Federal hammer hits migrants harder

The Department of Homeland Security has dramatically ratcheted up its arrests of individuals along the U.S.-Mexico border for various immigration crimes, according to statistics released today by Syracuse University. Immigration prosecutions hit an all-time high in March 2008, with 9,350 defendants charged. The number of March arrests is up 50% from April and up a whopping 73% from 2007. The prosecutions are part of a Homeland Security and Justice Department program called "Operation Streamline." Under the program, illegal immigrants caught along the U.S.-Mexico border are prosecuted on federal criminal charges that require jail time. The average sentence is one month.

In early June, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the program was yielding "striking" results. "Once they get prosecuted, they stop trying to come in again," Chertoff said, adding that officials have also seen "a reduction in smuggling -- in smuggling organizations and illegal entries in the relevant urban areas." The top three charges in March were: "reentry of deported alien," "bringing in and harboring certain aliens," and "entry of alien at improper time or place, etc." The Syracuse data found that five federal judicial districts along the border dominated when it came to immigration prosecutions. The Southern District of Texas, around Houston, was the most active with 488 prosecutions in March. Texas' Western District court, around San Antonio, was second and the Southern District of California, around San Diego, was third.

"Operation Streamline" began as a pilot project around Del Rio, Texas, in December 2005. It was expanded to Yuma, Ariz., in December 2006 and Laredo, Texas, in October 2007. On June 9, Chertoff said the administration would commit more resources to the program with hiring of an additional 64 prosecutors and 35 support staff. The program, he said, "has a very significant deterrent impact."

--Nicole Gaouette in Washington

Comments

[Brittanicus]

California is a 'Sanctuary State' where the state assembly has just voted down to allow the use of the Federal E-verify data base. Used by the federal government it has a 90.5 percent success rate, detecting illegal workers. It seems extremely uncomprehendable, when they have a 17 billion budget meltdown, because taxpayers are supporting millions of illegal aliens and their families. In addition the prison chief Administrator needs 7 billion dollars for health care in the prison system.At least Arizona and a few other states have sent them packing in droves and probably heading for California. hehehehehahahaha...? Sorry about that! Those poor Californians are paying a high price for cheap labor. Well the taxpayers get little, except their children can't get a job over the summer months. But California does have some great 'Sanctuary city' laws, thanks to the liberal morons in state and local government. In the neighborhoods live in constant danger from 'Special order 40, that has killed probably thousands of innocent bystanders, on the highways and on the streets. The latest victim was 'Jamiel Shaw, shot in the head, by a gang member who decided he shouldn't be walking past his own home. Nice eh? Los Angeles does incredible business in locks, bars and electronic surveillance and gated communities, if you can afford it. All this is thanks to a pathetic governor, Mayor, city administration and a police chief that plays dummy to the special interest lobby. Special order 40 has allowed hundreds of thousands of criminals to propagate in the state. The incessant murders, female and child violations, burglarized homes, carjackings, kidnapping the drunken drivers and the carnage that goes on in every community within our borders. NUMBERSUSA

[riposter]

The Washington Post did an article this "Operation Streamline" and in it was this:

"Criminalizing illegal immigration while turning a blind eye to employers who provide the jobs that lure migrants makes for good election-year politics but poor policy, said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council.
"This strategy pretty much has it backwards," he said. "It's going after desperate people who are crossing the border in search of a better way of life, instead of going after employers who are hiring people who have no right to work in this country." "

T.J. Bonner advocates for real and effective enforcement instead of the games played by politicians to fool voters from the realization that they serves the interests of the open borders lobby. E-Verify every employee now.

[Ted]

It's about time the government started doing its job! Increase the effort.

Now where is that damned fence that was voted for then the funds were stripped by our Congress? Restore the funding and build the fence.

Support the sheriff from Arizona. Sheriff Joe. He is doing what needs to be done also.

[Michael]

No one seems to have pointed out how illegals suppress the wages of natives. That is good enough reason to have them leave.

[Dunnyveg]

"What most the small minded posters on this site have failed to understand (and they could never comprehend as much as they attempt at coming off as intelligent patriot Americans)"

With such demonstrable moral superiority, it's truly a wonder you liberals can stand to inhabit the same space as we lesser mortals. Is that rarefied air as good as I've been told?

Perhaps you can tell us what you hope to gain by being part of the first group in known history to give away its own country. Many countries and peoples have been conquered by outsiders who are more vigorous than they. But up until now, no people has ever given away its own country. Why would you even countenance such a thing? Is liberalism really a mental disorder?

[Brittanicus]

* Brittanicus
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[can't vote on your own comments]

Why do you think that pro-illegal immigrant slime has slithered from the gutters of our nation, to use their money and influence to halt any forward thinking immigration laws. We as Americans can conquer this travesty of our sovereignty by pushing the Democrats to co-author the SAVE ACT. Just remember the new president will give a path to citizenship for the millions already here. It might escape the liberals, and hundreds of thousands who have been brain-washed, that once this new law is official. Millions more of destitute, uneducated and unskilled will overflow our borders from every third world country. They will steal the jobs of our poor citizens of every nationality and only the big business cartels will benefit. Our families sure will not, because we will be paying for their enormous support.
Read about cost to your pocket: www.townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/06/12/viral_vide­o_on_immigration_costs

If you like the designation of a 'Sanctuary city' or sanctuary state, keep pandering to the special interest lobby. Read about Arizona's sudden turn-around at ( (http://mensnewsdaily.com/20... ) More intelligence for you to absorb. (http://www.newswithviews.co... Se unsuppressed details at NUMBERSUSA.

