Hi Gang:
Jerry Seper, the investigative editor of the Washington Times and seasoned journalist who has long covered immigration related issues, has written yet another hard-hitting article that delves into the grave concerns voiced by the employees of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) created by the complete and utter politicization of the way that the agency that is supposed to enforce the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States is being thwarted by the very agency that they work for.
I am extremely pleased that in the article [click here], Mr. Seper decided fit to quote me, along with others, who share the concerns of the men and women who bear the responsibility for the effective enforcement of the immigration laws of the United States from within the interior of the United States.
Please take the time to read Jerry’s excellent example of true investigative journalism and consider just how specific and serious the charges are that are being leveled at management at ICE.
Jerry Seper’s continuing coverage of the failures of our nation’s leaders to secure the borders of our nation and effectively enforce and administer the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States represent journalism at its best. Sadly few other publications have been willing to address these massive failures of our government in the way that Jerry Seper and his newspaper have.
Something else you must consider is just how important these concerns where the nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance of ICE are to all Americans but especially to the special agents and other employees of ICE.
The average citizen may spend a couple of minutes on occasion contemplating the lunacy that passes for “business as usual” where our nation’s decades-long failures to secure the borders against unlawful entry by huge numbers of illegal aliens whose true identities, nationalities, backgrounds, affiliations and intentions are unknown and unknowable. The average citizen may, on occasion give some fleeting thought to the way that terrorists, spies and criminals have been able to not only enter our nation in one way or another, but manage to hide in plain sight or, in the parlance of the 9/11 Commission, embed themselves within our country.
It can be presumed that the average citizen may be prompted to pay fleeting attention to these serious issues when an news article deals with an unsuccessful terrorist attack that was averted by the ineptitude of the terrorist such as the case involving Faisal Shahzad who attempted to turn an SUV into a weapon of mass destruction in the middle of Times Square three months ago.
For the employees of ICE, however, the issue of the nexus between failures at border security and failures to create an immigration system with real integrity is an issue they grapple with from the moment they arrive on duty until they head for home.
I can tell you that as a former Senior Special Agent of the INS my concerns about national security and community safety occupied most of my waking hours. The same was true, I can assure you, for just about everyone of my colleagues.
My concerns often kept me awake at night back then and, frankly, still keep me awake at night now.
For so many of these valiant men and women to unanimously make their concerns known should keep all of the citizens of our nation wide awake each and every night! You would also expect that these concerns would keep our nation’s leaders awake at night, but I sometimes believe that all too many of our “leaders” are grammatically challenged. They are only able to conjugate verbs in the first person- singular! They apparently believe that somehow even if there is an attack that they and their loved ones will survive!
There is not other explanation for their insane push to ignore our nation’s porous borders and an immigration benefits program that is riddled by fraud and ineptitude.
Many years ago, one of my partners at the INS used to amuse me with his slightly off center humor. He would, for example, contemplate the activities of the narcotics traffickers and other assorted criminals we dealt with on a nearly daily basis and proclaim that he did not know what the color of the sky was in the world the miscreant we were investigating, but he was certain that the sky in that criminal’s world was certainly not blue!
It is, I suppose, a matter of perspective.
The politicians who blithely ignore those issues that keep the ICE employees awake at night are apparently motivated by one of two desires- to enable lots of aliens to enter the labor market in the United States, thereby driving down wages and pleasing the deep-pocketed campaign contributors who reward the politicians who do their bidding and/or to import millions of new voters.
Where the voters are concerned, it is worth noting that aliens do, in fact vote even though it is illegal for anyone who is not a citizen of the United States to cast a ballot in a federal election.
Here is an interesting question I would love to have answered:
“When was the last time any ICE special agent investigated an allegation of an alien voting in a federal election?”
Here is a followup question:
“When was the last time an alien was indicted for intentionally voting in an election or charged with registering to vote even though he (she) was statutorily barred from voting?”
If you don’t believe that aliens have voted, please consider the link to the report that was issued by the Heritage Foundation that was entitled:
“The Threat of Non-Citizen Voting”
Published on July 10, 2008 by Hans von Spakovsky
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2008/07/The-Threat-of-Non-Citizen-Voting
I find it astounding that the administration is suing the Governor of Arizona over the Arizona immigration law (SB 1070) while making it clear that so-called “Sanctuary Cities” have been told that no action would be taken against them even though it would certainly appear that Sanctuary Cities not only pre-empt efforts by the federal government to enforce the immigration laws but arguably violate Title 8 of the United States Code, Section 1324.
Here is a link to that statute:
http://www.justice.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/crm01907.htm
Here is a portion of that statute:
US Attorneys > USAM > Title 9 > Criminal Resource Manual 1907
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1907
Title 8, U.S.C. § 1324(a) Offenses
Title 8, U.S.C. § 1324(a) defines several distinct offenses related to aliens. Subsection 1324(a)(1)(i)-(v) prohibits alien smuggling, domestic transportation of unauthorized aliens, concealing or harboring unauthorized aliens, encouraging or inducing unauthorized aliens to enter the United States, and engaging in a conspiracy or aiding and abetting any of the preceding acts. Subsection 1324(a)(2) prohibits bringing or attempting to bring unauthorized aliens to the United States in any manner whatsoever, even at a designated port of entry. Subsection 1324(a)(3).
Alien Smuggling — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(i) makes it an offense for any person who — knowing that a person is an alien, to bring to or attempts to bring to the United States in any manner whatsoever such person at a place other than a designated port of entry or place other than as designated by the Commissioner, regardless of whether such alien has received prior official authorization to come to, enter, or reside in the United States and regardless of any future official action which may be taken with respect to such alien.
