Posted on 01/10/2004 6:35:19 AM PST by Federalist 78
Good afternoon. My name is John M. Morganelli and I am the elected District Attorney in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. I have served as District Attorney for twelve (12) years and I am a past President of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, a statewide Association of prosecutors in Pennsylvania.
On June 25, 2003 there occurred in Northampton County a ceremony that is often repeated in courthouses throughout the United States. A number of individuals from all parts of the world participated in a naturalization ceremony that resulted in new citizens of the United States of America. I had the pleasure of meeting some of these individuals who were beaming with pride, carrying American flags as they swore the oath of naturalization and U.S. citizenship. These people immigrated to the United States legally, followed the rules, did what was required to become U.S. citizens and now enjoy what America has to offer them. I have no doubt that they, like many before them and many who will come after them, will be productive citizens contributing to the greatness of America.
Unfortunately, there are also those who come to America illegally. They come not with an intent to commit to the American way, but rather to evade the law, commit crime and impact negatively on our country. In the last ten (10) years, there has been a staggering increase in the number of illegal aliens residing in Pennsylvania. INS, now ICE, estimated that the illegal alien population of Pennsylvania in 1992 to be about 27,000. In 1996 that number jumped 37% to approximately 37,000. The 2000 census suggests that the number of illegal aliens in Pennsylvania is somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000. Nationwide, the estimates of illegal aliens living in the United States is somewhere between 9 and 13 million.
Despite the voices of those who naively believe that the influx of this estimated 9 to 13 million illegal aliens into the United States is a positive thing, the fact of the matter is that illegal immigration is having an extremely negative impact upon America at many levels. Unfortunately, the majority of illegal aliens who are here are engaged in criminal activity. Identity theft, use of fraudulent social security numbers and green cards, tax evasion, driving without licenses represent some of the crimes that are engaged in by the majority of illegal aliens on a daily basis merely to maintain and hide their illegal status. In addition, violent crime and drug distribution and possession is also prevalent among illegal aliens. Over 25% of today’s federal prison population are illegal aliens. In some areas of the country, 12% of felonies, 25% of burglaries and 34% of thefts are committed by illegal aliens. The numerous crimes being committed by illegal aliens such as identity theft, fraud and use of false identification is causing havoc with record-keeping systems including but not limited to Social Security, income tax and other compilation of data that we have routinely relied upon for accuracy and identity verification. Just about every day, municipal and state police come in contact with illegal aliens who are utilizing fraudulent documents, false names and other people’s identities. Identification of these individuals is impossible and, quite frankly, many of the illegal aliens committing crimes here in the United States have criminal records from their country of origin which cannot be ascertained because of their continuous use of false identities. Clearly, in addition to being a crime issue, the growing population of illegal aliens in the United States is without a doubt the single most important national security issue facing us. As an example of that, in May 2002 federal agents arrested 2 Egyptian nationals for trying to smuggle illegal Middle Eastern immigrants into New Jersey by way of Mexico. For a fee of $8,000.00, court documents showed the suspected smuggling ring flew customers on tourist visas to Brazil, then sent them to Guadamala through Mexico and finally across the southwest border into the U.S. With regard to our northern border in Blaine, Washington, a retired Deputy Chief of Border Patrol Agent Eugene Davis stated recently that there has been no effort to locate 95% of aliens apprehended in his region over the past 10 years and released pending deportation hearings. According to Davis, these illegal aliens have simply been allowed to disappear into the United States. No one knows whether a number of these missing persons are trained terrorists who will emerge to perpetrate more acts of terrorism inside the United States.
