Bush Picks Former Anti-Terror Prosecutor to Head INS

AP ^ | 11//2502

[STARWISE]

WASHINGTON

[justshutupandtakeit]

Our newbie friend is obviously concerned about those Mexican terrorists causing so much trouble. You know the ones who blowed up, uh, well er. Nevermind.

[section9]

Bush is staying ahead of the game.

He understands that the Border troubles Americans.

His political people understand that he is taking a beating from O'Reilly and the Movement Conservatives about this, and there is a real and valid terrorist threat through Mexico (actually, I believe the unfenced Canadian border to be a greater threat).

I don't think he wants to go in there with armored cavalry patrols quite yet, but will be forced to do so as the terror threat goes. I just don't see any alternative: the public will demand it.

As to tactical displacement, I believe that the border patrols actually cry out for reactivation of the Horse Cavalry, especially in areas of the American southwest characterized by rough terrain. Armored cav takes a lot of tail and a lot of gas. Horse cavalry would take a lot of time to get activated and trained up, but the low cost and ability to cover a wide area while basically not having to worry about fuel makes the horse an ideal platform for patrols in both the Northern and Southern theaters.

Troopers from either the Ninth or Tenth Cavalry regiments charge during an engagement in the Indian Wars

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[Sabertooth]

The man handled a lot of things, which were precursors of 9/11/01. That would make him rather more, than less up to speed about finding terrorists. That's the name of the game, right now ! OTOH, all you seem to be aggrivated about, is the influx of Mexican illegals. Let's go after the trrorists, so that we can avoid another ( or worse ) 9/11; shall we ? Or would you prefer every Mexican to be rounded up and deported, whilst we totally ignore the fanatic Islamacists ?

I have a few problems with your calculus.

To say that the name of the game is "finding terrorists," is to oversimplify. The name of the game is the "Immigration and Naturalization Service."

I find the zero-sum spin cropping up like weeds to be more than a little curious. Why must we choose between confronting garden variety Illegal Aliens (not "every Mexican," as you suggest) and going after "fanatic Islamacists?"

Here's the problem with the either/or approach: we have some number of hard core sleeper terrorists in this country, probably relatively small, I'm guessing not more than a couple of thousand tops, perhaps a bit less. If we could wave a wand and teleport them back to their own countries tomorrow, would that solve our problem with "fanatic Islamacists?"

No, because you still wouldn't have confronted a number of factors which enable sleepers to operate here.

Most terrorists are Muslim foreigners. Now, while most Muslim foreigners aren't terrorists, a much bigger number of them are sympathetic to the goals of the terrorists, toward which terror is a means to an end. Some of these are recruitable themselves. Some will give active aid and comfort to the terrorists. Some will just look the other way. And most of them are just a sympathetic population into which the terrorists can blend.

Then we have the non-Muslim Illegals. By definition, all Illegals operate to some degree, outside our law. Their presence creates a demand, a market, and an infrastructure for goods and services of considerable value to the terrorists: smuggling, false documents, services, aid, etc. Two of the 9/11 terrorists obtained the false documents with which they boarded planes from a Mexican ring.

Further, while at this point no known terrorists have come over our Southern border (as opposed to the northern), the Border Patrol reports frequent and increasing apprehensions of Middle Easterners entering through Mexico. After 9/11, two accomplices of the hijackers were captured on an Amtrak train in Texas while making their way south toward Mexico.

A magical, surgical extraction of all the Muslim terrorists in the U.S. would not alter the prevailing circumstances, with regard to Illegals and immigrants, that have allowed them to operate here in the first place. Failure to deal with those prevailing circumstances will enable future sleepers to quickly insinuate themselves into our society. And magic isn't an option anyway. Therefore, the only pragmatic solution is a comprehensive one.

I suggest three basic elements to a comprehensive INS anti-terror strategy:

1. Seek out and apprehend the terrorists themselves.

2. Shut down any further immigration from Muslim countries, and revoke the visas of Muslims foreigners already here. That might be unfair to some, but we're at war and their feelings don't count for much.

3. Confront the problem if Illegal Aliens in its entirety, albeit incrementally.

Even someone who doesn't believe that your average Illegal is a problem needs to confront the consequences of 8 to 12 million Illegals on the War on Terror.

I remain skeptical that the Administration is prepared to do that, but we shall see.

[Morrigan]

The above poster that referred to the Canadian border as more of a threat is absolutely right. In Maine, there is roughly six hundred miles of border with Canada. Last year our officials told us there was no possible way they could even come CLOSE to watching it all. They also told us they had no capability to prevent a terrorist attack. They could deal with the aftereffects, but they could not stop it.

