Mexico is Rich- Mexican wealthy play American taxpayers for suckers

SOURCE http://www.limitstogrowth.org/ | 2005 | Brenda Walker

Certainly there are many poor people in Mexico, since perhaps half the country lives in poverty. However, the nation as a whole is quite rich — see the documented facts listed below — and could well finance the sort of improvements in education and infrastructure that would better the living standards of all Mexicans. But the Mexican ultra-rich, like telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, don't like to tax themselves for investment the country badly needs for infrastructure and education, and it helps them greatly that the American taxpayer has been forced to support Mexicans living in the United States.

Interestingly, the Forbes list of billionaires published in 2006 showed Carlos Slim moving up to the number three spot among the world's richest men. Every dollar spent in U.S. taxes for social services for illegal aliens frees up additional cash to be sent south as part of the annual remittances which provided $20 billion in 2005.

According to the CNN news show Lou Dobbs Tonight (3/21/05), "Remittances, as they're called, are expected to become Mexico's primary source of income this year, surpassing the amount of money that Mexico makes on oil exports for the first time ever." So when el Presidente Vicente Fox complains that the "dignity" of Mexicans living illegally in America requires that they receive free healthcare on the U.S. taxpayer's dime, he is really talking about increased remittances to keep their whole corrupt system afloat.

Consider these relevent facts:

• Mexico has the second-highest highest Gross Domestic Product in Latin America, after being #1 for several years over second-place Brazil.

• When measured in GDP per capita, Mexico ranks #1 as of 2005, ahead of Chile and Venezuela.

• According to Forbes magazine, a substantial proportion of Latin American billionaires, 10 out of 26, were Mexican as of 2005.

• Mexico raises less revenue through taxation than nearly any other Latin American country, just 12 percent which is one reason why the nation's wealth is not better utilized. By comparison, the United States takes in 25-28 percent of its gross domestic profit in taxes. Even Brazil taxes itself at twice the Mexican rate.

• Economist Gary Hufbauer of the Institute for International Economics has remarked, "It's up to Mexico to solve its problem, and basically the wealthy classes do not want to tax themselves, period. While I'm not usually an advocate for larger government, Mexico is a country where public investment, done wisely, could pay huge dividends."

• Mexico expert Prof. George Grayson of William and Mary College calls Mexico an "immensely wealthy nation."

• Mexico's economy is the world's tenth largest.

• When the ruling party needed a hefty sum for the 1994 election, Presidente Salinas leaned on a group of rich businessmen to write $25 million checks each at an infamous dinner party, where contributions totaled a staggering $750 million by evening's end. Compare that with the measly $150 million campaign chest in spring 2004 that President Bush had accumulated after three years in office.

• Freedom House notes the cost of corruption: "According a recent study by the Mexico chapter of Transparency International, some $2.3 billion-approximately 1 percent-of the country's economic production goes to officials in bribes, with the poorest families paying nearly 14 percent of their income in bribes."

• Ricas y Famosas — Rich and Famous is a book of photos that takes a peek at the hidden world of the Mexican ultra-rich. Photographer Daniela Rossell used her membership in the exclusive club to reveal the decadent lifestyles of blonde women in gold lamé. It is a shocking view of the most extreme ostentatious wealth among great poverty.

• Sure Things in Mexico: Death, Taxes and Evasion According the recent rankings released from the IMD International, the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development placed Mexico at 56 out of 60 economies examined, largely because of a dearth of investment in everything from infrastructure to education. Due to its pathetic tax collection, Mexico cannot even buy schoolbooks or pay its police enough to live on, much less invest in its future.

• Lou Dobbs Tonight Transcript (12/16/04) The CNN news show shines a light on Mexican wealth. Particularly noteworthy is Prof. Grayson's remark: "There is a small economic elite who live like maharajas, and there's a political elite that protects them. Our border provides an escape valve which really lets the Mexican political and economic elite off the hook in terms of providing opportunities for their own people."

• While US Focuses on Iraq, Mexico is Collapsing June, 2005, and the symptoms of Mexico's failure as a state are accumulating. The recent takeover of border city Nuevo Laredo by the Mexican army because of the breakdown in law and order was so obvious.


Interestingly, Defense chief Donald Rumsfeld is guided by a secret Pentagon report which identifies Mexico as a potential failed state in the making.

For more, read "Mexico's Rich Don't Like To Pay Taxes — They Think You Should."
+++++++++++++
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." -- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

Posts of the Day-Best of the Web

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
---George Orwell

********************

Amnesty: (thanks blackie)
The action of a government by which all persons or certain groups of persons who have committed a criminal offense—usually of a political nature that threatens the sovereignty of the government (such as sedition or treason)—are granted immunity from prosecution.
*********************

"The prohibiting duties we lay on all articles of foreign manufacture which prudence requires us to establish at home, with the patriotic determination of every good citizen to use no foreign article which can be made within ourselves without regard to difference of price, secures us against a relapse into foreign dependency." --Thomas Jefferson to Jean Baptiste Say, 1815.

"I have come to a resolution myself as I hope every good citizen will, never again to purchase any article of foreign manufacture which can be had of American make, be the difference of price what it may." --Thomas Jefferson to B. S. Barton, 1815. ME 19:223 Willie Green 5/17/06
*********************
We Americans face an awesome challenge and responsibility because if liberty dies here, it's probably dead for all places and all times. --Walter Williams ( Thanks Hedgetrimmer)
****************