Then, there is the direct cost to taxpayers as a result of the criminal acts committed by illegal aliens. In Pennsylvania the financial cost to taxpayers is staggering. Pennsylvania requested compensation from the federal government in fiscal year 1999 for the incarceration expenses for about 196,676 days of detention for illegal aliens in state and local jails and prisons. The cost to Pennsylvania taxpayers amounted to $13,350,000.00. Under the "State Criminal Alien Assistance Program" (SCAAP), Pennsylvania received $5 million leaving $8 million of uncompensated cost to be footed by Pennsylvania taxpayers. In fiscal year 2000, Pennsylvania received $4.3 million. Payments to the states were lower overall so local taxpayers were faced to absorb a much larger share of the cost of criminal illegal alien incarceration. Clearly, illegal immigration into the United States is a negative and not a plus and must be addressed for a variety of the aforesaid reasons. But the solution lies in empowering local and state police with the authority to arrest, detain and deport illegal aliens. Clearly, the CLEAR Act, which you are considering today, would expressly authorize local and state law enforcement to investigate, apprehend, detain and remove aliens in the United States. The CLEAR Act provides economic incentives and penalties for those municipalities and states who for whatever reasons do not recognize the seriousness of this problem and fail or lack the desire to help with this growing problem. In Pennsylvania, not only in the Lehigh Valley where I serve as the District Attorney, law enforcement has taken an interest in identifying and removing illegal aliens. There have been efforts in the Scranton Wilkes-Barre area by local police and in western Pennsylvania to deal with this issue but, unfortunately, local and state law enforcement at the present time have to rely on federal officials. In the past, the federal government has not shown much interest in this issue. For example, on a number of occasions, my office as well as local and state police have come into contact with illegal aliens who have admitted their illegal status and entry into the United States. When federal agencies such as the INS now ICE were contacted, we were often told that as long as these criminal aliens were not committing additional crimes, they should just be let go. I have also been told that in the past INS discourages "this type of investigation." In other words, it is not enough for them to be aware of the fact that there are thousands of illegal aliens living in our communities, we are told that they must essentially be committing some other type of crime before the federal government would get involved. When arrests are made by local police on state charges such as identity theft, etc. INS will often inform us that they are "not interested" in detaining and deporting these kinds of illegal immigrants. For some reason, the federal government continues to believe that immigration violations by themselves do not warrant much enforcement. In my view, this thinking must change and the CLEAR Act certainly is an indication from the Congress that the thinking has in fact changed. The fact of the matter is that the cost to society from the impact of illegal aliens is so severe, we can no longer afford not to act or leave this problem exclusively to the federal government. Local prosecutors, local and state police must be empowered, aggressive and diligent with respect to the presence of illegal aliens. Although some may argue that most local police departments do not want to enforce immigration violations and have resisted the idea of using their officers to track down illegal immigrants, reasoning that crime fighting is better served by building relationships of trust in immigrant communities, I believe that now in the wake of September 11, 2001 a growing percent of law enforcement agencies around the country are beginning to equate illegal immigration and immigration enforcement with protecting national security and they want to be involved. You have seen pilot programs in the state of Florida empowering local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. Implementation of the provisions of the CLEAR Act would, perhaps, make unnecessary the memorandums of understandings that some jurisdictions are seeking with the Justice Department in order to obtain power for state and local police to enforce immigration laws.
In summary, let me therefore state unequivocally that as a state prosecutor, I believe that this legislation is necessary. However, I caution you that the ultimate success of this goal will be based upon the political will of both political parties here in Washington. Quite frankly, I am not very optimistic. I believe that both the Republicans and the Democrats are to blame for the present lack of enthusiasm on the part of the government to enforce immigration laws. Business interests that often influence Republican Party politics clearly want cheap labor and often employ illegal aliens in menial jobs paid less than the minimum wage. On the other hand, the Democratic Party continuously at the national level panders to ethnic politics. Obviously, the CLEAR Act is not a panacea and we cannot overnight deal with the issue of the huge invasion of illegal aliens into America. And, it is also clear that even with an aggressive approach to enforcement and passage of the CLEAR Act, we continue to have the problem of hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens invading our country on a regular basis through our northern and southern borders. And lastly, there must also be attention to immigration judges who routinely, after local law enforcement has apprehended, arrested and prosecuted an illegal alien, often release these illegal aliens back out into the community on ROR or minimal bail with an order for them to deport. Of course, these illegal aliens again disappear into American society, adopt a new false identity, a new false name and relocate to some other community. Occasionally, we have seen the people that we have prosecuted come right back to my area resuming again their jobs, life under another name and another social security number. The effort to clean up this mess cannot only be done legislatively via the CLEAR Act, but must recognize the other areas related to immigration enforcement that also must be addressed. Nevertheless, the CLEAR Act is necessary because without an empowered municipal and local departments throughout the United States, the problem will continue to grow and get worse.
