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Press Releases :: May 18, 2006Will Adams, 202.226.6997
Tancredo Urges Enforcement Action as President Visits Border WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Chairman of the 97-Member House Immigration Reform Caucus, urged the President to take several steps to secure America’s border as the President visits Arizona, today. “I’m glad that the President keeps saying he wants to secure our border, but a Presidential visit won’t do that. Press conferences without Administration action is, as border ranchers say, all hat and no cattle,” said Tancredo. Tancredo continued, “While the President is down at the border I hope he sees firsthand what I see when I’m there—mass illegal entries, threatened ranchers, overburdened Border Patrol officers, and environmental degradation.” “If the President takes a clear view of the situation in Arizona – scars, blemishes and all – he won’t have an excuse to stall increased border enforcement,” said Tancredo. There are at least nine enforcement actions the President can take that require no new legislation: Suspend the visa waiver program. Citizens of 27 countries are allowed to travel to the U.S. without a visa, which could pose a serious national security threat. Encourage Basic Pilot Program use. DHS’ Basic Pilot Program allows employers to check the legal status of potential employees instantly through the Internet. The program is fee-based, thus wider use will not require any new federal resources. End ‘catch and release’. Persons caught who are illegally in the U.S. but are not Mexicans or Canadians are released by ICE and told to show up at court for deportation proceedings. Not surprisingly, few return to court. Despite an announcement from DHS to the contrary, catch and release is alive and well. In fact, a majority of the persons arrested in the highly-publicized IFCO raids were released by the following day. Instruct the Justice Department to identify local governments’ sanctuary policies. Federal law prohibits local governments from enacting illegal alien sanctuary policies. The Attorney General could easily identify such sanctuary policies and prosecute localities that violate federal law. Do more high-profile raids on businesses that hire illegals. With limited resources, an effective way to execute interior enforcement is to go after businesses who regularly hire illegal aliens. Such raids would make other businesses think twice before hiring persons illegally. Deploy mothballed military technology on the border. Military technology, such as mothballed UAVs, can be deployed effectively on the border, and military training can be relocated to land adjacent to the border. Facilitate volunteers who want to backstop the overwhelmed Border Patrol. Instead of calling the Minutemen ‘vigilantes’, the President could encourage volunteers until more Border Patrol can be hired and trained. Remove the Mexican and Canadian exceptions from the USVISIT system. USVISIT requires all non-citizens to be recorded when entering and exiting the U.S. President Clinton unilaterally exempted Mexico and Canada from the system. In addition, there is no ‘exit’ component to USVISIT for any country, which prevents the U.S. from knowing whether visa holders leave when they are supposed to. Approximately 40 percent of illegal aliens in the U.S. are visa overstays. Begin extending the border fence. The Defense Department has the resources to begin extending the border fence which exists near San Diego. ###
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