Month: July 2012

The Immigration Vulnerability That Undermines the Immigration System and National Security"

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Hi Gang:

Today I will focus on a commentary that I recently wrote for the CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization) website that was posted on that website earlier today.  That commentary was, in fact, predicated upon a two separate news releases that were posted by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on that agency’s official website.  Both news releases reported on separate investigations that identified and led to the successful prosecution of foreign nationals (aliens) who gamed the immigration benefits program.  One of the cases involved a potential threat to national security.

I have discussed the following material previously, but it beyond comprehension that the current administration is utterly ignoring the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report that provided an in-depth analysis of how the terrorists who attacked our nation on September 11, 2001 were able to enter the United States in the first place and then manage to game the immigration benefits program which enabled them to embed themselves in our country.  The 9/11 Commission also prepared a Monograph on Terrorist Travel which focused on these issues as well.

Here is a link to the Staff Report (Monograph) on Terrorist Travel in its entirety:

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Monograph.pdf

Here is are two important excerpt from the 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel.

First of all, here is the first paragraph from the preface of that report:

“It is perhaps obvious to state that terrorists cannot plan and carry out attacks in the United States if they are unable to enter the country. Yet prior to September 11, while there were efforts to enhance border security, no agency of the U.S. government thought of border security as a tool in the counterterrorism arsenal. Indeed, even after 19 hijackers demonstrated the relative ease of obtaining a U.S. visa and gaining admission into the United States, border security still is not considered a cornerstone of national security policy. We believe, for reasons we discuss in the following pages, that it must be made one.”

Here is a paragraph under the title “Immigration Benefits” found on page 98:

“Terrorists in the 1990s, as well as the September 11 hijackers, needed to find a way to stay in or embed themselves in the United States if their operational plans were to come to fruition. As already discussed, this could be accomplished legally by marrying an American citizen, achieving temporary worker status, or applying for asylum after entering. In many cases, the act of filing for an immigration benefit sufficed to permit the alien to remain in the country until the petition was adjudicated. Terrorists were free to conduct surveillance, coordinate operations, obtain and receive funding, go to school and learn English, make contacts in the United States, acquire necessary materials, and execute an attack.”

It is crystal clear that immigration fraud represents a huge threat to national security as do failures to enforce immigration laws violated by foreign nationals who manage to enter the United States.  Yet the administration has made it abundantly clear to people across our planet.  International terrorists and transnational criminals are the most focused on figuring out how to bypass security measures so that they are able to enter a country they seek to operate in and then seek to determine what they need to do in order to embed themselves in country.  At present a number of highly violent transnational gangs and international terrorist organizations have put the United States at the top of the list of countries they seek to infiltrate.  In response to this clear and present danger, our borders represent little more than speed bumps to these enemies of our country.  

(Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of DHS- the Department of Homeland Surrender has made numerous false claims our borders are secure- the real evidence is not to be found in doctored arrest statistics but in considering a different metric- the fact that cocaine and heroin are flooding across our borders each and every day.  This is why the street price of those imported drugs has not risen.)

This past Friday, July 27th I had an unusual guest on my radio program, “The Michael Cutler Hour,” an old friend and former colleague of the INS, Jerry Casale, who recently retired from the agency known as USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service) as an adjudications officer,where he was involved in the adjudication of applications for residency and naturalization which resulted in United States citizenship.  

His insight into the lack of integrity to the process by which our government, in essence, hands out the keys to the kingdom!

If you missed his interview on my program, here is a link to the podcast of his appearance:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/usatalkradio/2012/07/27/the-michael-cutler-hour


To provide even more evidence of the lack of integrity to the process, especially under the Obama administration- here is a link to a news conference held by Senator Jeff Sessions and the presidents of the unions that represent the employees of ICE and the Border Patrol.  The focus of this news conference included the way that applications that will be adjudicated in conjunction with President Obama’s executive order to essentially carry out the DREAM Act and provide more than one million illegal aliens with employment authorization.  Incredibly, the president of the union representing those adjudications officers stated that the aliens who apply to participate in this program will not be required to provide any documentation to prove that they are eligible to receive that benefit!

Here is the link to a video of that news conference:

It is absolutely impossible to comprehend how, given all of these facts, that there is even a debate about whether or not our borders should be secured and our immigration laws be enforced in such a way as to deprive terrorists not only the opportunity to enter our country but to acquire lawful immigrant status and United States citizenship embed themselves in our country enabling them to hide in plain sight.

At the foundation of our nation’s immigration laws are two simple and vital goals- to protect American lives and protect American jobs.  No candidate for any political office should win election to an elected position who refuses to accept the need to effectively enforce our immigration laws! 

If our government’s failures to secure our nation’s borders and effectively enforce our immigration laws concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call your Senators and Congressional “Representative. This is not only your right- it is your obligation! 

All I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as dumb as they hope we are!

We live in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.

This is neither a Conservative issue, nor is it a Liberal issue- simply stated, this is most certainly an AMERICAN issue!

You are either part of the solution or you are a part of the problem!

Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Lead, follow or get out of the way!