"A HOUSE DIVIDED" - Pukin's FReeperversary Rant
	Posted by NewRomeTacitus to wardaddy On News/Activism 05/19/2006 9:21:56 AM PDT · 3,502 of 3,633 Middle Tennessee has indeed become a major destination point for illegal immigrants because of the ongoing construction work available and the near-total lack of employer enforcement. 100,000 may be too conservative a number for a population that shuns accountability as a matter of course. You know of my scrapes with them as a holdout while they drove my former legal immigrant neighbors away with crime, noise, graffiti, pollution, disrespect and overall obnoxiousness. Their ranks are swelling with every new bus-liner arriving at the Adame depot behind Nolensville Road ("Nothing Runs Like a Greyhound Coyote!"). The OBLs [open border lovers] would change their tune in a hurry if they had to survive the conditions I listed. Where's the sympathy for the poor and retired citizens stuck in the ever-growing barrio who have to bar their windows and watch their meager properties fall in value? Perhaps they're written off as part of "the rabble" who's role is to shut up and take it. Woe unto those who dare to bray about bad representation - they'll just be kicked to the curb like a pukin' dog by authorities with hearts as black as onyx. If those citizens banded together and marched through the stadium shouting seditious slogans they'd be incarcerated and convicted with no pardons. Do you smell what the Rokke is cookin'? Seriously, we should follow the advice of the Minutemen and vote for the most conservative candidates available. The current state of our nation is directly attributable to voters choosing "the lesser evil" and receiving evil for their efforts. The phenomenon mentioned earlier of out-going politicos assigned the dirty work is true - apparent in the capitulation we saw last Monday and in the comments by the departing Bill Frist ("a wall is useless, they'll just go around it") right after he sent a mass email supporting one. We all deserve better than that.

Do you hear the winds of tyranny Howlin? (Joe Hadenfuf 5/22/06)
*************************

To: NormsRevenge
I don't want to say the president has abandon the core beliefs of the Republican party but...

I feel as if I am a 5-year old standing by the road, in a desert, with a suitcase and my teddy bead in hand, watching my dad drive way, saying "it for your own good, son".
05/20/2006 12:54:26 PM PDT by truemiester
*****************

Sessions Exposes Treachery, Treason /REQUIRED READING!

Sessions Exposes Treachery, Treason
Specter Gang Tried to Pull Fast One on America

"If the American people had not been stiff- armed by an arrogant, elitist bureaucracy and and political class we wouldn't have between 11 and 20 million people in our country..."

C-SPAN 2 -- May 19, 2006 Sessions to the senate: Why are you afraid to discuss this bill? ...Why are you afraid to tell the truth about your bill? Why are you putting on here Temporary Guest Worker when there's nothing temporary about it? Are you afraid that if the American people found out what's really in that it would have brought in... one hundred and thirty million people into the country permanently? ....The American people don't think we should huddle up here. Some group come in and meet with a few Senators and have them foist on the American people and their legitimate concerns over the legality and the depressing of wages...The huge majority of the American people have been right on this for decades.... http://www.americanpatrol.com/ Watch Part I / Part II

--

Lou Dobbs has a poll up right now you should check out. This week Sen. Jim Inhofe introduced a bill to declare English the national Language and start to curb some of the interpretation, printing that is demanded by foreign speakers at our expense. The bill passed but not before Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, John McCain and a couple others called Inhofe and his bill racist. This is the theatre going on in the Senate as they try to form the New North American Union -- Why have borders!

Find out how they voted!
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/vote_menu_109_2.htm

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

Do you believe that English should be the official language of the United States?
Yes		96%	16608 votes
No		4%	690 votes
Total: 17298 votes

Senate Immigration Bill Would Allow 100 Million New Legal Immigrants over the Next Twenty Years

The Heritage Foundation

By Robert Rector

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1076.cfm

If enacted, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIRA, S.2611) would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years, allowing an estimated 103 million persons to legally immigrate to the U.S. over the next 20 years—fully one-third of the current population of the United States.

Much attention has been given to the fact that the bill grants amnesty to some 10 million illegal immigrants. Little or no attention has been given to the fact that the bill would quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the United States, raising, over time, the inflow of legal immigrants from around one million per year to over five million per year. The impact of this increase in legal immigration dwarfs the magnitude of the amnesty provisions.

In contrast to the 103 million immigrants permitted under CIRA, current law allows 19 million legal immigrants over the next twenty years. Relative to current law, then, CIRA would add an extra 84 million legal immigrants to the nation’s population.

The figure of 103 million legal immigrants is a reasonable estimate of the actual immigration inflow under the bill and not the maximum number that would be legally permitted to enter. The maximum number that could legally enter would be almost 200 million over twenty years—over 180 million more legal immigrants than current law permits.

Immigration Status

To understand the provisions of CIRA, largely based on a compromise by Senators Chuck Hagel (R–Nebraska) and Mel Martinez (R–Florida), it is useful to distinguish between the three legal statuses that a legal immigrant might hold:

1. Temporary Status: Persons in this category enter the U.S. temporarily and are required to leave after a period of time.
   
2. Near-Permanent, Convertible Status: Persons in this category enter the U.S. and are given the opportunity to “adjust” or convert to legal permanent residence after a few years.
   
3. Legal Permanent Residence (LPR): Persons in this category have the right to remain in the United States for their entire lives. After five years, they have the right to naturalize and become citizens. As naturalized citizens, they have the constitutional rights to vote and to receive any government benefits given to native-born citizens.

A key feature of CIRA is that most immigrants identified as “temporary” are, in fact, given convertible status with a virtually unrestricted opportunity to become legal permanent residents and then citizens.

Another important feature of both CIRA and existing immigration law is that immigrants in convertible or LPR status have the right to bring spouses and minor children into the country. Spouses and dependent children will be granted permanent residence along with the primary immigrant and may also become citizens. In addition, after naturalizing, an immigrant has the right to bring his parents into the U.S. as permanent residents with the opportunity for citizenship. There are no numeric limits on the number of spouses, dependent children, and parents of naturalized citizens that may be brought into the country. Additionally, the siblings and adult children (along with their families) of naturalized citizens and the adult children (and their families) of legal permanent residents are given preference in future admission but are subject to numeric caps.

Key Provisions of CIRA

Four key provisions of CIRA would result in an explosive increase in legal immigration.

Amnesty for Current Illegal Immigrants: CIRA offers amnesty and citizenship to 85 percent of the nation’s current 11.9 million illegal immigrants. Under the plan, illegal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for five years or more (60 percent of illegals) would be granted immediate amnesty. Illegal immigrants who have been in the country between two and five years (25 percent of illegals) could travel to one of 16 “ports of entry,” where they would receive amnesty and lawful work permits.[1] In total, the bill would grant amnesty to 85 percent of the current illegal immigrant population, or some 10 million individuals.

