the contract, they're going to have to do that.
Since I can' t predict what contracting is going to be like in the next two or three years I can't give you a precise number, but it's going to be at a minimum hundreds of thousands and I think maybe millions of people will be run through that program.
Question: Can you tell us whether this will cover subcontractors as well contractors?
Secretary Chertoff: I think now we're getting into exactly the area where we're going to wind up having to write the detailed regulation. There are all kinds of issues about what the contracting entity is, so we're going to get into all kinds of topics that will be fascinating for the lawyers. But I'm not going to try to give the legal analysis from up here.
The basic principle is this: if you're working for the federal government and you're being paid with federal taxes you ought to make sure that you're employees are obeying federal law when it comes to their employment authorization, and this executive order as implemented in detail by the regulation will do precisely that.
Question: Mr. Secretary, do you have any concerns of lately the failure of the Merida initiative not only can put at risk the struggle from the Mexican government, I guess the drug smuggling, but also can affect the current cooperation between -- in securing the border.
Secretary Chertoff: I assume it's going to succeed. I think the logic for the Merida Initiative is strong. I know that many people have been making the case for it. I've made the case for it. I know my cabinet colleagues have made the case for it. I know the Mexican government's made the case for it. It seems to be indisputable that it's a joint problem we have at the border and it's something that we have to jointly solve. This President has not only said the right things, President Calderon; our President as well; but not only has said the right things but he's done the right things and he's done them at a considerable cost to some members of his government who have been the target of assassination plots. So I think we have a moral responsibility to work with the Mexican government but I also think that we have very practical self-interest reasons to work with Mexico on breaking the back of these drug organizations.
Question: And in regards to the raids and the enforcement issue, don't you think that maybe you are affecting somehow the rights of almost 400,000 U.S. citizens which are the children of the illegal immigrants.
Secretary Chertoff: You know, it's always very sad when a child winds up paying a price for an offense or violation of law that the parent commits, and we try to deal with the issue of arresting people in a way to make sure children are not left unattended. We recognize when people are deported they're likely to take their young children with them, even though they're American citizens. But we cannot allow the fact that someone who has a child who's an American citizen to create a de facto immunity from the law. And, you know, it's like any other violation of law. Sometimes I've seen situations where parents have had to go to jail for violations of the law and they've had children in the courtroom and the judge said, you should have thought about that when you committed the violation. So it's a sad thing to do. Again, that's why we talked about comprehensive immigration reform. We wanted to deal with these issues in a way that was fair and also respected the law, but the law being what it is we're going to enforce it.
Question: Do you expect to have the border secure by the end of the Bush administration?
Secretary Chertoff: I think we'll have made a dramatic amount of progress. I think if we continue on the course we've set now we can get the border secure by the border patrols definition sometime in 2011, maybe a little earlier. If we can do comprehensive immigration reform and if we could get a real temporary worker program, we could actually do it faster because that would relieve some of the pressure from the economic migrants. They would then move over and take a legal pathway instead of an illegal pathway. But if we don't have that tool it's going to take a little bit longer, but I think we can get it done by 2011.
Question: On the executive order there's been some criticism on the Merida system in terms its ability to actually handle a big increase in the number of workers that would be -- when they were talking about --. Are you at all concerned about getting in all these federal contractors potentially looking for people, that's going to put a strain on E-Verify to compromise --.
Secretary Chertoff: Well, first of all, I don't think we're going to get hundreds of thousands or millions all at once. What's going to happen is the system will phase in as you get a new contract the workers will be verified under that contract. We have seen -- we're very capable of dealing with an increase of a thousand a week and obviously Congress will need to continue to support the system with appropriations as they've done. But once you've got the -- you know, this has been road tested and did fairly well and it's gotten rave reviews. And, again, don't take my word for it. The marketplace is moving to the system. That's why we're getting thousand people to sign up every week, so I'm confident that provided we get the appropriations we need, which I'm sure we will get, that this is not going to be a problem to scale up.
