Posted on 04/01/2006 11:49:55 AM PST by technomage
The latest attempt at immigration reform which is being pushed by Congress and the President, is ignoring one extremely important point and putting all of our lives at risk.
Before I get to that point:
For the sake of argument, I will not mention the costs that illegal immigration puts on all local and state governments through Welfare, our Health Care system, our school systems, etc. That will continually be debated.
I will also skim over the somewhat hidden problem of criminals coming into this country. According to the General Accounting Office (the investigative arm of Congress), at the end of the year 2004, there were 49,000 illegal aliens in federal prisons. 49,000 illegals that commited serious crimes in our country after crossing the border. This is data that cannot be debated as these are facts as reported by the GAO.
Now, Congress and open border proponents seem to accept this as a small price to pay. After all, 49,000 as compared to 12 million illegals is a very small percentage. At least that is the argument I have heard from some far left liberals I know. Well, you tell the tens of thousands of families in this country how their family member being murdered by an illegal is a small price to pay. You tell the families of daughters, wives, nieces, aunts that have been brutally raped by illegals that it is a small price to pay for helping so many improve their lives.
Sorry, but losing hundreds of lives to murder, putting thousands of others through lifelong torment because they were raped, or beaten in an aggravated assault or robbery is not a small price to pay for the families and individuals victimized.
But, the illegal proponents, the open border proponents, the Congress and the President (yup, I said it) seem to think this is a small price. In fact, I have heard ludicrous arguments like: We have thousands of murders in this country every year by citizens. What an infantile argument. Yes, we do. But the thousands of attacks, rapes, murders, robberies perpetrated by illegals affect the victims just as badly as if citizens did it and the vast majority COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED with very strict border control.
And I am not even mentioning the cost of incarnerating these illegals, which runs about 6-8 billion dollars a year!!
However, as bad as this is, that is not my main point. There is yet another problem with illegals crossing our border that has the potential to dwarf the problems listed above.
The even bigger problem is with OTM's. Not familiar with that term? OTM's is a term the US Border Patrol uses. It stands for Other Than Mexican's. OTM's are those illegals apprehended by the BP that are not from Mexico.
According to the US Border Patrol (USBP) the number of illegals apprehended in the fiscal year 2005 was 1.2 MILLION. This is how many were apprehended. The USBP estimates they apprehend about 1 in 4 illegals crossing the border, but many think that the number is closer to 1 in 10. Still, let us take the smaller number: The USBP catches 1 illegal for every four that come through. That means in fiscal 2005, at least 3.6 MILLION illegals were able to enter our country.
Now, of these numbers, 7% are OTM's (again, according to GAO statistics).
This is from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) Report For Congress entitled:
Border Security: "Apprehensions of "Other Than Mexican" Aliens
September 22, 2005
http://www.mipt.org/pdf/CRS_RL33097.pdf
The number of OTM apprehensions remained relatively stable from 1998 to 2002, averaging almost 37,000 a year over the six-year time period. Apprehensions increased by 33% from FY2002 to FY2003, and 52% from FY2003 to FY2004. Roughly three-quarters of the way into FY2005, OTM apprehensions have increased by 58% from FY2004. Indeed, over the last three years OTM apprehensions have more than tripled, increasing by almost 220%. This trend is in stark contrast to apprehensions of Mexican aliens, which have remained relatively stable over the same period.
