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Millions of Mexican Illegal Aliens Endanger U.S. Security
UPI via NewsMax ^ | 8/6/02 (Dateline 8/7/02) | ----

Posted on 08/06/2002 3:07:24 PM PDT by Tancredo Fan

Millions of Mexican Illegal Aliens Endanger U.S. Security

NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002

WASHINGTON ­ The millions of Mexican illegal aliens in the United States endanger national security by creating a demand for false identity documents and smuggling networks that could also assist terrorists, experts said Tuesday.

The three experts, speaking at a panel hosted by Nixon Center and Center for Immigration Studies, also said that amnesty for Mexican illegal aliens in the United States should not be considered until immigration enforcement at the U.S.-Mexican border is strengthened.

Robert Leiken, a guest scholar at Nixon Center, said that Mexican illegal aliens themselves did not pose a terror threat. But operating in the shadow economy, they help to undermine the rule of law in the United States and in Mexico, he said.

"Mexican immigrants are not a direct threat to homeland security," Leiken said. "The real problem is that a large illegal population creates an active market for illegal documents."

Leiken said that helping Mexico guard its borders should be one of the most important items on the U.S.-Mexico foreign relations agenda, especially in light of Sept. 11. Another critical aspect of control should be increased immigration law enforcement within U.S. workplaces, he said.

"Earned legalization must be sufficiently stringent as to discourage illegal immigration, something the 1986 'amnesty' failed to do. That is why the program must be linked not only to shared U.S. and Mexican border responsibility but also to regularly enforced employer sanctions," he said.

George Grayson, a professor of government at the College of William and Mary, said that the Mexican Ministry of the Interior needed to improve the reach and the behavior of its border agents.

His 2001 study of the conditions for illegal aliens at the Guatemalan-Mexican border showed that more than 100 criminal organizations continue to move migrants across the frontier, at times through the assistance of corrupt border officials.

Middle Eastern, African, and Asian aliens are among the many passing through from Central America, creating a U.S. security threat, the experts said. Despite recent enforcement reforms and crackdowns by the United States and by Mexican President Vincente Fox, illegal immigration continues steadily, they said.

'A Sieve Blasted by Buckshot'

"The Mexican-Guatemalan border is a sieve blasted by buckshot. There are more than 200 clandestine crossing points," Grayson said.

Post-Sept. 11 border security has been a major consideration to the Bush administration. The president's 2003 budget contained money to double the size of the U.S. Border Patrol and major increases in Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Under Bush's plan for a Department of Homeland Security, all border and port security would be handled in one agency and the administration anticipates far greater control over who enters or leaves the country. The annual legal quota for Mexican immigrants is 75,000. Before Sept. 11, Fox and other Mexican officials requested that the quota be raised to 250,000, even if the Mexicans were permitted in only as temporary guest workers.

An amnesty program for the millions of illegal Mexican workers in the United States was a key Mexican request at a February 2001 presidential summit between Fox and George W. Bush. But since Sept. 11, amnesty and legalization programs have taken a back seat to border enforcement, the experts said.

In his remarks, Leiken also said he believed more Mexican illegal aliens should receive legal spots in the United States to reduce the pool of illegals.

But Steven Camarota, director of research at Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that is often critical of open immigration policy, said he thought U.S. policy should focus on reducing the number of Mexican and low-skill immigrants.

Taxpayer Subsidy to Cheapskate Employers

His research showed that Mexican immigrants, legal and illegal, were costing U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars a year though their use of public assistance. He thinks their benefit to the economy is small.

"In effect, Mexican immigration acts as a subsidy to businesses that employ unskilled workers, holding down labor costs, while taxpayers pick up the costs of providing services to a much larger poor and low-income population," he said.


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Foreign Affairs; Mexico; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crime; illegalimmigration; immigrantlist; invasion; nationalsecurity
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1 posted on 08/06/2002 3:07:25 PM PDT by Tancredo Fan
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To: flamefront; Drill Alaska; healey22; lutine; Right_Makes_Might; wku man; sonofliberty2; ...
FYI.....
2 posted on 08/06/2002 3:08:33 PM PDT by Tancredo Fan
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To: Tancredo Fan
The three experts, speaking at a panel hosted by Nixon Center and Center for Immigration Studies, also said that amnesty for Mexican illegal aliens in the United States should not be considered until immigration enforcement at the U.S.-Mexican border is strengthened.

I have a hard time taking any article seriously that in any way legitimizes amnesty.  There are no circumstances that would justify rewarding people who have broken our laws to come here.  Tell me what validity an oath would mean from these folks?  What does a strengthened border do to change this?

Chalk this up as another fuzzy logic diatribe on illegal immigration.  You can't say you are against illegal immigration on the one hand, then make comments that support amnesty on the next.

3 posted on 08/06/2002 3:14:57 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: DoughtyOne
Tell me what validity an oath would mean from these folks? What does a strengthened border do to change this?

How about the "there are a lot of illegal immigrants we can get to vote for us if we give them amnesty and promise them handouts" oath?

If this striks as great a discourse with you as it does with me, make sure you vote for true CONSERVATIVES and stop paying attention to Reuplicrats and Demicans, which are harder to differentiate between from election to election.

4 posted on 08/06/2002 3:19:07 PM PDT by AmericanCompatriot
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To: AmericanCompatriot
I agree.
5 posted on 08/06/2002 3:21:01 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: Tancredo Fan
Earned legalization must be sufficiently stringent as to discourage illegal immigration, something the 1986 'amnesty' failed to do.

The only thing an illegal alien has earned is a one-way trip back home. Sheesh, when is the US going to stop coddling these people and enforce the law?