I consider this an invitation to terrorists looking for easy entry and easy targets. The targets they want to hit will be next to impossible now. So, what is the next logical step? Take out a place they are not watching or protecting. Maine would be perfect.

Last year, I went camping up near the Canadian border. I could have crossed it all day during the five days I was up there, and no one would have been the wiser. I did not see any authority figure up there the entire time, not even a game warden. People concerned about border security need to think about states like mine.

[wcbtinman]

Don't waste your time on this guy. He would argue with a fencepost. And he would always be 'right'.

[Ben Ficklin]

As of June, the 1-30-03 start-up of SEVIS was considered unworkable. Maybe July 30.

The real issue is that libertarian Ziglar hired who knows how many libertarians to work at INS and they have an agenda to promote. Where they end up situated in the flow chart of the re-org is irrelevant.

Garcia should be evaluated on whether or not the libertarians remain.

[ravingnutter]

Your story is from June 2002...one that I posted is from Sep 2002, which would be more current...

Glenn A. Fine, the department's inspector general, told the House immigration, border security and claims subcommittee yesterday that the INS will probably have the actual computer system for the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System running on time.

But he said the INS will not have finished on-site evaluations of every school, nor will it have properly trained school officials by the January deadline imposed by law.

The INS official overseeing the program acknowledged that the agency may not meet Mr. Fine's criteria, but she said they will have the computer system operational by Jan. 1, and schools will be able to enter new students in the system by the deadline.

The new system requires that schools reapply for certification, which will give them access to a central database to input information about an applicant and to issue him an I-20 form. Miss Sposato said that as of Tuesday more than 900 schools had already been given preliminary approval and are using the SEVIS system, 489 other schools had completed applications and an additional 625 schools are in the application process.

She said none of those schools have been visited by inspectors yet, but the INS has contracts with background investigators to begin on-site visits in a few weeks. She said that while not all schools will be visited before the deadline, the investigators will start with flight and language schools, which pose the most risk.

Foreign-student tracking lagging at INS

So...the system will be operational by the deadline, but will still require training and on-site evaluations, which according to this article should be in process now.

Thanks for the Libertarian info though...was not aware of that.

[alpowolf]

Hmmm...so it's all just an evil libertarian plot. Well, that simplifies things.

You said yourself "who knows how many" libertarians have been hired...then how do you know that they are the problem with INS? How will Garcia get rid of them...do they wear signs?

I have read the nonsense story that CIPRIS was done in by evil libertarians. Of course none of that can be proved. It's all supposition and mudslinging. Linking me to your favorite opinion columnist won't convince me so don't waste your time with that.

No database system can solve a problem of this magnitude by itself. Databases don't do things; people do. If we don't have an organization prepared to follow up on what the database flags we won't solve anything, regardless of the political affiliation of the commissioner.

[usurper]

I remain skeptical that the Administration is prepared to do that, but we shall see.

I share your skepticism, but I think the administration may be starting to take this more seriously due to the continued pressure from conservatives.

Powel just met with the Mexicans and basically told them that amnesty was not going to happen. Now Bush appoints a law enforcement minded prosecutor to help evolve the INS into DHS. I am hearing that the current Director of DEA is the front runner to head the Bureau of Border Security which will include all former INS law enforcement functions.

All of this is pointing to increased emphasis on law enforcement at the border.

But the problem of the 8 to 12 million illegal aliens in the country can not be solved through law enforcement alone. There must be at some point a legislative compromise. Amnesty hell no, we tried that and all objective evidence clearly illustrates it only increased illegal immigration. But I might be willing to discuss giving some illegal aliens (non-criminal, non-welfare etc) a "temporary" work permit as long as "residency" is not at the end of the process.

Prior to the last amnesty, the majority of illegal aliens from Mexico were on their own temporary workers, coming in during harvest time and returning during the off seasons. Amnesty forced them to remain here because leaving the country for more than 90 days was considered an "abandonment" of their resident alien status. We forced them to stay here and establish a permanent residence which required them to bring in their families. It was simply another example of good intentions over sound reasoning.

The really funny part was that as soon as the illegal aliens got their legal status, they immediately left their lower paying jobs for better ones which created a whole new shortage of unskilled labor.

Our current immigration policy is quite comical if you think about it. Too bad it is also so potentially deadly.