Here is a breakdown of the top 25 OTM nationalities:
Country: FY2002, FY2003, FY2004, FY2005 (through July 11), %Change FY02-FY05
Honduras: 9316, 14491, 24420, 36118, 288%
Brazil: 3100, 5240, 8859, 27396, 784%
El Salvador: 7036, 9602, 16974, 27317, 288%
Guatemala: 6021, 7728, 11628, 14866, 147%
Nicaragua: 581, 765, 1460, 2498, 330%
Cuba: 1541, 1303, 1406, 2144, 39%
China: 688, 576, 1096, 1653, 140%
Ecuador: 664, 521, 679, 989, 49%
Dominican Republic: 1183, 2057, 2023, 969, -18%
Costa Rica: 233, 382, 450, 700, 200%
Canada: 1836, 1611, 1497, 697, -62%
Peru: 312, 366, 370, 388, 24%
Colombia: 347, 368, 335, 308, -11%
India: 345, 316, 378, 235, -32%
Jamaica: 287, 269, 215, 162, -44%
Bolivia: 48, 59, 140, 161, 235%
Albania: 167, 115, 117, 155, -7%
Argentina: 207, 252, 168, 138, -33%
Haiti: 295, 324, 165, 131, -56%
Poland: 228, 205, 231, 122, -46%
Romania 42, 58, 85, 103, 145%
South Korea: 143, 218, 161, 98, -31%
Pakistan: 167, 228, 164, 91, -46%
Venezuela: 69, 126, 132, 88, 28%
Israel: 103, 109, 91, 68, -34%
Source: CRS Analysis of CBP Data.
I show you these statistics to try and give you a perspective on the sheer size of the problem along our border.
The USBP also has another designation for certain illegals that are apprehended. This is: Special Interest OTM Apprehensions. Basically these are people apprehended that are from 35 countries designated by our intelligence community as countries known to support, harbor or export terrorism. I have yet to find the official list of exactly which countries these are but I am sure it is available somewhere.
Here are the latest stats on these Special Interest OTM's:
Year, # of SIOTM's Apprehended
1997, 729
1998, 721
1999, 736
2000, 676
2001, 766
2002, 849
2003, 807
2004, 626
Remember, this is the number of persons apprehended attempting to cross our border illegally that are from countries KNOWN to support, harbor or sponsor terrorism. How many others were not caught? Well, again using USBP numbers of 1 in 4 caught: The total above is: 5,910. This means that possibly as many as 24,000 illegals from countries that sponsor or support terrorism made it in!
Again, these are all government figures easily found on government web sites. These are FACTS, not theories, guesses, etc., but FACTS. And these are FACTS that the US Congress knows, or should know, as these are reported by the Congressional Research Service.
When I tell liberal 'friends' these numbers, they always give the same response:
Those numbers are so small compared to the overall numbers of illegals that they are insignificant.
Insignificant? It only took 19 terrorists to kill 3,000 Americans!! Look at the numbers again! Those are the ones that were CAPTURED. And, as the USBP tells us, they catch only about 1 in 4.
This is where the Congress, the President, the groups that advocate an open border are putting the lives of all Americans at risk. No, wait: They are putting the lives of all PEOPLE in this country, legal or illegal, at risk. The Congress is doing it merely for votes. The President is doing it because he is a globalist and does not believe in secure borders. The advocacy groups are doing it for purely selfish reasons.
When the next terrorist strike occurs, be it a nuke, chemical weapons, or something as simple as a truck bomb at a mall or sporting event, those killed will not be only legal Americans. Those killed will not be only White. Those killed will not be only Conservatives, straight, religious. This attack will kill anyone in its path, including liberals, illegals, whites, blacks, hispanics, gays, straights, ANYONE!
When this happens, and it is proven that the terrorists came across the border, we can blame Congressional members for the deaths. When this happens, we can blame those selfish, egotistical groups that pushed for open borders and no controls on immigration.
But, I fear, this will not be the worst. Yes, more Americans killed as a result of terrorism would be terrible. But the aftermath may be even worse. What would happen here in the USA could be similar to an internal war.
The saddest thing about all this is that the leaders of the greatest, strongest country in the world did not do their most basic, fundamental job: Protect the country, protect our borders.
Maybe 99.9% of all illegals are good, moral, decent, hard working people. As we know, or should know, from experience, it only takes a handful of terrorists to kill thousands. It only takes a handful of terrorists to bring the world economy to its knees.
As much as I am against amnesty and people crossing our borders illegally to work, I am much more fearful of another terrorist attack. Done right, it could not only kill hundreds or thousands, but it could bring our economy to it's knees. And when that happens, legals and illegals alike will lose their jobs and their incomes.