After receiving amnesty, illegal immigrants would spend six years in a provisional status before attaining LPR status. After five years in LPR status, they would have the opportunity to become naturalized citizens and vote in U.S. elections. As well, the spouses and dependent children of current illegal immigrants would have the right to enter the U.S. and become citizens.[2] There would be no numeric limit on the number of illegal immigrants, spouses, and dependents receiving LPR status; under the amnesty provision, such individuals would not be counted against any other cap or limit in immigration law.[3]

The New “Temporary Guest Worker” Program: CIRA creates an entirely new “temporary guest worker” (H-2C) program. There is nothing temporary about this program; nearly all “guest workers” would have the right to become permanent residents and then citizens.

Foreign workers could enter the U.S. as guest workers if they have a job offer from a U.S. employer. In practical terms, U.S. companies would recruit foreign workers to enter the guest worker program and immigrate to the U.S. Most likely, intermediate employment firms would specialize in recruiting foreign labor for U.S. employers.

Guest workers would be allowed to remain in the U.S. for six years.[4] However, in the fourth year, the guest worker could ask for LPR status and would receive it if he has learned English or is enrolled in an English class.[5] There are no numeric limits on the number of guest workers who could receive LPR status. Upon receiving LPR status, the guest worker could remain in the country permanently. He could become a U.S. citizen and vote in U.S. elections after just five more years.

The spouses and minor children of guest workers would also be permitted to immigrate to the U.S.[6] When guest workers petition for LPR status, their spouses and children would receive it as well. Five years after obtaining LPR status, these spouses could become naturalized citizens. The bill sets no limit on the number of spouses and children who could immigrate under the guest worker program. After workers and their spouses have obtained citizenship, they would be able to bring in their parents as legal permanent residents.

The bill does provide numeric limits on the number of guest workers who can enter the country each year, but the number starts high and then grows exponentially. In the first year, 325,000 H-2C visas would be given out, but if employer demand for guest workers is high, that number could be boosted by an extra 65,000 in the next year. If employer demand for H-2C workers continues to be high, the number of H-2C visas could be raised by up to 20 percent in each subsequent year.

The 20 percent exponential escalator provision allows the number of H-2C immigrants to climb steeply in future years. If the H-2C cap were increased by 20 percent each year, within twenty years the annual inflow of workers would reach 12 million. At this 20 percent growth rate, a total of 70 million guest workers would enter the U.S. over the next two decades and none would be required to leave. While it is unlikely that so many workers would enter, the program does have the potential to bring ten of millions of immigrants to the U.S.

The “guest worker” program, then, is an open door program, based on the demands of U.S. business, that would allow an almost unlimited number of workers and dependents to enter the U.S. from anywhere in world and become citizens. It is essentially an “open border” provision.

Additional Permanent Visas for Siblings, Adult Children, and their Families: The permanent entry of non-immediate relatives—such as brothers, sisters, and adult children—is currently subject to a cap of 480,000 per year minus the number of immediate relatives (the parents, spouses, and minor children of U.S. citizens) admitted in the prior year. CIRA eliminates the deduction for immediate relatives from the cap.[7] This effectively increases the number of non-immediate relatives who could attain LPR status by 254,000 per year.

Additional Permanent Employment Visas: The U.S. currently issues around 140,000 employment-based visas each year. Under CIRA, the U.S. would issue 450,000 employment-based green cards per year between 2007 and 2016.[8] After 2016, the number would fall to 290,000 per year.[9] Under current law, LPR visas going to the spouses and children of workers with employment-based visas are counted against the cap. Under CIRA, these spouses and children would be removed from the cap and given legal permanent residence without numeric limits.[10] Historically, 1.2 dependent relatives have entered the U.S. for each worker under employment-based immigration programs.[11] This means that some 990,000 persons per year would be granted LPR status until 2016 and, after that, 638,000 per year.

Estimating Future Immigration Under CIRA

Most provisions of CIRA are straightforward; in many categories, the number of future immigrants allowed is either directly stated or can be easily calculated from the law’s provisions. In some areas, however, the law’s impact is uncertain. To estimate future legal immigration under the bill, three assumptions have been used in this paper:

• Spouses and children of workers: Dependent spouses and children represent a major component of current immigration. In the current employment-based visa program, 1.2 dependents enter for each incoming worker.[12] This paper assumes this ratio will continue in the employment-based program and will also apply to those entering under the new guest worker program. This is a conservative assumption: guest workers are likely to have lower education levels and thus to have larger families. Finally, many current illegal immigrants who would receive amnesty under the bill already have families in the U.S.; therefore the ratio of incoming spouses and children to amnesty recipients is assumed to be only 0.6, or half the ratio of the employment-based program.
  
• Parents of naturalized citizens: Parents of naturalized citizens currently make up eight percent of all new legal immigrants. This paper assumes that half of all adult immigrants will naturalize after five years of LPR status and that 30 percent of the parents of these naturalized citizens will immigrate in the three years after their children’s naturalization.
  
• Growth in the guest worker program: The number of immigrants in the guest worker program will be driven by employer demand. The bill allows the number of H-2C visas to increase by 20 percent per year; this level of growth would result in an extraordinary 60 million guest workers in the U.S. over the next twenty years. This paper assumes that the number of immigrants in the guest worker program would increase at a more moderate rate of 10 percent per year. Alternative estimates for 20 percent growth and zero growth in the program are also presented.[13]

A Flood of Legal Immigrants

Under CIRA, immigrants could enter the country or attain lawful status within the country through eight channels. In each channel, immigrants would be granted permanent residence and the right to become citizens. The first channel represents immigrants who would have entered under current law; the second channel represents illegal immigrants who are currently in the country and would be given legal permanent residence under the bill. The other six channels represent new inflows of legal immigrants that would occur as a result of the bill. The total number of new legal immigrants over a twenty year period would be as follows: (See Charts 1 and 2.)