Question: But just to follow up, an official from Arizona testified at the Congressional hearing recently that it wasn't getting rave reviews from some of the employers there. They were getting lots of false positives, they were having trouble explaining the system, and particularly smaller employers were having trouble dealing with the system so not everybody thinks it's working okay.
Secretary Chertoff: Well, the first thing I can tell you is, again, let's look at the numbers. I mean, if it was something people didn't want to participate in because it's a voluntary program at this point we wouldn't be getting a thousand a week. I've given you the numbers on the error rates. Now I can't tell you that every employer may have difficulty understanding the system or getting it to work. I have talked to a lot of employers and those employers have been very supportive and have appreciated and have really endorsed the system. Obviously, you know, you've got to learn how to use the system. You've got to have the right computer IT connections. But, again, I can't argue with the numbers. The numbers are clear. People are continuing to join and they're joining because they think it's a good system.
Moderator: Two more questions.
Question: One of -- for one, on the contractors, number one, the E-verify is voluntary? Is it voluntary for them or is it --
Secretary Chertoff:No.
Question: -- going to be mandatory for them?
Secretary Chertoff: No, for federal contractors who are getting new contracts who are putting new employees on existing contracts, it's going to be -- it's not going to be voluntary. They will have to do it as a condition of getting the contract.
Question: And if they are found, for example, you surprise them with workers who are not documented to work in the United States, what is the consequence for them? Do they lose the contract? Are they fined? What would be the consequence?
Secretary Chertoff: Again, I don't want to start writing regulations from the podium. In general, the way E-verify works is if you're using the system in good faith you're not going to be held liable, you're not going to be punished. If it turns out that somebody either games the system because they steal the real identity so that it passes muster or if, you know, an honest mistake is made. I mean, the idea here is not to create pitfalls for the unwearied. The idea is to give people a good faith opportunity to comply. If they do, they're going to be held harmless even if it turns out that someone took advantage of them or somehow there was an honest mistake.
Moderator: last question.
Question: Can you refer to the fact that sometimes you have found yourselves in an embarrassing situation where your legal workers --
Secretary Chertoff: Not me, personally. I mean --
Question: -- how prevalent has this been and --?
Secretary Chertoff: If you go back and look over press releases we've issued over the last two, three years you'll see periodically there are enforcement operations that occur at military bases, government facilities. I think many years ago, this goes way back, maybe 10 years ago, when I was in the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York that found illegal workers doing the painting in the U.S. Attorney's Office. You know, this kind of stuff, these kinds of stories, are always, you know, in the papers at various points in time. And I think the public looks at this and they say, well, if the government can't tell that the people working under government contracts are legal, then how can they tell us to make the same effort. So I think we're trying to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.
Question: What sector in this chain is being more effective for the lack of foreign workers and then what would be the consequences if this situation continues for this year?
Secretary Gutierrez: We are seeing it in agriculture and the actual food production for the raw materials that many companies use in their processing. So that would be the main part but that is not the only part. We are seeing it in service jobs throughout the economy. In this specific instance we talk about farms moving overseas because they can't find enough workers. At a time when we are concerned about (a) our food supply; and (b) food safety. So I would say in terms of food chain, it goes across in some cases manufacturing; in some cases distribution. But the primary area would be in the production in the farming.
Moderator: last question.
Question: Mr. Secretary Chertoff, you asked for 100 million this year for E-verifying in the budget and I'm just wondering is that enough to cover this order that -- will be needed? Finally, I also just want to ask, one thing you didn't mention about your initiatives is citizenship applications. It doesn't seem like we're tapping on that as like what happened on passports. There was this all out effort to make sure Americans got their passports on time, but it seems like people are still having to wait to see if they get their citizenship or not.
Secretary Chertoff: A couple of things. First of all, I do think the money that we have is sufficient. Obviously Congress appropriates. We only propose a budget. On the issue of citizenship let me say a couple things. First of all we have worked to attack the problem of the backlog, the security check backlog. The FBI, of course, has the responsibility. We've worked with them to find a way to really move through that backlog and they've been making progress.
