Mark Steyn: llIegals the political 'untouchables'

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 01/11/04 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
59	Netherlands	20.00	1	20.00	12	1.67

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[goldstategop]

Mark Steyn gets it. We don't want to make a real national security problem even more unmangeable. We can barely keep track of legal arrivals who turn out to be hostile to America - fat chance we can make sure those who slip in here ilegally will all be friendly. Count me in the 83 percent who wants to clean up the mess that helped contribute to 9-11.

[Happy2BMe]

"But there's no indication in the president's remarks that he's prepared to get serious about that."

More heat for Dubya's "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM" initiative PING!

[livius]

The world's most powerful nation has an illegal immigration problem because it has a legal immigration problem.

This is an excellent point. When most people think INS, they think Border Patrol, and start blaming the agents for not keeping people from streaming across the Rio Grande.

The real problem is the backroom bureaucracy, which moves so slowly and inefficiently that even if illegal aliens are caught, it takes forever to get them out - and which never even catches the really dangerous applicants for legal status who walk right up to it. I'm not sure what it would take to make that agency functional.

[Dialup Llama]

'If our immigration laws were enforced 17 of the 19 9-11 terrorists would not be here.' (Can someone point me to a link for this fact I keep seeing?)

As Steyn points out, whatever the logic for regularization is, if it is not accompanied by strict enforcement, it will be a formula for a true tidal wave of new illegals. And no plan includes provisions for strict enforcement.

[dirtboy]

The world's most powerful nation has an illegal immigration problem because it has a legal immigration problem. Transferring millions of people from the unofficial shadow network to the arthritic bureaucracy that allowed the problem to get this big is unlikely to solve it.

Bingo.

[jigsaw]

...Illegal Americans...

I've always wanted to be a hyphenated American and from today on, I'm a Legal-American!

Wow! I feel so "inclused" now.

[Happy2BMe]

BOTTOM LINE: " Transferring millions of people from the unofficial shadow network to the arthritic bureaucracy that allowed the problem to get this big is unlikely to solve it."

>

We are overrun by illegal immigration in the United States.

Mexico President to Mexico: MORE – WE’RE GOING FOR MORE!!

Bush's Ridiculous Speech About Immigration Reform

Powerful Letter To President Bush

DUMPING CONSERVATIVES AT THE BORDER

Jobs Americans Won't Do: Voodoo Economics from the White House.

Bush admits: "I was wrong about amnesty." (humor)

Illegals Are Destroying America - A Letter To Rep Tom Tancredo

Study: Immigration Biggest Contributor to Sprawl (87% of Growth Attributed to Immigrants)

Bush’s Proposal Amounts To Amnesty For Millions of Illegal Immigrants

Bush: Let Illegals Work in U.S. (But that is not enough say illegals.)

Mark Steyn: llIegals the political 'untouchables'

Take the FReeper Poll

[Klickitat]

ping

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

What about the courts? I remember around 1968 INS arrested thirty Columbian illegals at the Jackson Heights stop on John Rocker's famous 7 train. All 30 were illegals. The judge said the INS couldn't tell illegal Columbians from citizen Puerto Ricans, so they had to let them all go. The INS said that since they could tell from their dress who was who (they did have the empirical evidence that they were 30 for 30), but the judge didn't buy.

Courts have made it practically impossible to arrest and deport illegals, and Democratic politicians have seen it as an opportunity to pander to Hispanic (or whatever) voters.

[putupon]

Remember the 1986 immigration amnesty? One of its beneficiaries was Mahmoud abu Halima, who went on to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993. His friend Mohammad Salameh wasn't so fortunate. He applied for the '86 amnesty but was rejected. So he just stayed on in America, living illegally, and happily was still around to help Mahmoud and co-attack the Twin Towers. He's the guy who rented the truck, which suggests he had enough ID to get past the rental agent at Ryder.

Where the Hell was Bush's brain when he came up with this plan?

Click here and here for lists of crimes committed by illegal aliens.

[Missouri]

Bump and ping.

Good article.

[Mears]

Great article.

The INS reminds me of The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight.

They will do nothing but talk until the election and after the election they will do nothing at all.

Am I the only one who feels that our elected "leaders" don't care what we think?

[riri]

Click here and here for lists of crimes committed by illegal aliens

All you have to do is watch our nightly news here in Phoenix for a month and you figure it out real quick.

[Missouri]

The real problem is the backroom bureaucracy, which moves so slowly and inefficiently

Mahmoud Atta

Wasn't these the same agencies who sent this guy an up-dated visa 6 months after 9-11 ?

Your're right. I don't think our government is reliable enough to check all these illegals out in a timely or effecient mannor.

[daviddennis]

How different are these figures from crime figures of people in similar economic straits?

There are criminals everywhere.

I found it intriguing that Mark admits that we can't solve our problem by simply "throwing the bums out" as many Freepers believe. I think he agrees with Bush's motivation, but thinks the bureaucracy needs to be fixed first. And I agree with him.

D

[expatpat]

It's clear that a major overhaul of the INS is a necessary first step.