Homeland Security And The Crime Of Illegal Immigration

For many people, its hard to understand how Janet Napolitano was ever approved as the Secretary of Homeland Security.

The fact is that it is now obvious that she knows little about the criminal aspects of illegal immigration, can't adequately assess terrorist risk to the country or has even a basic understanding of the problems along the countries borders.

In the last few weeks, the Secretary of Homeland Security has stated that the illegal crossing of the U.S. border is not a crime. She thinks that the the border between Canada and the United States is more problematic than the U.S. border with Mexico.

Meanwhile, her Department of Homeland Security - thinks the highest future terrorist risk comes from returning members of the United States military that listen to right wing extremists.

The fact is the more she speaks, the more national insecurity the entire country feels. So, by now everyone should realize that Janet Napolitano was not appointed to her job because of her understanding of law enforcement, crime, borders or any other aspect of homeland security.

No, she was a pure political appointment chosen to insure that the laws against illegal immigration will not be fully enforced because illegal immigrants are important in the census headcount next year. The prospect of real law enforcement would scare illegal immigrants out of the country or drive them underground. Certainly, it will not make them eager to be visable and counted in the 2010 census.

That's right, people that have illegally entered the country will again be counted in the once in a decade census in 2010. Indeed, the result of the census may have far reaching political consequences for both political parties. Congressional seats, Presidential electoral votes, and federal funding allocation between the states are all subject to a decade of change.

So, Homeland Security and the crime of illegal immigration are once again reduced to a political pandering census game. This has been going on now for two decades and its a national shame.

Read: Illegal Immigration: The Crime That Is Not A Crime

Read: Illegal Immigration Is An Un-American Political Crime on eworldvu

Illegal Immigration Report Shows Why Laws Should Be Enforced

The latest report just released on illegal immigration from the Center of Immigration Studies shows a dramatic drop in New York and other States. The report called Homeward Bound indicates that illegal immigration plunged nationwide by eleven percent in the last year.

Of course about a year ago, after the immigration reform law co-sponsored by John McCain and backed by the White House was abandoned due to overwheming public pressure, the federal government actually began enforcing the illegal immigration laws already on the books.

The fact that immigration laws were not enforced for many years can be seen just by looking at the enforcement results of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This law provided for penalties against companies that hire undocumented workers. In 1999, under the Clinton Administration, the U.S. government collected a meager $3.69 million from 890 companies in fines. By 2004, under George Bush, the amount collected in fines from companies hiring undocumented workers was zero.

In addition, the border with Mexico has never been properly secured, with only 9500 border agents trying to police an eight thousand mile border until 2005. As a result, it is estimated that in the year 2004 alone, three million illegal immigrants entered the United States.

So, a lack of border security and a lack of illegal immigration law enforcement has resulted in the fact that eleven million illegal immigrants still remain in the United States even after the 11% drop of the last year (according to the Center of Immigration Studies Report).

George Bush's low approval rating (now below 30%) began its steep descent in the spring of 2006 when illegal immigrants were marching in the streets demanding their rights. Its hard to understand in an age of terrorism, how the American public can feel secure with more than eleven million people running around the country that are not here legally.

If people want to change the current immigration laws, there is a way to do that since we have representative government. In the meantime, the country's existing laws should be properly enforced. The data from the recent Center of Immigration Studies Report shows why.