Secondly, I think we actually obviously got a big flood of citizenship applications that came last year and earlier this year. Our estimates of the amount of time it will take to get through that process have been decreasing as we've hired more people to process them. Obviously when you get -- I think we may have been as much as doubling or close to it, of new applicants, that's going to cause a strain on the system. But we are, again, our pace is accelerating and we have, in fact, made a very concerted effort to hire people. Obviously they have to be properly trained and to process people for citizenship as quickly as possible, but, and I underline the but, without compromising on the security. That's the one thing we're not going to compromise on.
Moderator: Thank you very much.
###
This page was last reviewed/modified on June 9, 2008.
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1213101513448.shtm
Monday, June 9, 2008
Reuters.com - Boeing awarded contract on border fence: Chertoff
| Editor's note: I'm glad its and American firm. |
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| Boeing awarded contract on border fence: Chertoff | ||
| Mon Jun 09 18:50:47 UTC 2008 By Randall Mikkelsen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has decided to award Boeing contracts for the construction of two sections of a high-tech fence to be built along the border with Mexico in Arizona, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said on Monday. The two fence sections would be an "operational configuration" of a much-criticized 28-mile (45-km) section of "virtual fence" built by Boeing and tested earlier, Chertoff told a news conference. He said the fence would include fixed towers, with radar sensors, remote control cameras, ground sensors and software linking border agents to give them a "common operating picture" of the areas they are enforcing. Chertoff dismissed earlier reports of deep trouble with the test section, which had been delayed by several months due to technical problems, including communications and software glitches and fuzzy video images. At the news conference, called to give an update on U.S. immigration and immigration-control programs, Chertoff also said the government would require all federal contractors to participate in an electronic system to verify that employees are not illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration has been a simmering issue in this year's presidential campaign. Some Republicans have criticized the party's candidate, Sen. John McCain, for not being tough enough against illegal immigration, while McCain has criticized the virtual fence's problems as a disgrace. Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama has suggested high-tech controls could minimize the need for physical fencing. Chertoff said he expected that efforts to control immigration to be fully successful, as defined by the government, by "sometime in 2011." | ||
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Reuters.com - U.S. to erect more "virtual" border fences
| Executive Direcotor has sent you this article. |
| Personal Message: |
| |
| U.S. to erect more "virtual" border fences | ||
| Mon Jun 09 22:02:53 UTC 2008 By Randall Mikkelsen WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials announced plans for more high-tech border fencing and rules making it harder for federal contractors to hire illegal workers, but said on Monday it would take another three years to declare victory in immigration control. In an election-year update on immigration policies -- a simmering issue in this year's presidential campaign -- the Bush administration said its control efforts were making progress. But they said a major policy overhaul was needed to ensure there were enough immigrant workers for high-skilled technical jobs as well as low-skilled agricultural labor. "We simply do not have enough foreign workers at both ends of the spectrum," Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said at a news conference with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. President George W. Bush failed last year to get Congress to pass a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws, which would have combined a crackdown on illegal immigration with a new guest-worker program. The administration instead imposed a patchwork of administrative measures and moved ahead with plans to construct 670 miles of barriers along the 2,000-mile (3,200 km) border with Mexico. Chertoff said the government had decided to award Boeing Co contracts to build two sections of a high-tech fence in Arizona. The new sections would be an "operational configuration" of a much-criticized 28-mile (45-km) "virtual fence" built by Boeing and tested earlier, Chertoff said. It would include fixed towers, radar and ground sensors, remote control cameras, and software linking border agents. Officials plan to deploy elements of the technology as needed elsewhere along the border. Chertoff dismissed earlier reports of deep trouble with the test section, which had been delayed by several months due to technical problems, including communications and software glitches and fuzzy video images. FEDERAL CONTRACTORS Chertoff also said the government would make all federal contractors participate in an electronic system to verify that employees are not illegal immigrants. The decision could affect hundreds of thousands or millions of workers, he said. The government has heavily promoted the "E-Verify" system, which is voluntary for other private employers. Gutierrez said the United States had a shortage of workers that it was having trouble filling with immigrants, despite steps to streamline paperwork. Some Republicans have criticized the party's presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, for not being tough enough against illegal immigration. Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama has called for more opportunities for legal immigration and for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Chertoff said apprehensions this year of people trying to illegally cross the border were running about 16 percent behind last year's pace. That was a sign, he said, that fewer would-be immigrants were trying to cross, deterred by stricter enforcement and penalties. He said the U.S. goal remained on track to gain effective control of its borders by "sometime in 2011" -- at least two years after Bush leaves office. Also on Friday, the Justice Department inspector general reported that an FBI backlog in background checks had held up U.S. citizenship applications of tens of thousands of people. The report said the FBI's system of running background checks for names submitted by agencies including Citizenship and Immigration Services has been unable to cope with a surge of requests since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States led to tightened security standards. Some Democrats have accused the Bush administration of stalling to limit new voters in the November 4 election. But FBI and immigration officials told reporters they were making gains on the backlog. They projected that by the end of November, the number of citizenship background checks that had been pending for more than a year would fall to about 20,000, compared with about 50,000 in March. (Editing by Eric Beech) | ||
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LEGAL: Fate of Ariz. measure up to Appeals Court - Sanctions law ruling will ripple across U.S.(if this gets shot down, we are doomed)]
Sanctions law ruling will ripple across U.S.
Fate of Ariz. measure up to Appeals Court
Arizona's employer-sanctions law was among the first in the nation to go on the books, sending the state into a new world of employee screening, absent workers and anxious waiting for prosecutions.
Now, a year after it was signed into law, the measure has survived a challenge in federal court and is the first in the nation to get an airing before a federal appeals court. On Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hears the case, which is being pressed by business groups, civil-rights groups and Latino organizations.
The law allows the state to suspend or revoke the business license of employers found to have knowingly hired illegal workers. The case is being closely watched by lawmakers, attorneys, employers and immigration activists of all stripes. And not just in Arizona.
The Legal Arizona Workers Act, in effect since January, has spawned a number of similar acts in states from Mississippi to Indiana, New Jersey to Colorado.
Two other sanctions-related cases will follow the Arizona case to appeals courts, likely later this summer. The resulting opinions will shape a landscape that could guide sanctions laws nationwide, as well as increase pressure on Congress to do something about illegal immigration.
"It's hard to underestimate the impact Arizona has had with its employer-sanctions law," said Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City who has been helping the state of Arizona with its defense of the law.
Arizona, Kobach said, has done two things: It won the first legal challenge against its sanctions law, which emboldened other states to follow suit.
And anecdotal evidence suggests the mere existence of the law has prompted illegal workers to deport themselves, lessening their strain on the state, Kobach said.
'The cutting edge'
Critics of the Arizona law also have the case on their must-watch list.
"I think Arizona is on the cutting edge of some of these issues," said Kevin Johnson, a professor of law and "chicana/o" studies at the University of California-Davis who advocates open borders.
He said the Arizona Legislature has taken "a very aggressive stance" on immigration reform.
At the heart of the three appeals cases is a core constitutional question: Do state and local governments have the authority to set immigration policy?
Yes, attorneys for Arizona say. The role is limited, but they argue that Arizona's policies fit within the narrow window.
Lawyers representing the city councils in Hazleton, Pa., and Valley Park, Mo., are pursuing similar arguments.
In the case of Valley Park and Arizona, federal judges agreed with the government positions. In Pennsylvania, a federal judge said the city overstepped its bounds in requiring every employer seeking a city business permit to file an affidavit affirming that the company does not knowingly hire or employ any illegal workers.
The three cases have set the stage for a dramatic and possibly contradictory round of appeals-court decisions that are expected to be announced this summer or fall, Kobach and Johnson said.
Johnson says the 9th Circuit decision could be the most influential on future legal rulings, especially since the court deals with more immigration cases than any other appeals court. In any event, most observers expect that one or more of the sanctions laws will ultimately be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, given the economic and legal ramifications of the measures.
