Hi Gang:
The predication for my commentary today is a recent NextGov article about the issue of the subpoenas issued by Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee concerning criminal aliens and the policy of the administration’s use of “Prosecutorial Discretion” to terminate deportation proceedings against some 300,000 illegal aliens. I have testified before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Subcommittee on Immigration on numerous occasions and while I certainly cannot speak for Rep. Smith, I believe his request is entirely proper while some of the statements made by members of the administration are absolutely wrong!
Lawful immigrants are indeed, subject to deportation (removal) if they are convicted of felonies.
If it can be proven that a naturalized citizen lied about not having a criminal history when he was naturalized and had been convicted of crimes that had not been discovered by the government before he was naturalized, that alien can be charged with committing naturalization fraud and can be stripped of his citizenship!
Think about how Nazi war criminals, who had lied about their past atrocities when they naturalized, were hunted down and stripped of their citizenship and deported once it was proven that they had lied on their citizenship applications! This is not limited to war criminals, although those cases tended to garner quite a bit of publicity.
Furthermore, the argument that the FBI should not be releasing data on criminals to another law enforcement agency is absolute nonsense!
Law enforcement agencies routinely share data about criminal convictions and are, in fact, public information unless a criminal history has been sealed because of very limited circumstances. The claims of the privacy of the subjects is as fatuous as it gets! Think about how many times we have witnessed United States citizens being photographed and video-taped being marched into a court house to be arraigned for an alleged crime. Under our system of justice every defendant, no matter how serious or heinous the charge that he (she) faces, is guaranteed the “Presumption of Innocence.” This is one of the primary pillars of our system. So here we have defendants who have yet to be convicted being paraded before the cameras with their photos often appearing the very next day on the front page of newspapers and on television. What happened to their expectation of privacy?
When Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s doctor stood trial for involuntary manslaughter- he also was presumed innocent until the jury convicted him. Yet the reporters and their cameras were in the courtroom every day of that trial, capturing the testimony of the witnesses and videotaping the doctor while he was still presumed innocent!
Think of how many other high profile trials were covered by the media. Generally all of our criminal trials are open to the public. Our criminal justice system is designed to be open to public scrutiny.
Furthermore, the Privacy Act was only supposed to shield United States citizens and lawfully admitted permanent resident aliens from public scrutiny. Under the Privacy Act even lawfully admitted nonimmigrant aliens were not supposed to be protected. It was the George W. Bush administration that decided to extend privacy protection to all aliens who were present in our country irrespective of whether or not they had entered our country legally and maintained their lawful status or if they were aliens who were illegally present.
Here is a link to the Privacy Act of 1974 as Amended:
You will notice that the law is quite specific about who is supposed to be protected under that law. Here are the first few sentences of the law:
THE PRIVACY ACT
OF 1974
5 U.S.C. § 552a
As Amended
§ 552a. Records
maintained on individuals
(a) Definitions
For purposes of
this section–
(1) the term
“agency” means agency as defined in section 552(f) of this title;
(2) the term
“individual” means a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted
for permanent residence;
(3) the term
“maintain” includes maintain, collect, use or disseminate;
(4) the term
“record” means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an
individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to,
his education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or
employment history and that contains his name, or the identifying number,
symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such
as a finger or voice print or a photograph;
In June of this year, I wrote an article about the misuse of the Privacy Act where
Here is a link to my earlier article:
What is incredible is the way that both the current as well as the previous administrations resorted to the issuance of policy memos that subvert the intentions of the United States Congress and the legislative process to the detriment of our nation’s security and to the detriment of the safety and well being of our citizens and lawful immigrants to achieve a political agenda!
Meanwhile the Immigration and Nationality Act deems the shielding (concealing) of illegal aliens to be a felony!
Here is an excerpt from the relating statute:
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).
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.
Here is the link to this section of law in its entirety.
Chairman Smith’s subpoena to delve into the way that the current administration is using (abusing) prosecutorial discretion to not only not enforce the immigration laws where hundreds of thousands or perhaps even more illegal aliens are concerned, but even seeking to provide illegal aliens with employment authorization is outrageous!
