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
Many of them are. Look into the dirtly little secret regarding the Master Suspense File and all the companies who've paid into Social Security for bogus workers.
There has been a civil war brewing here for 75 years. It is with the Leninists, Communists, Liberals, Progressives or wantever is the current new name. The illegal problem is not a war between civilians/citizens but with foreign governments attempting an INVASION by stealth. As Micheal Savage says.. it is all about losing our borders, our language, our culture and thus our country and identity, and eventually our National Identity. If you look at the loss of the above items, you will see, clearly, what is happening.. The CIVIL WAR is occurring in our Congress.
Makes sense to fix the one with the biggest problem first. We can then worry about the Canadian border, if we start to have zillions of people pouring in....
susie
Amazingly, BJ actually admitted today in another link (can't remember which one???) that there were indeed terrorists sneaking across the border. Sadly, for all of us, Bush refuses to admit it and act upon it.
AFL-CIO Rejects Guest Workers, Just Wants Amnesty
You're excused.
So then; you are not interested in solving "the problem"..
The long term problem, which intitally political.. Since RINOs are in effect democrats.. It also effects the increase of RINOs too.. We have "the problem" because of democrats and RINOS and the answer to "the problem" is less voting democrats and RINOS..
I see that you are in denial too.. not denial of the problem but denial of the answer.. Another fact for you.. The ONLY thing republicans and democrat leaders agree on IS... distraction from any real solution to the Mexican border.. AND all the illegal AND LEGAL proto democrats(Rinos) in the U.S. right now.. (and GROWING daily)..
Most terrorists have the resources to afford to FLY into the U.S. from many countries.. Terrorists coming thru Mexican border would be unusal.. possible but unsual.. The democrat party(and republican RINOS) are Americas most vital threat to National Security.. solve that problem ALL the others can be handled DON'T solve that problem and ANY solution is merely a gambit.. a losing gambit..
More than likely Mexican government officials or workers. Mexico is one of the most corrupt countries in this hemisphere.
Thanks...looks like I was half right.
Oops! My bad.
" The way to stop it? Well, like Bill O'Reilly says..a civil war is brewing."
Unfortunately he may be right.
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.
Not that they'll say so openly.
I'd like to debate it (sort of) because I think the number of incarcerated illegals is higher than that. Did the GAO only count the illegals in federal prisons? If so, we'd still need to add in the number of illegals in city/county jails and those in state prisons.
If you get a chance, there are some crime stats and links on this old thread.
Going after the employers of illegals would be a big step in the right direction. Many illegals (as well as legal immigrants), however, come here not for jobs but to commit crimes, get on welfare, or form terrorist cells.
Considering the large numbers of these illegals who are roaming our country, massive deportations are essential. They can be directly by roundup or encouraging them to leave on their own accord (by clamping down on perks, etc.)
Now about those OBL types. On this forum, they are, well, as Travis always says, they are good for keeping the threads bumped.
Do you support or oppose H.R. 4437, the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005?
Support 82.2%
Oppose 17.8%
"How did all these OTM get to Mexico"
The Chinese illegals that I was approached to fly were landed on remote beaches from ships full of them from China.
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