-michael cutler- 


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http://www.caps-blog.org/articles/2012/07/30/fraud-the-immigration-vulnerability-that-undermines-the-immigration-system-and-national-security/

Fraud: The Immigration Vulnerability That Undermines the Immigration System and National Security

By Michael Cutler, Senior Special Agent, INS (Ret.), CAPS Senior Fellow, July 30, 2012

Discussions
about immigration generally focus on the US/Mexican border.  When the
issue of the enforcement of our immigration laws from within the
interior of the United States is raised, almost always the discussion
focuses on E-Verify and the need to punish unscrupulous employers who
intentionally hire illegal aliens.

Certainly these topics are significant, however, the way that aliens
acquire visas to enter the United States under the color of law and
acquire immigration benefits that enable them to remain in the United
States and work and maybe even become naturalized citizens is almost
never considered by anyone- especially politicians and the news media.

Illegal aliens who run our nation’s borders do not seek to emulate
Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin or those of their
colleagues who followed them in succeeding missions to the moon.  Our
astronauts traversed the quarter of a million miles to the moon in order
to plant an American flag, pick up some samples of lunar rocks and soil
and leave behind some scientific instruments and head for home. 
Illegal aliens have no intentions of simply setting foot on the American
side of the US/Mexican border, grabbing some rocks, planting a flag of
their home country and promptly returning home.  They come to work
illegally and perhaps engage in other illegal activities that may
threaten national security and pose other threats to our safety and well
being.  They are not just heading to the border region but are
determined to travel to cities and towns scattered across the United
States from coast to coast and border to border.

Not all illegal aliens run our borders either- some enter the United
States through ports of entry either with visas or under the auspices of
the ill-conceived Visa Waiver Program and then violate the terms of
their admission.  In order to operate in the United States with
impunity, visa fraud or immigration benefit fraud is the preferred MO
(Modus Operandi).  This is not just conjecture on my part but was part
of the findings of the 9/11 Commission.

Today we will consider two New Releases posted by ICE (Immigration
and Customs Enforcement) that report on fraud investigations.  Fraud
is the crime that undermines the integrity of the immigration system and
also undermines national security- yet it often goes undetected.  On
those relatively rare instances where it is detected, generally only
those who arrange the fraud are prosecuted while the aliens who benefit
by entering into a criminal conspiracy with those who are ultimately
prosecuted are almost never sought.  They go un-indicted, un-prosecuted
and are often permitted to remain in the United States even though their
visas and lawful immigrant status are far from legal and represent the
fruits of a crime!

First let us consider the ICE news release dated July 5, 2012, that was entitled:

“Man convicted in New Jersey of immigration fraud extradited to U.S. from India after fleeing to avoid prison”

Here is an excerpt from that news release that demonstrates how
aliens are able to game the immigration system and face little fear of
detection or adverse consequences for their crimes:

“Between September 2004 and February 2006, (Naranjan)
Patel conspired with Jonathan Saint Preux and his wife Michele Saint
Preux to file fraudulent immigration applications on behalf of hundreds
of illegal aliens who were seeking permanent residency status in the
United States under a government sponsored amnesty program. The program
allowed aliens to eventually seek permanent residency status if they
could demonstrate they had illegally resided in the United States
continuously between 1982 and 1988.

Patel and his co-conspirators helped aliens who did not meet
these requirements file immigration forms which fraudulently represented
that they did. The conspirators also coached the applicants on what to
say during interviews with immigration officials.”

What is important in this report is that these aliens used the
services of the defendants in this case to be granted residency on a
“government sponsored amnesty program.”  This is only one a many such
rings that have engaged in such massive fraud.  Furthermore the hundreds
of aliens noted in the release are at large and it is not likely that
they will be pursued for their crimes.  It must also be expected that
the massive amnesty program announced by President Obama on June 15th of this year will similarly suffer high levels of fraud that will go undetected and therefore unpunished.

Next let’s look at the ICE news release that was posted on July 3, 2012 and was entitled:

“Former Department of Defense employees plead guilty to citizenship fraud”

Here is an excerpt from this news release:

Adeba Sultana, 47, admitted giving false information
when she applied for U.S. citizenship in 2008. Sultana acknowledged she
used a false name and provided erroneous biographical information on
that application, claiming her husband had been killed and falsely
describing her method of entry into the United States in various
immigration benefits applications. In her application for
naturalization, which was approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, Sultana lied about her citizenship status and claimed she had
not previously provided false information to U.S. immigration officials
to obtain an immigration benefit.

Similarly, Sultana’s husband, Mohammad Ali Rabbani, 58, admitted
giving a false name, false citizenship information, and lying about his
method of entry into the United States on his application for asylum and
other immigration applications. In his application for naturalization,
Rabbani gave false information regarding his citizenship status and
falsely claimed he had not previously lied to U.S. immigration officials
to obtain an immigration benefit.

The San Diego couple were previously employed as language instructors at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif.

It should be presumed that these two individuals were granted a
security clearance in order to do the work that they did a the Defense
Language Institute.  One of these two defendants was actually
naturalized.

When was the last time you heard any of our nation’s leaders discuss
immigration fraud at all, let alone as the serious threat to national
security it clearly represents?

It has been said that a chain is a strong as its weakest link.  Where
the immigration system is concerned all that we have are weak and all
but nonexistent links.