Illegal Immigration: Only Part of the Problem

Earlier this week, the President of the United States announced that he was going to deploy National Guard troops along the southern border of the United States to assist the U.S. Border Patrol to reduce the number of illegal immigrants crossing over from Mexico. To use my favorite line from the very first episode of The West Wing, "This is bad on so many levels."

The first problem that I see is that the National Guard has got to be pretty weary of the President finding new and exciting things for them to do. If these guys (and gals) wanted to be in the regular Army or Air Force, they would have joined the regular Army or Air Force. I have yet to hear a National Guard soldier or airman complain about performing a mission for their country, but consider the load that has been put on these folks during the past few years: Iraq, Afghanistan, Louisiana for Hurricane Katrina, the various other disasters that their governors send them to handle, and now the Mexican border. Also consider that law enforcement may be the industry most heavily represented among National Guard troops. Every time their commanders tell them to pack up their troubles in the old kit bag and smile, smile, smile, a police department, sheriff's office, highway patrol or state prison gets its staff reduced. Cops are the first line of defense for homeland security. This initiative, at best, just moves the playing pieces around on the board.

It's also an insult to the members of the U.S. Border Patrol to suggest that they are not up to the job that is the primary mission of their agency. The Border Patrol has been doing more with less for as long as anyone can remember. There is no doubt that people unlawfully get through the extremely porous border we have on both the north and south frontiers of this country, but that situation could be improved if the work the Border Patrol did actually had some meaning to it. Most of the people they catch are not prosecuted, but rather are just let loose on the other side of the border, all ready for another go at it. And each time this happens, they get a little smarter about the best ways to avoid the boys and girls in green.

Many illegals are smuggled across the border by coyotes, criminals that regard the people they're transporting as little more than cattle that can be sacrificed any time they decide that the profit-and-loss sheet isn't looking so rosy. A recent news story (see link below) indicated that less than six percent of these people smugglers were prosecuted after being apprehended by the Border Patrol. The government says that there aren't enough prosecutors or courtrooms to try the hundreds of thousands (140,000 last year in the San Diego area alone) of cases brought to them by the Border Patrol.

There is a similar problem ongoing with illegals (sorry, I'm going to be politically incorrect and skip the "undocumented workers" label) that are apprehended well inside the borders where the Border Patrol typically doesn't operate. Local law enforcement happens on these folks all the time. Many will tell the cops up front that they are illegal. They don't have driver's licenses or insurance, and they don't show up for court when they get tickets. If I was in their situation, I don't think I would, either. They are doing their best to stay under the radar, so if things get too hot for them in one locale, they shift to another. It's not like they are building a career at whatever job they're working, or making house payments.

If the local cops call ICE, they're usually told that if the person of interest is not a violent felon, a terrorist, or shows to have been previously deported, they don't have the manpower to respond. This is not a pass-the-buck deal - they don't. Even if they did, they don't have enough federally-leased jail beds to hold them. And even if they did have the federal beds, they don't have the money to implement the most expeditious and inexpensive solution - deportation.

Without doubt, there are illegal immigrants that come here, work quietly and faithfully, obey the law, and try to make a better life for themselves. There are also a bunch that wreck cars, injure people, commit felonies, sell drugs, and otherwise make nuisances of themselves. Some of them kill cops, which does give them considerable incentive to get back across the border. Mexico is offended by our barbaric capital punishment and life-without-parole sentences, and refuses to allow extradition of anyone who might face such a penalty if convicted.

The direct costs of allowing these people to remain in the country are enormous. They seldom have health insurance or the ability to pay for health care, so they go to hospitals when they get sick or injured and either provide false information or just skip out on the bill entirely. Their children go to public schools, because keeping them at home would draw too much attention (and the schools make a handy day care center), and the schools try to accommodate them by offering English as a Second Language courses and bilingual classrooms. Please note that the same schools are already struggling with providing a sound education for the students that speak English, and whose parents pay taxes. Public service agencies at every level scramble to hire bilingual employees so that they can work effectively with people who can't be bothered to learn the local language.

Depending on who and when you ask, it costs at least $25,000 per year to keep someone in jail. A report from the General Accounting Office (see below) indicated that of the "potentially deportable" inmates identified in prisons - over 12,000 - less than half had the hearing necessary to insure due process and implement deportation prior to them being released. That means that a lot of very bad guys that we could have just bounced out of the country were let back out to walk among us. This is not to mention the number that we're still housing and feeding. And those numbers are from ten years ago. I'm betting that the situation hasn't gotten any better.

So, while reinforcing the border is certainly a desirable goal, it would make a lot more sense to reduce the incentive to come here without going through the lawful immigration process. This can be done by aggressively prosecuting employers that employ undocumented workers, quickly processing and deporting the illegal immigrants that are discovered, and making life very expensive and unpleasant for the people that smuggle them in. This would not provide the great photo ops that we'll see when the National Guardsmen start walking the border frontiers, so it's not as politically attractive. And a lot of employers would get upset when their domestics, meat cutters, chicken pluckers, and dishwashers didn't come to work. But we would have fewer crooks on the street and in our jails.

Maybe it's just an aesthetic thing. At least the troops will blend in with the Border Patrol agents when they get together in their dress uniforms.

Tim Dees is the editor-in-chief of Officer.com. Dees was a law enforcement officer for 15 years with the City of Reno, Nevada and later with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada, serving primarily as a uniformed patrol officer and sergeant. He has also served as a field training officer, in DUI enforcement, as an instructor at the police academy and in-service training programs, and as a drug influence recognition expert. From 1994 to 2001, he was a criminal justice professor at colleges in Wisconsin, West Virginia, Georgia, and Oregon. Dees also worked as a regional training coordinator for the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST), based in Pendleton.

He holds a bachelor's degree in biological science from San José State University, a master's degree in criminal justice from The University of Alabama, and the Certified Protection Professional credential from the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS).

Okay, but I don't hear Mr. Dees point the finger at Congress. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States empowers Congress and Congress alone to set the rules of Naturalization--the laws, procedures, the enforcement and all of the funding. Have they enforced those powers? IMHO, they have failed again instead pointing their fingers at the President and his decision to temporarily use the National Guard to augment the Border Patrol. I encourage all American to vote out our current Congressional Critters and start afresh. Limit their terms to two terms.

arrest illegals, put them in a special jail where they work for the u.s. gov't.
1st offense 1 yr. then deport them after collecting biometric data.
2nd offense, special prison 5yrs. 3rd offense 10yrs.
if they came here to work, but broke our law, let them work to make up for their mistake.....in jail.

OK by me, but make the prison a tent city with pink underwear for the men, like in Arizona. Feed them on $5/day, and when their term is over, send them home. They won't be back.

So, while reinforcing the border is certainly a desirable goal, it would make a lot more sense to reduce the incentive to come here without going through the lawful immigration process

Fine, but step one has to be to seal the border. Stop the onslaught/invasion and then we can work on the rest of it.

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