I would like to thank the Chairman of the Committee and members of the Committee for inviting me to offer these comments today.
You, the people of the United States, in order to form voting blocks for the DNC, establish cheap labor for the RNC, insure multiculturalism, provide for the current illegals, promote the general welfare OF THE WORLD and forsake the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Amnesty for the United States of the Americas.
Where is the The Bush Record support for this this bill H.R. 2671 introduced 7/9/2003, with 112 Cosponsors.
A 29-year veteran assistant chief with the Border Patrol characterized the problem of illegal immigration to me as "worse than epidemic." He said the practice of the Immigration Service has changed – but for the worse, now actually aiding and abetting more and more illegal immigration. This agent said the Immigration and Naturalization Service practice when he started out was to detain all illegal aliens; the only aliens INS released before deportation had extraordinary extenuating circumstances. But now, aliens are routinely released; the only ones held in custody are those with unusual circumstances.
These "let them go" policies and practices have real-world consequences. "Let them go" policies apparently contributed to the year-long rape rampage of Reynaldo Elias Rapalo, the recently apprehended illegal criminal alien from Honduras who is suspected in seven rapes in Miami. Local law enforcement arrested him for "lewd and lascivious" molestation in October 2002, after his visa had expired. But he wasn’t removed from the country.
"Let them go" contributed to the rape of two nuns and the murder of one nun last year in Oregon. El Salvadoran illegal alien Maximiliano Silerio Esparza, who has been indicted in these crimes, had been caught and let go by the Border Patrol, despite his prior criminal record and an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
"Let them go" put Jamaican illegal alien Lee Malvo back on America’s streets after police captured him in Washington State. This occurred just months before the Washington, D.C., sniper shootings of 2002, in which Malvo is a suspect.
Section 103-Criminal Penalties and Forfeiture of Assets. With respect to this section, I wish to note at the outset that the Committee has correctly recognized that illegal immigration imposes a massive financial burden on all levels of government. The costs of providing education, health care, and other social services, combined with the law enforcement costs that are incurred regardless of whether a state chooses to cooperate in enforcing immigration laws, are staggering. The meager taxes collected from illegal aliens do not come close to reimbursing governments at the local, state, and federal level. It is estimated that the net cost of illegal immigration totals approximately $40 billion per year. The forfeiture of assets is an appropriate mechanism to allow governments to begin to recover these costs. It is also a substantial deterrent to those who would flaunt our immigration laws.
I would like to offer two minor suggestions to improve Section 103. First, it would be useful to create a blanket criminal misdemeanor offense that applies to any alien who violates any provision of U.S. immigration law or is unlawfully present in the United States. This would eliminate any ambiguity that persists regarding arrests for criminal versus civil violations of immigration law. It would also defeat the misinformation campaign that has been launched by organizations hostile to the enforcement of immigration laws. Second, I suggest that in Section 103(a), in the provision amending Section 275(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, after the phrase "after the expiration of a nonimmigrant visa" the following words should be inserted: "or after the end of the alien’s period of authorized stay in the United States." This would cover those situations in which the alien’s visa is valid for a period beyond the period for which the alien is actually authorized to stay in the United States. This is common with B(1) and B(2) visas that may be valid for as long as ten years, even though the alien has only been authorized to stay in the United States for a period of six months.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
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| 18 | Wisconsin | 506.00 |
14 |
36.14 |
245 |
2.07 |
173.00 |
11 |
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Mr. Bush says that "common sense and fairness" require that we allow illegals to fill jobs that Americans are not filling. But just because the plan might make sense economically doesn't mean it makes "common sense," especially when there are strong non-economic reasons not to do it, which there are.
And why are we even talking about fairness in the same breath with illegal aliens? Do we owe them a duty of fairness? Does fairness mean we should not only look the other way at their criminal violations but reward them? How is that fair, by the way, to those who obey the law and to our system itself?
...But, since we make such a pathetic effort at enforcing our laws, how do we know whether they could work?