Arizona's law, like the others, relies on an exemption in the 1986{check} federal Immigration Reform and Control Act for local and state governments to take action when it comes to "licensing and similar laws."
The Legal Arizona Workers Act, state attorneys argue, uses that exemption to justify its sanctions for illegal hires: Suspension of a state-issued business license if an employer is found to have knowingly hired an illegal worker. A second offense would result in loss of that license.
But attorneys arguing against the state law say the Arizona Legislature reached too broadly. A license intended to spell out the requirements for being a hairdresser, for example, should not be used as a way to penalize a business.
The exemption, attorneys for the business and Latino groups say in a court filing, does not give Arizona or any other state the right to enact "their own broad employer-sanctions schemes."
To date, there have been no prosecutions of the law, though The Republic reported in March that Maricopa County had started five formal investigations.
The lack of prosecutions, Kobach says, raises the hurdle for the complaining parties.
"They've made their threshold argument much harder," Kobach said, because the plaintiffs have to make a theoretical case, rather than pointing to a business that can show damage from having business licenses suspended or revoked.
In fact, none of the laws at the center of the three cases going before appeals courts has produced any prosecutions.
Flurry of laws
While the legal battles are being waged, local and state lawmakers are refusing to sit on the sidelines.
The Missouri General Assembly last month approved an employer-sanctions law that mirrors the Valley Park ordinance. The bill is awaiting action by Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, who has strongly signaled that he will sign it.
Kobach and Johnson say the state and local action is a reaction to Congress' inability to pass immigration reform.
"Part of it has to do with frustration," Johnson said. "I think there's clear evidence the feds are listening."
He pointed to a high-profile raid of an Iowa slaughterhouse last month that resulted in the arrest of 389 immigrants.
And in late May, President Bush announced efforts to streamline the process for applying for H2B visas for seasonal labor, as well as a plan to expand the definition of "temporary" for seasonal laborers from 10 months to three years.
Kobach said look for the decisions in the sanctions cases - whichever way they might go - to be heard on Capitol Hill.
"I think it's almost certain we'll see another immigration fight in Congress in 2009," he said.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
SC Outlaws illegal aliens in college and jobs while momentum moves to NC!
From: ALIPAC <press@alipac.us>
Subject: SC Outlaws illegal aliens in college and jobs while
momentum moves to NC!
Date: Friday, May 30, 2008, 10:57 AM
SC Outlaws illegal aliens in college and jobs while momentum moves
to NC!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Contact: William Gheen, WilliamG@alipac.us, (919) 787-6009
ALIPAC activists are celebrating a victory in South Carolina
today, after months of activism that resulted in one of the strongest state
laws in America cracking down on illegal immigration.
The new legislation will bar illegal aliens from all taxpayer
funded colleges and require employers to verify they are only hiring American citizens and legal immigrants. The SC legislation follows new tough laws in AZ, GA, OK, RI,
and others.
"Our activists on the ground and from across the nation worked
very hard in South Carolina," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "The momentum for immigration enforcement is clear in the states. The illegal aliens are leaving SC and GA making North Carolina one of their top destinations. As the illegal aliens are headed our way, we hope to bring our progress with enforcement legislation to North Carolina now."
North Carolina recently made national headlines over a decision to
admit and then bar illegal aliens from community colleges. This week, a handful of Democrat legislators announced plans to try and assist illegal
aliens. In 2008, the state has considered over 1,100 bills that deal with aspects of immigration. The vast majority of these bills advocate enforcement and the removal of
taxpayer resources.
"We have a destructive human tsunami headed our way," said William
Gheen. "NC lawmakers must act NOW to protect American jobs, tax
resources, and lives. Our state must follow the lead of our neighbors and
batten down the hatches immediately."
ALIPAC is a national organization credited with defeating pro-illegal alien
legislation, while securing the passage of NC laws that favor enforcement. The group has announced plans to launch a historic and unprecedented
statewide effort that begins next week!