1. Visas under current law: Roughly 950,000 persons receive permanent residence visas under current law each year. Over 20 years, the inflow of immigrants through this channel would be 19 million. This represents the status quo under existing law.
   
2. Amnesty: The bill would grant amnesty to roughly 10 million illegal immigrants. These individuals are currently living in the U.S.; amnesty would allow them to remain legally and to become U.S. citizens.
   
3. Expanded family chain migration: The number of family-sponsored visas for secondary family members, such as adult brothers and sisters, is currently limited to 480,000 per year minus the number of visas given to immediate family members (spouses, minor children, and parents of U.S. citizens). The bill changes the law so that the total quota on secondary family members would be 480,000 without deductions for immediate family members. The net increase in the number of immigrants under this provision would be around 254,000 per year, or 5.1 million over 20 years.[14]
   
4. Employment-based green cards: The bill would increase the number of employment-based visas from 140,000 to 450,000 per year. For the first time, it would also exempt the spouses and children of workers from the cap. Total annual immigration under this provision is likely to be 450,000 workers plus 540,000 family members annually. The net increase above current law over 20 years would be around 13.5 million persons.[15]
   
5. The guest worker (H-2C) program: CIRA would allow 325,000 persons to participate in the guest worker program in the first year. This number could rise by 65,000 in the next year and then by 20 percent per year. Assuming 10 percent annual growth in the annual number of guest workers entering the country (well below the bill’s maximum), the total inflow of workers under this program would be 20 million over 20 years.
   
6. Spouses and children of guest workers: Guest workers could bring their spouses and children to the U.S. as permanent residents; the added number of entrants would be 24 million over 20 years.
   
7. Spouses and children of illegal immigrants given amnesty: Illegal immigrants who received amnesty could bring their spouses and children into the U.S. as legal permanent residents with the opportunity for full citizenship. The number of spouses and children who would enter the U.S. as a result of amnesty would be at least six million.
   
8. Parents of naturalized citizens. The bill would substantially increase the number of naturalized citizens. Naturalized citizens would have an unlimited right to bring their parents into the U.S. as legal permanent residents. Over twenty years, the number of parents who would enter the U.S. as permanent legal residents as a result of CIRA would be around five million.

Overall, the bill would allow some 103 million persons to legally immigrate over the next twenty years. This is roughly one-third of the current population of the United States. All of these new entrants would be permanent residents and would have the right to become citizens. This would be a 84 million person net increase over current law.

Legal Flow Compared to Illegal Immigration

All of the immigration discussed to this point would be legal immigration. If illegal immigration continued after enactment of S.2611, the inflow of immigrants would be even greater. Although illegal immigration is considered a major problem, the proposed legal immigration under CIRA would dwarf it numerically. The net inflow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. population is around 700,000 per year.[16] Legal immigration under CIRA would exceed five million per year, seven times the rate of the current illegal immigration flow. Annual legal and illegal immigration together now equals about 1.7 million; future legal immigration alone under CIRA would be three times this amount.

Range of Estimates

The figure of 103 million new legal immigrants is based on the assumption that immigration under the guest worker program would grow at 10 percent per year. If guest-worker immigration grows at the maximum rate permitted by the bill, 20 percent per year, the total number of new immigrants coming to the U.S. over the next twenty years would be 193 million. On the other hand, if immigration under the H-2C program did not increase at all for two decades but remained fixed at the initial level of 325,000 per year, total legal immigration under CIRA would be 72 million over twenty years, or more than three times the level that would occur under current law. (See Chart 3.)

The tables in the Appendix show annual inflows of total legal immigrants in each of the eight channels mentioned above over the next twenty years. The tables show the estimated yearly rate of immigration under three scenarios for the H-2C program: zero growth, ten percent growth, and twenty percent growth.

Dwarfing the Great Migration

Between 1870 and 1920, the U.S. experienced a massive flow of immigration known as the “great migration”. During this period, foreign born persons hovered between 13 and 15 percent of the population.[17]In 1924, Congress passed major legislation greatly reducing future immigration. By 1970, foreign born persons had fallen to 5 percent of the population.

In the last three decades, immigration has increased sharply. The foreign born now comprise around 12 percent of the population, approaching the levels of the early 1900’s. However, if CIRA were enacted, and 100 million new immigrants entered the country over the next twenty years, foreign born persons would rise to over one quarter of the U.S. population.[18] There is no precedent for that level of immigration at any time in U.S. history.

Conclusion

If enacted, CIRA would be the most dramatic change in immigration law in 80 years. In its overall impact on the nation, the bill would rival other historic milestones, such as the creation of Social Security or Medicare.

The bill would give amnesty to 10 million illegal immigrants and quintuple the rate of legal immigration into the U.S. Under the bill, the annual inflow of immigrants with the option of becoming legal permanent residents would rise from the current level of one million per year to more than five million per year. Within a few years, the annual inflow of new immigrants would exceed one percent of the current U.S. population. This would be the highest immigration rate in U.S. history.

Within 20 years, some 103 million new immigrants would enter the U.S. This number is about one-third of the current U.S. population. All of these immigrants would be permanent residents with the right to become citizens and vote in U.S. elections. CIRA would transform the United States socially, economically, and politically. Within two decades, the character of the nation would differ dramatically from what exists today.

Robert Rector is Senior Research Fellow in Domestic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

Appendix

“VISA OVERSTAYS; CAN WE BAR THE TERRORIST DOOR?”

This is the testimony of Mike Cutler, former INS agent before Congress, May 11, 2006.
http://mail.google.com/mail/? view=att&disp=vah&attid=0.1&th=10b2bc0e70404a74

Chairman Rohrbacher, ranking member Delahunt, members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen, I greatly appreciate the opportunity to testify before this subcommittee on an issue that I believe is of great significance to the security of our nation, especially as we attempt to secure our country against criminals and terrorists.