6 posted on 08/06/2002 3:33:38 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: DoughtyOne
I hear you..... as far as I'm concerned, the thought of amnesty for these invaders is absurd and out of the question, and no amount of effort should be spared in order to secure our borders and remove these millions of criminals.... no matter how un-PC that may be. Although there are illegals here from many countries, Mexico seems to be one of a very few corrupt nations using illegal immigration as a weapon. They need to be dealt with once and for all, and in a manner that they will not soon forget.
7 posted on 08/06/2002 3:33:59 PM PDT by Tancredo Fan
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To: Tancredo Fan
"His research showed that Mexican immigrants, legal and illegal, were costing U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars a year though their use of public assistance."

I thought this needed to be said again.

The last I knew the taxpayers aren't asked if this assistance shouldn't be billed back to the Mexican Government.
8 posted on 08/06/2002 3:40:22 PM PDT by BeAllYouCanBe
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To: Tancredo Fan
And Bush fiddles while the Southwest burns. The flood of illegal aliens is the direct cause of some 60% of Los Angeles County Hospitals operating in the red now. Hell, just last week U.C. Irvine told the indigent and poor not to come to their emergency rooms anymore because they can't handle the flood of unpaid bills.

Also, L.A. County is proposing a new 3-cent tax per square foot on each structure in the county to help "fund" the hardpressed emergency rooms across the County. Well, when the idiots at the GOP call me this October to help them out I'll have to tell them I sent my donation to the County to pay for the illegals the GOP is allowing to flood into our nation.

I expect this rubbish from Clinton, not from Bush and that is why he is the greater dissapointment.

9 posted on 08/06/2002 3:42:08 PM PDT by Kobyashi1942
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To: Tancredo Fan
Yep.

Breathe...Relax...Aim...Squeeze...

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

10 posted on 08/06/2002 3:47:33 PM PDT by wku man
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To: DoughtyOne
Some of the latest developments from the San Diego area. Illegals drive the wrong way on I-8 at night with no lights to avoid a checkpoint on the other side of 8. Recently there was a fatl headon and there have been numerous other accidents caused by these a-holes. The best part is the govt. knows of this and will do nothing to stop it. The van in the fatal had been seized in an earlier incident but was returned when the smugglers complained. Another new tactic is that in the morning when traffic into Mexico is light on I-5 they use specially reinforced trucks to bust through the border going North in the Southbound lanes pushing other vehicles out of the way. And of course Bush will tell us how serious he is about our security. He is a clown and a liar.
11 posted on 08/06/2002 3:55:58 PM PDT by willyone
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To: Tancredo Fan
I agree with you.
12 posted on 08/06/2002 3:58:51 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: willyone
I've heard of this latest practice. It's a sad commentary. I could make some pretty pointed comments about Bush. I'll refrain. But if he want's to be taken seriously when he says he's doing all he can, he simply cannot continue to ignore the problems on our southern border, differing to President Fox's take on things.
13 posted on 08/06/2002 4:03:02 PM PDT by DoughtyOne
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To: willyone
Wrong-way illegal alien menaces need to be lit up.
14 posted on 08/06/2002 4:04:11 PM PDT by Tancredo Fan
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To: Tancredo Fan
I'm in Dallas and in the last week there have been 100+ illegal aliens discovered in the back of semis. Some were caught and some fled the scene. Scary part is come September, thanks to NAFTA, Mexican trucks will be able to come into the country to deliver goods. Not only driving on our roadways, but carrying cargo into the interior.
15 posted on 08/06/2002 4:06:35 PM PDT by LillyDayStar
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To: Tancredo Fan
Leiken said that helping Mexico guard its borders should be one of the most important items on the U.S.-Mexico foreign relations agenda, especially in light of Sept. 11. Another critical aspect of control should be increased immigration law enforcement within U.S. workplaces

Help Mexico? They are encouraging it. Cracking down on American business's employing of these tax exempt workers would not hurt.

16 posted on 08/06/2002 4:06:59 PM PDT by operation clinton cleanup
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To: All
The American people, as a whole, do not want to secure our southern border with Mexico. There is no other way to stop the flow of illegals into this country. We should have done this in the 70s/80s, as I have posted on FReep many times over. Now our only choice is to 1) round up Mexicans on trucks and into camps to be deported, (if you think this would ever happen, you're crazy, or 2) the illegals voluntarily go back home, (even more farfetched).

No folks, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. We will have to deal with "immigration" from Mexico from here on out. It's too late to do anything that will affect this problem. Even securing the border at this late date, (no political will to do even this too-little, too-late action), would provide little relief. I hope that all you lovely folk will learn to enjoy the drawbacks of not having enforced our borders for the last 30 years. The Dems will be the majority party in less than a generation, and we will have our own "PRI" experience for the rest of the century, maybe less than that if we are extremely lucky.....

17 posted on 08/06/2002 4:20:15 PM PDT by Malcolm
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To: operation clinton cleanup
Help Mexico?

Absolutely not. Mexico cannot be helped. Protecting ourselves from Mexico is what DC ought to be doing. That country should be completely isolated.

They are encouraging it.

That, they are.

Cracking down on American business's employing of these tax exempt workers would not hurt.

Try convincing the one-term wonder of that.

18 posted on 08/06/2002 4:20:34 PM PDT by Tancredo Fan
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To: All
Why spend money protecting our borders if we are just going to give the illegals amnesty anyway? Think of the money we could save if we disbanded the border patrol.
19 posted on 08/06/2002 4:24:29 PM PDT by umgud
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To: Tancredo Fan
Our borders are open. We allow immigration. Until we crack down hard, real hard for illegal crossing by those who help and those who do, they will keep coming. Land mines are going away, tell me why?
20 posted on 08/06/2002 4:27:02 PM PDT by XtreMarine
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