Domestic Transporting — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii) makes it an offense for any person who — knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States by means of transportation or otherwise, in furtherance of such violation of law.
Harboring — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii) makes it an offense for any person who — knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, conceals harbors, or shields from detection, or attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, such alien in any place, including any building or any means of transportation.
Encouraging/Inducing — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(iv) makes it an offense for any person who — encourages or induces an alien to come to, enter, or reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to, entry, or residence is or will be in violation of law.
Conspiracy/Aiding or Abetting — Subsection 1324(a)(1)(A)(v) expressly makes it an offense to engage in a conspiracy to commit or aid or abet the commission of the foregoing offenses.
The point is there are thousands of government employees who are in the position to have an intimate knowledge of the abysmal situation that exists at ICE, a division of the agency I have come to refer to as the Department of Homeland Surrender. They have made their concerns as public as they possibly can. Now the task falls to the citizens of our nation to make our political leaders accountable for this massive betrayal of the oath of office our “leaders” took when they were sworn in and a betrayal to the citizens of our nation who rely on the government to faithfully act in the best interests of our nation and our citizens!
Simply stated, our government cannot defend itself and its citizens from the threat of terrorism and transnational gangs, including the pernicious drug cartels until and unless our nation’s borders are secured and the system by which USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) has real integrity and combats the issue of the rampant fraud that permeates the process by which our nation confers resident alien status and even United States citizenship upon aliens- thereby presenting them with the “Keys to the kingdom!”
What all Americans must understand is that the administration and duplicitous members of Congress are now, once again, revving up their efforts to implement “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” against the will of the vast majority of the citizens of this nation. (So much for “representative government!”) The advocates for Comprehensive Immigration Reform that I have on numerous instances have come to refer to as the “TERRORIST ASSISTANCE AND FACILITATION ACT” say that once the border is secure we should provide potentially tens of millions of illegal aliens who are “undocumented.”
In point of fact, the idea of providing those tens of millions of aliens who have no official or reliable way of proving who they are, would mean that terrorists and criminals could easily game this insane program and create brand new false identities for themselves. Additionally, USCIS is motivated to simply clear the backlog of applications with no meaningful effort being made to prevent the massive levels of fraud from ravaging a program that has profound national security implications- a point the 911 Commission made abundantly clear.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform would, of necessity cause the overworked and beleaguered USCIS to have to grapple with a minimum of 100,000 additional applications per day, filed by illegal aliens seeking to participate in a massive amnesty program that would eclipse the disastrous Amnesty of 1986 by a factor of ten! This would be the equivalent of telling a patient suffering from cardiac failure that he would be running in the New York City Marathon even as he sucked oxygen from a tank located next to his wheelchair!
Rather than chastising a true political leader- Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and members of her state’s legislature, the President of the United States needs to take his oath of office serious and secure our nation’s borders and do whatever is necessary to make certain that there is real integrity within the immigration system where immigration benefits and the enforcement of the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States are concerned!
It is time for the politicians in Washington to live up to their oaths of office as well!
They must take to heart the statements made by the union leaders who represent the employes of Immigration and Custom Enforcement and do whatever is necessary to address these massive deficiencies as quickly and effectively as possible. The security of our nation and the safety of our citizens must, without equivocation take priority over any political goals or agenda.
It is unacceptable that the citizens of this nation be alienated by their own government especially where border security and the enforcement and administration of our nation’s immigration laws are concerned!
A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!
November 2nd cannot come fast enough!
We the People, throughout this nation must seek opportunities to make it clear to our political “representatives” that we understand their game plan and won’t tolerate it!.
I believe our nation’s is greatly benefited by the rich diversity of our people which is why I could never imagine living anywhere except New York City, arguably the most diverse city in our nation if not, in fact, the world. However, my idea of diversity most certainly does not include members of MS-13, the Mexican drug cartels and members of al-Qaeda!
If reading this makes it difficult for you to sleep now- perhaps you could do something worthwhile- perhaps you might spend a couple of your sleepless hours writing letters to your elected representatives this evening and remind them that Election Day is just months away!
We the People can add to the consternation of these politicians who are failing to live up to their oaths of office by contacting them and making it abundantly clear that election day is coming and they should think of election day as their personal “Day of Reckoning!”
Our government must live up to its obligation of protecting its own citizens and, indeed, all who are present in our country from the criminals and terrorists who would threaten our lives and the survival of our nation and our way of life. In the end, the government is actually those who are elected to act as our “leaders.” Those who fail to truly lead and look out for those they are supposed to represent, need to be sent packing this coming Election Day!
If our country is to survive and if our children and their children are to get their share of the “American Dream” the citizens of this nation must take their citizenship seriously!
We the People must be the best citizens we can be, citizens who are worthy of the gallantry demonstrated by our valiant men and women in the military, law enforcement and firefighters, who routinely go in harm’s way in defense of this nation and our citizens.
My goal in writing this and other commentaries is to point out our nations many failings before more victims pay the ultimate price for the incompetence and ineptitude of our government.
The first step in problem-solving is to first identify the problems and vulnerabilities and then devise strategies to overcome them.
Any politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an immigration system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to keep his (her) job. Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation who favors Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the outrageous betrayal that this would represent given the national security implications that this program would have, should be shown the door at the next election!
If you find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you forward it to as many of your friends and family members as possible and encourage them to do the same. We need to create a “Bucket Brigade of Truth!”
Later this year, each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. Later this year more than one third of the members of the United States Senate will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they work for us, We the People!
However, the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
The large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.I implore you to get involved!
If this situation 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-