I also don't believe that our laws are "forcing" employers to turn to illegals. That's like saying laws against stealing are creating more thieves.
Are we going to have any less of a problem with illegal entry into this country merely because we grant legal status to millions of people, even if we are thereby better able to track them?
....We shouldn't undermine the rule of law in the name of compassion.
....the plan calls for the issuance of more green cards and would allow illegals to apply for those cards, whereas before they would have made themselves subject to deportation had they applied.
....but it's hard to imagine that one as savvy as Karl Rove would calculate that the marginal gains there could offset the major alienation of the conservative base as well as mainstream America, which seems to be largely unsympathetic to illegal aliens.
....How quickly we forget that Republicans don't easily win points for so-called compassion, whether by throwing untold billions of federal dollars at education or increasing domestic spending elsewhere.
....Republicans can do without a xenophobic or nativist image, but I don't understand how opposing illegal immigration is tantamount to being against foreigners any more than opposing affirmative action makes one a racist. Republicans should stick to principle and leave the pandering to the Democrats.
The fact that even Bush's supporters aren't sure why he's doing this or how he can justify it is all the proof we need that it is wrongheaded. It's a muddled plan, with dubious goals and inevitably negative consequences -- which doesn't bode well for the president's image as a decisive leader with moral clarity.
Beyond undermining the rule of law, this plan devalues the uniqueness of American citizenship by trivializing the laws aimed at making it selective and a special privilege. It sends a message that illegal immigration is a trifling matter.
President Bush, whom I deeply admire on many levels, has stretched the patience of conservatives too far on this one. He should reconsider.
In 1990 Clayton Williams was the Republican candidate for governor in the state of Texas. He was locked in a tight race with Democrat Ann Richards but seemed to be gaining momentum in the final weeks of the campaign. Then it happened. The brash millionaire opened his mouth and inserted his foot up all the way up to his knee.
Hoping to curry favor with the press, Williams invited several reporters for some informal "off the record" time at his ranch. In casual conversation, the subject of the weather came up. Williams could not resist the temptation to play meteorologist and commented that bad weather is sort of like rape: "as long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."
Compare the goals of Free Republic to The Bush Record and then to anyone of these:
This is not the first call I've gotten on this - I've had several.
Each one are up in arms over utter disgust, disbelief, and awe.
Each are Republicans who have voted party line an average of forty to fifty years.
Each agree on one thing: Bush lost a minimum of 10% of his support in one fell swoop. In one day he has successfully manged to do the near impossible - alienate at least 25% of ALL Republicans.
Hell hath no fury like a Republican scorned.
I dare the xenophobes-in-conservative-clothing to say the same things about Reagan that they are saying about Bush.
There are 18 million illegal aliens currently residing in this country.
If you could click your heels together and magically transport them all back to Kansas, I would be all for it.
But it wouldn't be like that.
It would be messier than you could ever imagine.
Rounding them up into camps and transporting them back to Mexico would be the biggest, most violent military operation conducted within American borders since the Civil War.
America would go from being the world's foremost champion of human rights to the biggest violator, because the purpose of the military is to kill people and break things, and that is what will happen.
The borders will be lined with cameras from news stations all over the world, photographing shrieking families as legal children watch their illegal parents forcibly dragged across the border.
That will be the new face of America that the world sees when they think of us.
Like the caller on Rush said last week. "Conservatives are to the republican party as the blacks are to the democrat party."
America would go from being the world's foremost champion of human rights to the biggest violator, because the purpose of the military is to kill people and break things, and that is what will happen.
ONE MORE TIME! IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO USE THE MILITARY TO "ROUND UP" ALL THESE ILLEGALS!
Remove the incentives such as jobs and social benefits and they will leave of their own accord!
ONE MORE TIME!
MILITARY TACTICS WILL BE REQUIRED, WHETHER PERFORMED BY THE MILITARY OR BY SWAT TEAMS!
WACO WAS NOT PERPETRATED BY THE MILITARY!!!!
IT WAS PERPETRATED BY THE FBI/BATF!!!!
LOCAL LAW ENFORCMENT AGENCIES EQUIPPED TO BE STORM TROOPERS WILL ACT LIKE STORM TROOPERS!!!
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