Much attention has been paid to the porous borders of the United States through which large numbers of aliens succeed in entering our country illegally. However the issue of aliens who enter our country through ports of entry having been inspected by CBP, who subsequently overstay or otherwise violate the terms of admission, is an issue that is often neglected if not totally overlooked. That is why this hearing is of special significance. In order for a terrorist to attack our nation from within our borders he must first, obviously, manage to enter the United States. Whether it is by running our borders, stowing away on a vessel or entering the United States through a port of entry, terrorists have many ways of gaining entry into the United States and the issue of visa violators is of critical concern and represents a major vulnerability.

It is worth noting that the terrorists who attacked our nation on September 11, 2001 all entered our country through ports of entry. I have often made the point that any state that possesses an international airport or a seaport is, in fact, a border state. It is currently estimated that more than 40% of the illegal alien population currently present in the United States did not run our nation’s borders, but entered our country through a port of entry and then, in one way or another, violated the terms of their admission into the United States, whether by overstaying the authorized period for which they were admitted, accepting unauthorized employment or became involved in criminal activities and were found guilty of committing crimes within the United States.

While this hearing is focused on visa overstays, we need to also consider the Visa Waiver Program that enables aliens from 26 countries plus Canada to apply for admission to the United States without first obtaining a visa for the United States. At present, most American citizens are required to remove their shoes so that these items can be searched, before passengers are permitted to board an airliner. This procedure is followed because Richard Reid, the infamous “Shoe Bomber” concealed a bomb in his shoes. Mr. Reid, however, was a citizen of Great Britain and was eligible to seek entry into the United States without first applying for and receiving a visa. So, while citizens of our nation fall under greater scrutiny to enhance security on airplanes, aliens may still seek admission into the United States without first securing a visa. The visa requirement for aliens seeking to enter the United States provides three potential benefits to our law enforcement authorities. First of all, the process of securing a visa requires an interview that helps to screen out those aliens who should not be permitted to enter the United States for a variety of reasons. Second, the application that an alien files in pursuing a visa can provide useful information should that alien ultimately become the target or potential target of an investigation for a wide variety of crimes including of course, terrorism. Finally, if an alien lies on that application and commits visa fraud, it can often be easier to prosecute an alien for committing visa fraud than for his involvement in terrorism or other such criminal activities. Significantly, the penalties for visa fraud, committed in furtherance of drug trafficking increases the penalties for such fraud when that nexus can be established, to a maximum of 20 years of incarceration and the maximum penalty increases to 25 years of incarceration when such fraud is committed in conjunction with terrorism. An alien who seeks to enter the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program faces none of these provisions of laws and none of these potential investigative or law enforcement tools can be applied in such cases.

The President of the United States and other political leaders have often said that we should focus law enforcement’s resources and attention on those who would do us harm and not waste the extremely limited resources of ICE to enforce the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States on those aliens who simply come to the United States to seek employment. It would indeed make sense to do this if it were such a simple proposition. Someone once said that an effective spy is someone who would not attract the attention of a waitress at a “Greasy spoon diner.” The same can be said of an effective terrorist. In fact, it might well be that the waitress or waiter of such an establishment is, in fact, a spy or a terrorist.

In the mid 1980s, as a special agent of the former INS, I was assigned to conduct an investigation of a diner in Staten Island, New York. We had received information that a number of illegal aliens were working at that restaurant who had come from a variety of countries. We ultimately arrested a number of employees, most of whom worked in the kitchen of the diner. One of the employees, a dishwasher, was a citizen of Egypt who realized what was going on fled out the back door of the restaurant and it took a bit of a chase to finally arrest him. Once in custody, we took him back to his apartment to attempt to obtain his passport, a standard procedure, since that travel document would be essential if we were to have him deported. He was cooperative and in we entered his apartment. My partner and I were at a loss to understand why we found many shopping bags from department stores filled to the brim with coupons for various grocery items ranging from laundry detergent to diapers and dog food. When questioned about it, he fumbled for an answer and then said that the kids in the neighborhood played with the coupons. We knew it made no sense, but having nothing else to go on, we simply retrieved his passport and lodged him in the immigration detention facility. He was ultimately deported.

Several months later, I watched a televised news program and to my consternation and frustration, learned that the PLO had been sending their minions to the United States to raise money for terrorist activities by committing a variety of crimes including coupon fraud. Apparently the dishwasher was one of those who had come here to raise money to fund terrorism.

There have been published accounts in newspapers of terror suspects who have worked at a wide variety of seemingly menial jobs in the United including one guy who drove an ice-cream truck and others who have driven taxi cabs while still others have worked in used car lots or even taught school. I can tell you from personal experience having spent years conducting surveillance in conjunction with conducting various criminal investigations into a wide variety of criminal activities that when a bad guy gets in his or her car and drives to a location where he gets out of his vehicle and meets with another individual, that it is easy presume a meeting has taken place and we could follow the other participant in that meeting to further the investigation. In the case of the terror suspect who drove an ice-cream truck, think about how many people may approach that truck on a warm afternoon seeking to buy ice-cream. How could you tell if any of them were actually associates of the driver of that truck who were there to meet with him in a very effective clandestine manner? How many meetings could a terrorist have with his “passengers” in his taxi cab that would evade detection by a surveillance team? Furthermore, ice-cream trucks and taxi cabs are truly ubiquitous. They can be used for surveillance by terrorists because they blend in so well with the urban landscape. These menial jobs can help terrorists to hide in plain sight.

Yet, the administration talks about targeting sensitive locations such as airports and nuclear power plants and military bases to look for illegal aliens. Certainly these locations should come under intense scrutiny because of their obvious potential as targets for terrorists, but by focusing on these locations we are, in effect, providing a play book to our adversaries. The message is clear, if you want to embed yourself in our country and not arouse the attention of law enforcement, especially ICE, do not get a job in a nuclear power plant but sell hot dogs outside that power plant and no one will bother you or even pay attention to you.

It is critical that the enforcement of the immigration laws possess at least a modicum of unpredictability to create a situation wherein terrorists or other criminals never know if they may be arrested for violating our immigration laws. Additionally, the arrest of aliens for immigration law violations often helps in the cultivation of informants. However, in order for this to work, we need many more special agents assigned to ICE to conduct these field investigations and we need adequate detention space to make certain that once arrested, illegal aliens are actually removed from the United States.