It is vital that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) be provided as much information as possible to identify aliens who might be subject to removal (deportation) so that the primary purpose of our nation’s immigration law can be realized- that of removing from our nation those foreign nationals (aliens) whose presence poses a threat to the security of our nation and the safety and well being of our citizens and lawful immigrants.
This apparent new version of “Don’t ask- don’t tell” has the potential to get lots of people in our country killed or injured when criminal aliens who should be subject to deportation are simply allowed out of prison and back on the streets where they were arrested for committing felonies after they complete their prison sentences!
Additionally, providing employment authorization to hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens not only may well constitute aiding, abetting and encouraging illegal aliens to enter the United States in violation of law or remain thereafter without authority, it also enables illegal aliens to compete with American workers who are desperate to secure jobs so that they can support themselves and their families and not lose their homes to foreclosure!
As I have noted on ever so many occasions, while the GOP presidential candidates are “duking it out” over who has created more jobs, why is no one talking about the need to liberate jobs- millions of jobs now being taken by aliens who have displaced United States citizens and lawful immigrants in the workforce of our beleaguered country?
It is clear that the Obama administration’s goal is to eliminate distinctions between people who are citizens of our nation and those who are aliens. It now also appears that the administration is seeking to eliminate, via policy memos and executive orders, the distinction between aliens who are lawfully present in the United States and those whose presence represents a violation of our nation vital immigration laws that are supposed to keep various categories of aliens out of our country and seek their removal should they be found here.
Title 8, U.S.C. § 212 is that section of Immigration and Nationality Act that enumerates the various categories of aliens who, under the INA, are supposed to be prevented from entering the United States and are supposed to be removed if they are found here:
Here is a link to that section of law:
http://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docView/SLB/HTML/SLB/0-0-0-1/0-0-0-29/0-0-0-1956.html
Please take the time to review the contents of this section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Among the categories of aliens who are supposed to be kept out of the United States are aliens with dangerous communicable diseases, aliens who suffer serious mental illness and are prone to violence, aliens who are convicted felons, aliens who fugitives from justice in other countries, aliens who are human traffickers and drug smugglers, aliens who are war criminals and aliens who have committed human rights violations. Also aliens who are engaged in terrorism and espionage are among those who are, by law, supposed to be prevented from entering our country and are supposed to be removed if they manage to evade the Border Patrol or game the lawful entry process and manage, in either way, to enter the United States.
When I was first sworn in as an INS officer in 1971 I could never have imagined that the time would come when the President of the United States and “leaders” in Congress would work so tirelessly to essentially dismantle our nation’s borders- whether they exist along the souther or northern perimeter of our nation, along our nation’s coastline or at the numerous international airports!
This is a betrayal of the oaths of office that these politicians took when they were sworn in! This is a betrayal of the Constitution of the United States and this most certainly is a betrayal of the citizens of this nation!
It is time for the citizens of our nation to contact the politicians who are responsible for their failures to live up to their oaths of office and enforce our immigration laws.
The goal must be to make it clear to our nation’s leaders, on all levels, to come to terms with the fundamental fact that nation’s borders and our immigration laws exist to protect our nation and our citizens from aliens whose presence has the potential to have a serious adverse impact. Ignoring those laws exposes our nation and our citizens to a variety of serious threats and challenges ranging from national security and criminal justice and public safety to the economy, the environment, healthcare and education!
We are often told that our nation is a nation of immigrants- what must be remembered is that the difference between an immigrant and an illegal aliens is comparable to the difference between an houseguest and burglar!
A country without secure borders can no more stand than can a house without walls!
I
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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.
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!”
The practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it only begins there.
For far too long our citizens demonstrated apathy which 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.
It is therefore understandable that the politicians of both parties, are greatly concerned about the demonstrations currently sweeping our nation just as did the creation of the Tea Party. Clearly more and more of our fellow Americans are demonstrating that they are not as dumb as the politicians from both parties had expected us to be!
I am encouraged that more and more of us, We the People, are not willing to simply sit on the sidelines anymore!
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 or members of other transnational gangs or members of al-Qaeda!
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-