Posted on 11/30/2005 11:10:10 AM PST by JZelle
Documents show that the Houston office of the federal agency charged with interior immigration enforcement has stopped investigating individual cases of "sham" marriages, which terrorists have used in the past to stay legally in the U.S. "Due to our current goals, priorities and lack of resources, we will not be participating in conducting one-on-one marriage fraud investigations," Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Gus Meza wrote in an October 2004 e-mail obtained by The Washington Times, citing the direction of supervisory agents in Houston. In another e-mail, an official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the bureau that grants visas, says ICE agents regularly decline to investigate 70 percent of fraud cases, including sham marriages, sent over by the fraud unit at USCIS. Both federal agents and independent analysts say "sham marriages" are a common tool used by terrorists to remain in the United States, making them a national security issue. A recent report for the Center for Immigration Studies by Janice L. Kephart, who was one of the staff members on the September 11 commission, found that of 20 terrorists she studied, 18 married U.S. citizens, 10 of whom entered "sham marriages."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
ping
"La Migra" is simply overwhelmed. It's like trying to get rid of ants with a pair of tweezers. The sheer mathematics makes it a losing proposition.
Yesterday morning a lady called into Fox & Friends 1st explaining she was married to an illegal alien and they needed legal fees in the neighborhood of $10,000 to process his citizenship. Tiki Barber asked, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but by virtue of marriage, isn't he automatically a citizen?" She stated that was no longer the case, the law had been changed.
If this lady was correct, even terrorists who married citizens would still be here illegally.
Marriage is not a deciding factor From USCIS in granting a visa. You can be married to a person that lives in another country and they can still deny a visa for that person to enter the USA.
One of the biggest misconceptions about immigration is that a foreigner married to a US citizen is automatically a citizen. Nothing could be further from the truth. It takes *years* just to get a green card, and then the foreign spouse has to wait years longer to apply for citizenship. They have to jump through numerous hoops, risk getting turned away at the border every time they enter the country (if the papers aren't just right), and pay big bucks to a lawyer just to make sure the papers are in order... not to mention what the USCIS charges just to FILE the paperwork (that takes them years to process). Why do they put us through this mess when Bush wants to let people who walked over the border stay in the country? That's the biggest injustice. Not that we mind this process. My husband is French and GLAD that it's hard to immigrate legally (look what's happening in France), but it doesn't make sense to punish the people who are trying to be legal and reward the illegals.
Given the fees one pays to deal with a spousal Green Card and the raft of paperwork one must produce (and the legal fees, in certain cases if one does the wise thing and retains council) I find this to be outrageous.
And they need to take all the fees we paid and use them to actually go after the truly suspect marriages. The whole process is set up precisely to root out the shams. Those of us who are legit are easy to spot, we've got our ducks in a row and substantial documentation of marriage legitimacy. It's hard to fake year after year of family Christmas, birthday and travel photos, it's hard to fake having both your names on the mortgage, etc. The scoflaws are also easy to spot. Once they are known, an investigation is a no brainer.
That's what's so "bad" about the Bush "plan". Persons who respect our laws enough to attempt compliance get dumped on in favor of illegal aliens who've stolen their way into the country and stolen their way ever since.
My resolution upon the matter is the legal immigrant can't as easily be exploited as slave labor by the OBL group who fund the crooks in Washington as can the illegal alien, thus the "cheap labor" crowd prefers the illegal.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
These are the same people that are not going to be doing background checks on the millions of illegals newly designated as "Guest Workers".
Osama Bin Laden himself would be able to be designated a "Temporary Guest Worker", with official U.S. Government issued I.D. that will be good for everything.
It does make sense when you were one of the political puppets that are owned by the elites. Since neither of the puppets that will finally be nominated for president in this "Two-Party Cartel" next election will willingly deport the illegals don't we owe it to ourselves & children to elect a 3rd party candidate that WILL act rather than talk.
I attribute the conduct of Stammering George to numbers one, four, and six.
BUMP
The people doing the news need to learn some facts. Marriage to a US citizen does not automatically make the spouse a citizen.
First of all the USC must petition the alien. If it is determined that the alien spouse is genuinely married to the US citizen, then the alien needs a visa to immigrate. The spouse could still be ineligible to immigrate for a variaty of reasons regardless of his/her marriage to a US citizen. If the spouse is given a visa, then is a two year conditional waiting period. If they are not married at the end of the two years then the green card or immigration status gets yanked. Still the spouse/ex-spouse isn't a citizen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.