In order to accomplish these goals, it will be necessary for ICE to hire many more special agents who are provided with more resources, but especially as we wage a war against terrorism, drugs and violent gangs, to not do this represents a false economy. Consider that New York is the safest big city in the United States. It has more than 8 million residents who are confined to the relatively small area that makes up the five boroughs of the city of New York, but it is policed by roughly 37,000 police officers. It has been estimated that there are about twice as many illegal aliens present in the United States as there are residents living in the city of New York and these aliens are scattered throughout our nation. Yet there are fewer than 3,000 special agents of ICE who are dedicated to enforcing the immigration laws for the entire country. What this means is that if an alien succeeds in running our nation’s borders or succeeds in entering the United States through the inspection process and then overstays his/her authorized period of admission, the odds of that alien being arrested by ICE are between slim and none.

US VISIT is being implemented at ports of entry throughout the country although that process is not completed, it is designed to keep track of nonimmigrant alien visitors who fail to depart the United States before their authorized stay in the our country expires. This is certainly a worthwhile capability, the only question is, who will be able to search for aliens who fail to depart when they are supposed to? I am concerned that in this version of “Hide and Seek” the aliens, including terrorists may well hide with little concern that anyone from ICE will seek.

I look forward to your questions.

Posts of the Day-Best of the Web

Lou Dobbs has done more to reach a peaceful end to illegal immigration than ANYONE. Please show him your support. www.cnn.com/lou

Dobbs is being lied about and maligned by the open border lobby:

Lou Dobbs is a Bush hating Marxist tool. Be careful who you go to bed with. You're being used.

261 posted on 05/09/2006 2:57:51 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (owner of FreeRepublic.com)

___________________
"Conservatism isn't dead. It's pissed off right now --- and that might be a good thing. "
by FITZ 5/09/06 www.libertypost.org

_____________
http://www.modernconservative.com/forums_metablog/
Great photo essay of May 1
_______________

'A doomed government is a government that punishes those who obey the law in good faith, while the same government rewards those who knowingly break the law."
by Paul CJ www.libertypost.org
________________

So let me get this straight. It took women 100 yrs and blacks about 200 yrs to get what trespassers want overnight?
by unknown
_________________

The Nature Of Legal Plunder

Listen to Bastiat's explanation of this "legal plunder." "When a portion of wealth is transferred from the person who owns it - without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud - to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated; that an act of plunder is committed!

"How is the legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime..." (THE LAW, p. 21, 26)

115 posted on 04/28/2006 1:47:49 PM PDT by Baynative

Posts of the Day-Best of the Web

Photos from May 1 Illegal alien protests and garbage left in the desert by "trusted travelers". Why do they hate Pres. Bush, the guy on their side??
++++++++++++++++++++
Joshua Bolten, New White House Chief of Staff
Mr. Bolten said today that concerning the 'immigration' issue that Americans should 'tone it down'.

You may wish to tell Mr. Bolten what he can do with his opinion.
comments@whitehouse.gov
Phone Numbers Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461
++++++++++++++

- " the loyal willingness to say black is white when party discipline demands this. It also means the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know black is white, and forget that one has ever believed the contrary." - George Orwell, 1984
++++++++++++++++++++

President Bush said we can't deport 12 million people, it just won't work. Mexico did.
+++++++++++++++++

Free education
Free breakfast
Free lunch
Free healthcare
Free welfare

And now ladies and gentlemen...
...we're working to establish the 'guest moocher' program.
America, the land of milk and dummies!

31 posted on 04/26/2006 7:43:00 AM PDT by DoughtyOne
++++++++++++++++
Notice that upside down American flag?

What is happening under the radar is that the alien lobby, certain elements of radical Islam, and some on the Left share common goals, tactics, and exploitations of our system and society.

Not a conspiracy, but rather a "coming together on common points." A confluence- becoming a tsumani...
4 posted on 04/24/2006 4:18:35 AM PDT by backhoe
+++++++++++++++++
Let's be honest about this. The Senate Judiciary Committee amnesty proposal is in effect an amnesty for the criminal employers who have been avoiding employer sanctions since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986
http://www.dolz.com/jobs.htm?SectionID=1&ArticleID=1823
++++++++++++++
"According to this new bill that's tied up in the Senate, illegal immigrants who can prove they've been here for two years would be allowed to stay. So follow the logic here. If you can prove you broke the current law for two years, you've protected under the new law." --Jay Leno

So, What do you feed Your Demon?

So, What do you feed Your Demon?

To the dismay of most of you, I feed mine tobacco. He's a greedy little bugger, but tobacco keeps him happy and in check. He otherwise leaves me alone to to be a productive, decent citizen.

Yes, he'll probably be the death of me one day.

Some folks eat way too much. That'll kill 'em too. Demons love sweets and getting his host fat so others can't see the demon inside.

Some fill the emptiness with perceived persecutions, paranoia or dogma and bigotry until the demon consumes them. Those kind seem to live forever, though the rest of us secretly wish they wouldn't.

Some resort to drugs to ignore their demon. And the demon teaches them a harsh lesson ever time, that he won't be ignored.

Others try to work 18 hours a day to mask their demon. These people wind up divorced with their children raised in "extended" families. The demon is the only winner here.

So, my friend, what do you feed your demon?

(Latino)Gangs claim their turf in Iraq

To quote Terry Anderson, "Stupid people of America, if you ain't mad, you ain't payin' attention!

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-gangs01.html

The Gangster Disciples, Latin Kings and Vice Lords were born decades ago in Chicago's most violent neighborhoods. Now, their gang graffiti is showing up 6,400 miles away in one of the world's most dangerous neighborhoods -- Iraq.

Armored vehicles, concrete barricades and bathroom walls all have served as canvasses for their spray-painted gang art. At Camp Cedar II, about 185 miles southeast of Baghdad, a guard shack was recently defaced with "GDN" for Gangster Disciple Nation, along with the gang's six-pointed star and the word "Chitown," a soldier who photographed it said.