###
Paid for by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC
Post Office Box 30966, Raleigh, NC 27622-0966
Tel: (919) 787-6009 Toll Free: (866)
703-0864
FEC ID: C00405878
Subject: SC Outlaws illegal aliens in college and jobs while
momentum moves to NC!
Date: Friday, May 30, 2008, 10:57 AM
SC Outlaws illegal aliens in college and jobs while momentum moves
to NC!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Contact: William Gheen, WilliamG@alipac.us, (919) 787-6009
ALIPAC activists are celebrating a victory in South Carolina
today, after months of activism that resulted in one of the strongest state
laws in America cracking down on illegal immigration.
The new legislation will bar illegal aliens from all taxpayer
funded colleges and require employers to verify they are only hiring American citizens and legal immigrants. The SC legislation follows new tough laws in AZ, GA, OK, RI,
and others.
"Our activists on the ground and from across the nation worked
very hard in South Carolina," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "The momentum for immigration enforcement is clear in the states. The illegal aliens are leaving SC and GA making North Carolina one of their top destinations. As the illegal aliens are headed our way, we hope to bring our progress with enforcement legislation to North Carolina now."
North Carolina recently made national headlines over a decision to
admit and then bar illegal aliens from community colleges. This week, a handful of Democrat legislators announced plans to try and assist illegal
aliens. In 2008, the state has considered over 1,100 bills that deal with aspects of immigration. The vast majority of these bills advocate enforcement and the removal of
taxpayer resources.
"We have a destructive human tsunami headed our way," said William
Gheen. "NC lawmakers must act NOW to protect American jobs, tax
resources, and lives. Our state must follow the lead of our neighbors and
batten down the hatches immediately."
ALIPAC is a national organization credited with defeating pro-illegal alien
legislation, while securing the passage of NC laws that favor enforcement. The group has announced plans to launch a historic and unprecedented
statewide effort that begins next week!
###
Paid for by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC
Post Office Box 30966, Raleigh, NC 27622-0966
Tel: (919) 787-6009 Toll Free: (866)
703-0864
FEC ID: C00405878
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
End Automatic Citizenship of Illegal Babies
One of the major problems with illegal immigration is the so called "anchor babies." This is where the expectant mother tries to make it to the U.S. and have her child born in the U.S. and secure American citizenship for the child and immediate family. This article form the Seatle times shows that the rank and file want to deal with this contentious issue even though our nations leaders keep trying for amnesties.
State GOP: No automatic citizenship for kids born in U.S. to illegal immigrants
By Andrew Garber
Seattle Times staff reporter
SPOKANE — The state Republican Party adopted a platform Saturday that includes a provision aimed at opposing automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.
The state party approved a similar platform plank at its 2006 convention that proved controversial. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizes citizenship for all persons born in the United States.
"Immigration is an issue that a lot of our party activists feel strongly about," state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said. "And it's certainly a very defensible position. It's not at all something that's based on race concerns. It's a matter of what is citizenship going to be based on."
State Attorney General Rob McKenna, one of the state's most prominent Republicans, said he doesn't support banning automatic citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants.
"We have more than 200 years of history in which children born in the U.S. are deemed U.S. citizens," said McKenna, before reading the platform language. "What matters is where the children are born."
Not all delegates attending the convention support the position, either.
"The Constitution says that if you're born in the United States you're a U.S. citizen," said Scott Workman, of Sequim. "I'm not willing to change the Constitution. If we're going to let them in and they're going to have babies here, then they're U.S. citizens."
The plank containing the provision was adopted without discussion. It's part of a much broader party platform approved at the state GOP convention Saturday stating positions on issues ranging from national defense to health care and education.
The plank covering immigration and homeland security says, "We welcome those who wish to build a new and better life in America and Washington state and to recognize that the only price of such opportunity is their willingness to embrace our language, culture and legal system, beginning at our national borders."
The provision goes on to say that legal immigration "can best be facilitated by a transparent, traceable and enforceable guest-worker program that does not include amnesty or birthright citizenship and sanctuary cities."
Mathew Manweller, chairman of the platform committee, said the language in the provision is intended to oppose automatic citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants.