[Ben Ficklin]

If the head of INS is a libertarian and the Director Policy at INS is a libertarian, it follows that there are other libertarians there.

If libertarian Gale Norton is Sec of Interior and libertarian Lynne Scarlett is Underseretary of Policy, Management, and Budget it follows that there are other s there as well. And there are. Karl Hess for one. Alan Fitzsimmons for two.

Unfortunately, there are many names that aren't in the media. As the Wash Post said last year: Under Norton, Interior is loading up with industry lobbyists, libertarians,.....

I suggest that there are more at INS. Even if there were not, Andersons got a history on immigration and it ain't pretty.

[taxed2death]

You're completely wrong on this. I am a Tancredo supporter. I wouldn't care if the head of INS was a Muslim named Hector Chavez jr. As long as he enforced the immigration laws to their fullest extent and secured our borders from illegal trespassers.

[taxed2death]

Excellent post.

[pulaskibush]

As a 1/2 hispanic and the son of an immigrant, I support the militarization of the border, the Gekas Bill that puts restrictions on visas, the seizure of Mexican assets to pay for their criminals, emergency healthcare etc. and the processing of illegal immigrants here to be either deported, detained for the DOJ, or put on parol that forces them to commit no other crime, no welfare, no change of address, and payback all expenses+fines before legalization. Break parol, you + family are deported.

As for this new INS leader, we will have to wait and see. I don't like Bush's ambASSador to the "government" of Mexico. I am glad that the White House is now saying that immediate amnesty is not plan that the embarassador to Mex. promised.

[willyone]

I think we can expect to see native born Americans declared illegal and deported to Europe. That would not surprise me one bit.

[willyone]

Most non Indian Hispanics are white. So what is your point? You will find very few Mexicans of non European linage in the upper levels of Mexican society. Fly on a Mexican airliner inside Mexico and you will see the same thing. The passengers will mostly be light skined.

[willyone]

Where do you come up with your line of reasoning/ Because there is a terrorist threat we should allow every illegal who wants to come here a free pass? Is that what you are saying? How about controlling the influx of millions of unknown persons who cross the Southern border by non legal means. You think that maybe a few thousand Mid Eastern people may be in those numbers? And yes I do want the illegals sent back to where they come from and then re admitted if they are needed legally. I am sick of being forced to pay for the results of the corruption endemic in Mexico. And yes the dream of reconquest is real. It is taught in school in Mexico from the lower grades on.

[rdb3]

...panderlympics?

If it involves anyone other than whites, it must be pandering.

It's automatic, isn't it?

There shall be no mercy.
101 things that the Mozilla browser can do that Internet Explorer cannot.

[willyone]

If you lived in an area infested with Mexican gangs you may have a different attitude. If we have no intention of enforcing immigration laws, have decided that the makeup of the US is no longer a concern, that orderly entry of foreign people is no longer important and that the American people are the worlds ATM machines existing only to further the political ambitions of those such as Jorge Bush then by all means lets disolve the borders and the nation. We can become the United States of everyone. Would you remove thedoors from your home and let just anyone enter, wander around and help themselves to anything they want? Get the idea? Probably not.

[Reagan Man]

The real question is, what is your point?

The topic was surnames, an inappropriate use of the term "panderlympics" and how that related to the man's race. That's the case in point here. The following dictionary definitions might clear up any confusion that exists with the words, "Hispanic" and "race".

Hispanic: of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent living in the U.S.; especially : one of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin

Race: a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock b : a class or kind of people unified by community of interests, habits, or characteristics

[justshutupandtakeit]

Apparently you are laboring under the delusion that I am for giving a free ride to illegal Aliens from Mexico. That is a delusion. Or from any other country. My city has hoardes of illegal alien gangbangers and has for probably its entire existence. First there were Irish gangs, Jewish gangs, Sicilian gangs, Polish gangs and now Mexican gangs all of whom had significant number of illegals in them. They are out there competing in the Murder and Mayhem Olympics with citizen gangs of PRs and Blacks. I would suggest that I know more about gangs than you will ever know and have lived in close proximity with them evening facing members down in confrontations. So please spare me.

However, right at this moment in history we need to concentrate on the illegals from the ME since they are the ones killing thousands of our citizens at one swoop.

When they are dealt with I join you in urging crackdowns on the others beginning with those involved in criminal activity. I will gladly award those illegals who inform upon gangbanger and assisting their removal with citizenship themselves.

In fact, I propose requiring a good answer to the question "What are you going to do for us?" from potential citizens.