The graffiti, captured on film by an Army Reservist and provided to the Chicago Sun-Times, highlights increasing gang activity in the Army in the United States and overseas, some experts say.

Jeffrey Stoleson, an Army Reserve sergeant in Iraq, is seen in front of a barricade tagged with gang graffiti in March in Iraq. Stoleson, who has been in Iraq for almost a year, says he has taken hundreds of photos of gang graffiti there.

Click here for photo gallery »

Military and civilian police investigators familiar with three major Army bases in the United States -- Fort Lewis, Fort Hood and Fort Bragg -- said they have been focusing recently on soldiers with gang affiliations. These bases ship out many of the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

"I have identified 320 soldiers as gang members from April 2002 to present," said Scott Barfield, a Defense Department gang detective at Fort Lewis in Washington state. "I think that's the tip of the iceberg."

Of paramount concern is whether gang-affiliated soldiers' training will make them deadly urban warriors when they return to civilian life and if some are using their access to military equipment to supply gangs at home, said Barfield and other experts.

'They don't try to hide it'

Jeffrey Stoleson, an Army Reserve sergeant in Iraq for almost a year, said he has taken hundreds of photos of gang graffiti there.

In a storage yard in Taji, about 18 miles north of Baghdad, dozens of tanks were vandalized with painted gang symbols, Stoleson said in a phone interview from Iraq. He said he also took pictures of graffiti at Camp Scania, about 108 miles southeast of Baghdad, and Camp Anaconda, about 40 miles north of Baghdad. Much of the graffiti was by Chicago-based gangs, he said.

In civilian life, Stoleson is a correctional officer and co-founder of the gang interdiction team at a Wisconsin maximum-security prison. Now he is a truck commander for security escorts in Iraq. He said he watched two fellow soldiers in the Wisconsin Army National Guard 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry, die Sept. 26 when a roadside bomb exploded. Five of Stoleson's friends have been wounded.

Because of the extreme danger of his mission in Iraq, Stoleson said he does not relish the idea of working alongside gang members, whom he does not trust. Stoleson said he once reported to a supervisor that he suspected a company of soldiers in Iraq was rife with gang members.

"My E-8 [supervising sergeant] told me not to ruffle their feathers because they were doing a good job," he said.

Stoleson said he has spotted soldiers in Iraq with tattoos signifying their allegiance to the Vice Lords and the Simon City Royals, another street gang spawned in Chicago.

"They don't try to hide it," Stoleson said.

Army doesn't see significant trend

Christopher Grey, spokesman for the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, did not deny the existence of gang members in the military, but he disputed that the problem is rampant -- or even significant.

In the last year, the Criminal Investigation Command has looked into 10 cases in which there was credible evidence of gang-related criminal activity in the Army, Grey said. He would not discuss specific cases.

"We recently conducted an Army-wide study, and we don't see a significant trend in this kind of activity, especially when you compare this with a million-man Army," Grey said.

'Lowering our standards'

"Sometimes there is a definition issue here on what constitutes gang activity. If someone wears baggy pants and a scarf, that does not make them a gang member unless there is evidence to show that person is involved in violent or criminal activity," Grey said.

Barfield said Army recruiters eager to meet their goals have been overlooking applicants' gang tattoos and getting waivers for criminal backgrounds.

"We're lowering our standards," Barfield said.

"A friend of mine is a recruiter," he said. "They are being told less than five tattoos is not an issue. More than five, you do a waiver saying it's not gang-related. You'll see soldiers with a six-pointed star with GD [Gangster Disciples] on the right forearm."

Fort Lewis offers free tattoo removal, but few if any soldiers with gang tattoos have taken advantage of the service, Barfield said.

In interviews with the almost 320 soldiers who admitted they were gang members, only two said they wanted out of gangs, Barfield said.

None has been arrested for a gang-related felony on the base, Barfield said. But some are suspected of criminal activity off base, he said.

"They're not here for the red, white and blue. They're here for the black and gold," he said, referring to the gang colors of the Latin Kings.

Barfield said most of the gang members he has identified are black and Latino. He has linked white soldiers to racist groups such as the Aryan Nations.

Barfield acknowledged that the soldiers he pegged as gang members represent a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of soldiers based at Fort Lewis in the period he reviewed. But he stressed that he only investigates a fraction of the soldiers on base.

Barfield said he normally identifies gang members during barracks inspections requested by unit commanders. He interviews them about possible gang affiliation when he sees gang graffiti in their rooms, photos of a soldier flashing gang hand signals or a soldier with gang tattoos.

Learning urban warfare

"I know there is a lot more going on here," he said. "I don't inspect off-base housing or married soldiers' housing."

The Gangster Disciples are the most worrisome street gang at Fort Lewis because they are the most organized, Barfield said.

Barfield said gangs are encouraging their members to join the military to learn urban warfare techniques they can teach when they go back to their neighborhoods.

"Gang members are telling us in the interviews that their gang is putting them in," he said.

Joe Sparks, a retired Chicago Police gang specialist and the Midwest adviser to the International Latino Gang Investigators Association, said he is concerned about the military know-how that gang-affiliated soldiers might bring back to the streets here.

"Even though they are 'bangers, they are still fighting for America, so I have to give them that," Sparks said. "The sound of enemy gunfire is nothing new to them. I'm sure in battle it's a truce -- GDs and P Stones are fighting a common enemy. But when they get home, forget about it."

Barfield said he knows of an Army private who fought valiantly in Iraq but still maintained his gang affiliation when he returned home.

The private, a Florencia 13 gang member from Southern California, spoke to Barfield of battling a 38th Street Gang member when they were civilians.

Then the 38th Street Gang member became a sergeant in the Army and the Florencia 13 member became a private. They served in Iraq together, Barfield said.

"They had exchanged blows in Inglewood [a city near Los Angeles], but in the Army, they did get the mission done," he said. "The private is a decorated war veteran with a Purple Heart."

The private still has his gang tattoos and identifies himself as a Florencia 13, Barfield said.