"We have no problem with them becoming citizens if they go through [the legal process] but not simply by virtue of birth," Manweller said.
Esser said the issue of birthright citizenship is broader than just illegal immigration. For example, he said, "I think if you ask the average person, 'Should a couple vacationing in the United States who are citizens of another country have a child on U.S. soil, should that child be a U.S. citizen?', that doesn't sound reasonable."
Esser noted that prohibiting citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants could "require a change in the U.S. Supreme Court interpretation of the 14th Amendment, so, obviously, if that's the case it will be difficult to ever accomplish."
McKenna said he doubts the citizenship provision of the party platform will have much impact.
"I think the attention span of the public on party platforms is very brief. I don't think platforms help you or hurt you very much," he said. "Voters look at the candidates."
Also at the convention, the state GOP assigned its 40 delegates to the national convention, with presumptive nominee John McCain ending up with the bulk of them. The state party's delegates are awarded through a complex system of caucuses and primaries.
Although there was a strong showing by Ron Paul supporters at the convention, McCain received a total of 33 delegates, Paul got four and Mike Huckabee three.
Andrew Garber: 360-943-9882 or agarber@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
State GOP: No automatic citizenship for kids born in U.S. to illegal immigrants
By Andrew Garber
Seattle Times staff reporter
SPOKANE — The state Republican Party adopted a platform Saturday that includes a provision aimed at opposing automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.
The state party approved a similar platform plank at its 2006 convention that proved controversial. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizes citizenship for all persons born in the United States.
"Immigration is an issue that a lot of our party activists feel strongly about," state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser said. "And it's certainly a very defensible position. It's not at all something that's based on race concerns. It's a matter of what is citizenship going to be based on."
State Attorney General Rob McKenna, one of the state's most prominent Republicans, said he doesn't support banning automatic citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants.
"We have more than 200 years of history in which children born in the U.S. are deemed U.S. citizens," said McKenna, before reading the platform language. "What matters is where the children are born."
Not all delegates attending the convention support the position, either.
"The Constitution says that if you're born in the United States you're a U.S. citizen," said Scott Workman, of Sequim. "I'm not willing to change the Constitution. If we're going to let them in and they're going to have babies here, then they're U.S. citizens."
The plank containing the provision was adopted without discussion. It's part of a much broader party platform approved at the state GOP convention Saturday stating positions on issues ranging from national defense to health care and education.
The plank covering immigration and homeland security says, "We welcome those who wish to build a new and better life in America and Washington state and to recognize that the only price of such opportunity is their willingness to embrace our language, culture and legal system, beginning at our national borders."
The provision goes on to say that legal immigration "can best be facilitated by a transparent, traceable and enforceable guest-worker program that does not include amnesty or birthright citizenship and sanctuary cities."
Mathew Manweller, chairman of the platform committee, said the language in the provision is intended to oppose automatic citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants.
"We have no problem with them becoming citizens if they go through [the legal process] but not simply by virtue of birth," Manweller said.
Esser said the issue of birthright citizenship is broader than just illegal immigration. For example, he said, "I think if you ask the average person, 'Should a couple vacationing in the United States who are citizens of another country have a child on U.S. soil, should that child be a U.S. citizen?', that doesn't sound reasonable."
Esser noted that prohibiting citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants could "require a change in the U.S. Supreme Court interpretation of the 14th Amendment, so, obviously, if that's the case it will be difficult to ever accomplish."
McKenna said he doubts the citizenship provision of the party platform will have much impact.
"I think the attention span of the public on party platforms is very brief. I don't think platforms help you or hurt you very much," he said. "Voters look at the candidates."
Also at the convention, the state GOP assigned its 40 delegates to the national convention, with presumptive nominee John McCain ending up with the bulk of them. The state party's delegates are awarded through a complex system of caucuses and primaries.
Although there was a strong showing by Ron Paul supporters at the convention, McCain received a total of 33 delegates, Paul got four and Mike Huckabee three.
Andrew Garber: 360-943-9882 or agarber@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
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