Congress, the President and the illegal advocates seem to think that these are good odds and are playing with OUR lives to prove it. If they are wrong, the backlash will be dramatic.
Technomage - Proud Free Republic Member, Proud Conservative Legal American
The OTM numbers are a joke.
First off most of them are paying from $10-50k to get from their country of origin to the US and no doubt have sophisticated cyotees bringing them in.
In 86 when I had to fly to Brown Field (San Diego) to pick up a passanger while I waited for him in the restaruant/bar I was talking to a bunch of BP agents and at that time they stated that about 20% of the illegals coming across were from Asia and the Middle east. I'm sure that the numbers haven't changed that much.
Those people aren't living under bushes or in cardboard boxes like the Mexicans, Central and So. Americans and are taken into their respected communities and protected and disapear.
As to the sophistication of the operations, in 85 I was approached and offered $1,000/head to fly Chinese from a private airstrip near Guadalahara to a private airstrip near the US border so they could move them past the Mexican checkpoints in their highways. At that time they were paying $10,000/head to get from China to the US which tells me that it was no doubt government money and commies that were being sent here.
It's already being bandied around here today by the OBLs.
We need to streamline the legal immigration process and kick the anarchists out.
And "pro-union" (even though the unions have been supporting the proposed amnesty).
President Bush, for all his compassion, seems to ignore the truth. Bush is a leader. Where, I wonder, is he leading us?
TRUTH bump
Thanks for the reasoned comments. You are exactly right. I appreciate you speaking out on this subject. I believe conservatives have a duty to do so.
I will also tell you that I am utterly humiliated for those who claim to be conservative, and can't see a thing wrong with illegal aliens.
Those 49,000 illegal immigrants have killed, maimed, raped, molested, assaulted, GTA'd, robbed, burgled, defrauded, coerced and worse their way into prison. We were primised in 1986 that our borders would be closed to illegal aliens if only we'd make those here then in violation of our laws, legal. We did and got screwed by our political operatives for doing so.
There shouldn't have been one victim if illegal alien crime since the 1986 naturalization process was finalized. Instead many have died, many have had their lives turned upside down. Many children have grown up without a father or mother. Where on God's green earth is compashing for them?
Nope, only the illegal alien warrants compasion in this nation turned upside down.
Not necessarily. I for one, see Mexico and this illegal invasion as Terrorism.
Still, I'd like to close both borders considering the stance both Mexico and Canada took on the WOT.
Why are we kissing their behinds?
Actually it goes further back then that. I recollect that in 1964/1965 time frame one Edward Kennedy pushed through some sort of immigration bill (the name escapes me now) during which he told the nation that this bill would in no way change the demographics of this country.
Of course, we was very wrong then and he is very wrong now.
Truly amazing: A politican can be wrong 95% of the time and still be voted into office.
95%? My aren't we generous! LOL, just kidding.
With him I'd still bet it's closer to 99.66%.
I didn't remember the 1960s fix.
I'm just not buying anything short of a wall, and limited access from here on out.
Guest workers? The jobs get done when there are no illegal aliens around. Don't kid yourself. We need those folks like a spare... well nevermind. It's about fifteen years beyond when we should have gotten serious, and now we'll have to live with the results.
We better or we'll be facing the present situation squared in another decade.
We do not need illegals to pick crops..felons would do just fine. Welfare recipients would do just fine.
Heck with "dignity" for felons and able-bodied welfare families. THEY should take the jobs no one else wants and we should end this invasion of our country.
Propaganda says we need illegals. Only Propaganda.
...Well, Tator, I dont expect they would like to put up the money for grandma and grampa to retire on after the Congress pi$$ed it all away.
But if they and others of their ilk had let the 45,000,000 or so babies since Roe v Wade be born, grow up and pay their taxes, just maybe we wouldn't have that problem.
And I really doubt that illegals are chipping in on the SSI thing, anyway.
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