Marine killed cop in California

Barfield said a big concern is what such gang members trained in urban warfare will do when they return home.

He pointed to Marine Lance Cpl. Andres Raya, a suspected Norteno gang member who shot two officers with a rifle outside a liquor store in Ceres, Calif., on Jan. 9, 2005, before police returned fire and killed him. One officer died, and the other was wounded by the 19-year-old Raya, who was high on cocaine. Raya had spent seven months in Iraq before returning to Camp Pendleton near San Diego.

Photos of Raya wearing the gang's red colors and making gang hand signs were reportedly found in a safe in his room.

Hunter Glass, a Fayetteville, N.C., police detective, said he has seen an increase in gang activity involving soldiers from nearby Fort Bragg. A Fort Bragg soldier -- a member of the Insane Gangster Crips -- is charged with a gang-related robbery in Fayetteville that ended in the slaying of a Korean store owner in November, said Glass, a veteran of the elite 82nd Airborne based at Fort Bragg.

He estimated that hundreds of gang members are stationed at the base as soldiers.

"I have talked to guys who say 'I'm a SUR 13 [gang member], but I am a soldier,' " Glass said. "Although I see the [gang] problem as a threat, I do believe the majority of the military are good people and that many of those [military officials] that I have made aware of the situation have expressed concern in dealing with it. It is safe to say that I am less worried about a gang war in the sand box [Iraq] but more about the one on our streets upon its end."

Glass has given presentations to military leaders in Washington, D.C., about gang members in the military.

Sending flak jackets home

A law enforcement source in Chicago said police see some evidence of soldiers working with gangs here. Police recently stopped a vehicle and found 10 military flak jackets inside. A gang member in the vehicle told investigators his brother was a Marine and sent the jackets home, the source said.

Barfield said he knows of civilian gang members in the Seattle area who also have been caught with flak jackets that he suspects were stolen from Fort Lewis.

Barfield said he has documented gang-affiliated soldiers' involvement in drug dealing, gunrunning and other criminal activity off base. More than a year ago, a soldier tied to a white supremacy group was caught trying to ship an assault rifle from Iraq to the United States in pieces, he said.

In Texas, the FBI is bracing for the transfer of gang-connected soldiers from Fort Hood in central Texas to Fort Bliss near El Paso as part of the nation's base realignments. FBI Special Agent Andrea Simmons said gang-affiliated soldiers from Fort Hood could clash with civilian gang members in El Paso.

"We understand that [some] soldiers and dependents at Fort Hood tend to be under the Folk Nation umbrella, including the Gangster Disciples and Crips," Simmons said. "In El Paso, the predominant gang, without much competition, is the Barrio Azteca. We could see some kind of turf war between the Barrio Aztecas and the Folk Nation."

FBI agents have visited Fort Hood to learn about the gang activity on the base, Simmons said.

"We found most of the police departments say they do see gang activity due to the military -- soldiers and dependents," she said. "Our agents also have been in contact with Fort Bliss to discuss the issue."

Simmons said investigators may conduct background checks on soldiers relocating from Fort Hood to Fort Bliss to assess the level of the potential gang problem.

Barfield said he welcomes the FBI's scrutiny of gang members in the Army.

"Investigators as a whole across the military aren't getting the support to remove gang members from the ranks," he said.

But Grey, the spokesman for the Criminal Investigation Command, said the unit is open to any tips about gang activity in the Army.

"If anyone has any information, we strongly recommend they bring it to our attention," he said.

fmain@suntimes.com

Posts of the Day-Best of the Web

If we could go back in time and just let the Mexicans have what they now call Aztlan, it would be no better off than the rest of Mexico and we would still have millions of illegals coming accross our southern Nebraska border.

9 posted on 05/01/2006 6:34:42 PM PDT by umgud

**************

From the Mexican National Anthem:
But should a foreign enemy dare to
profane your land with his sole,
Think, beloved fatherland, that heaven
gave you a soldier in each son.

Interesting double standard they display.

96 posted on 04/30/2006 9:09:22 PM PDT by Mojave

******************

From police Radio in Santa Anna 5/1/06 9:30 pm (If you're inclined to do so, please pray for our law enforcement officers and innocent bystanders)

Didn't get the loc, but they are reporting large crowds gridlocking traffic, hundreds in the streets, LEOs still taking rocks........

SHOTS FIRED SHOTS FIRED...........

LEO keying mike, asking for assist, background noise screaming and yelling, honking...Loud...

Posted by Joe Hadenuf

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=139726&Disp=136#C136
**********************

Protests Close Down Bridge

POSTED: 7:15 pm MDT May 1, 2006

May 1, 2006 -- Janice Carpio, KFOX News at Nine

Heated arguments weren't the only problems during Monday's protests. Along the Bridge of the Americas, traffic came to a halt. Tempers flared, but for the most part things were peaceful. The real problems began as marchers got closer to the Americas Bridge. "Look across the border there's more people over there supporting us as well, we are united," said protestor Areli Enciso.

The bridge was blocked a good 15 to 20 minutes as traffic was backed up even longer. An 18-wheeler got stuck in the midst of the march. Some protestors like Enciso considered this part of their statement. "They are going to see our presence and they are going to see that we have the voice to be here," he said.

Though no violence occurred, not everyone agrees with how the protest was handled.

"I don't think it's right. It's sending the wrong message to our leaders in the Capitol, anyone in the United States must support economic growth not economic depression," said Salvador Gomez.

Gomez said there are other ways to fight for immigrant rights, " Go to work, make a wage, pay your taxes, do it legally, the legal way is the only way and I cannot support something that has illegal bases."

About 100 El Paso police officers and supervisors were present for traffic control.

According to a recent Pew Hispanic Center study, 7.2 million illegal immigrants hold jobs in the United States making up 4.9 percent of the overall workforce.

They also make up 24 percent of farm workers and 14 percent of construction workers.

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/9143362/detail.html ( Thanks Fitz!)

*************

One of my favorite bumper stickers:

I found Jesus - hiding in my trunk when I came back from Tijuana.

JackelopeBreeder posted on 2006-05-02