Just read this disturbing revelation of costs, that our government skims from our paycheck to pay an illegals . (www.eagleforum.org/sources)

[SFDave]

NAFTA should be renegotiated and include open borders. Unlike the EuroZone where all countries are relatively on equal footing, the NAFTA deal was negotiated with the US interests only at the expense of Canada & Mexico. Free movement of people would benefit the US, Mexico, & Canada. Americans would have more options on places to live, work, start a business, etc. Illegal aliens are a scapegoat. Americans have enough problems that have little to do with hard working people trying to scrape by. Drugs, violence, depression, eroding work ethic, a growing uneducated underclass- take your pick .Rather than rail against illegals, do something to resolve these ongoing social ills that do more to undermine society and America's standing.

[John Q Citizen]

Why the contentious diatribes?!?!

I am California Republican (yes, there are some sensible people here, even if our vote doesn't count) who believes that the illegal alien issue needs to be solved another way.

In America when someone dies to a gun the user isn't blamed, the manufacturer is.

Lets apply this to Illegal Aliens. DO NOT penalize the worker. He's only here to meet a need.
If we would SERIOUSLY go after businesses that hire illegals then we wouldn't have the problem. Nobody is going to risk the danger or expense of coming here if there isn't a job.

While the illegals are just that, the law also applies to the employers.

Hit them and see what happens. There will be a lot of hand wringing and crying but if you break the law hiring illegals you deserve what you get.

And don't sit still for the bullsh*t about they can't verify every employee.
Every job interview I have been on in the last 10 years required a background check. The employers do this and write it off as a business expense.

If you work in a bank or other financial institution you damned well better believe they have run a background check.

I know a bunch of you will jump on this post because "they don't come here to work in a bank". If the capacity is there I would think they could use it for background checks.

Anyways, this is my two cents worth..

[Calvin]

Can't wait to see how much hundred of millions of dollars we're wasting on this ineffectual program. Our prisons are already overcrowded and underfunded, this is ridiculous and is only costing us money, we need a real leader who is willing to seriously look at this issue and come up with a smarter better way of dealing with it.

[Mark]

This is called sheep dipping. Every alien who is arrested for breaking our federal laws and sent to jail will be one less illegal alien ready to get a future amnesty from our weak congress and other politicians pandering for votes

[riposter]

The value of this effort is being undermined by the failure to implement practical workplace enforcement, which will always be the sine non qua of any effective enforcement regime. As long as illegal immigrants can easily work inside the country, they will continue to come and stay.

The "no-match" rule is still held up in courts by an ACLU and union suit. The Congress could pass legislation to specifically authorize it and take it out of the hands of Judge Breyer. The Bush administration has proposed a rule to require federal contractors to use E-Verify. But it is the people of Arizona who have really acted in this regard telling all employers to use the system.

The government needs to use its existing information systems that are necessary for other important government functions to stop illegal immigrants from being employed. It is outrageous that illegal immigrants are able to work with made up Social Security numbers or ones that don't match the names they are assigned to or using real names and numbers that are being used by multiple persons. All such employees should be identified and their employers should be ordered to cease paying them and submit their wages to the government where employees could claim them after correcting any errors in the government's databases. That way no legally entitled employee would be kept from employment while the government fixed the errors. And it would not take long for rapid and permanent improvement in the accuracy of the databases. Illegal immigrants wouldn't clog up the correcting process knowing full well that it's not an error that keeps them from being paid. They will simply leave those jobs.

The biggest obstacle to getting our government to effective enforce immigration laws in the news media and no institution is more culpable that the Los Angeles Times. Why shouldn't all the citizens who support enforcing our immigration laws have someone to represent them writing at the paper? It's apparently not enough at the "immigration Pravda" that the open border position would still be represented by the overwhelming number of people who write for the paper. They want to allow no one to contradict what they have to say. They don't want to allow an honest debate on the issue of illegal immigration before the voters of this country.

[Rickster]

First off, we are not all immigrants. I am the descendant of Europeans who came to this country several hundred years ago. This was before immigration laws. It's good news when an illegal is getting harassed because they broke the law! If they want to immigrate to this country do it the legal way.
Report and Deport!

[L.A. Native]

good news.........let's get our border tight, strong and impenetrable.........we REALLY need to clean things up in California, bigtime; starting with the border and then the dumping of trash in L.A. and then the trashing of moral values by the entertainment industry.

[captainamerica]

Illegal immigrants are the scapegoat for the failing neocon policy.

[acpmike]

Darren, yes we are all immigrants. Most are law abiding immigrants who have either been born in the USA or who have lawfully gone through our immigration process. Many are illegal aliens who chose to skirt our system of laws. Am I the bad guy/bigot because many chose to flaunt the law? No, I am not.

"Immigration prosecutions hit an all-time high in March 2008, with 9,350 defendants charged." This is good news but the effort will need to be stepped up 30x plus to keep up with the over 8,000 aliens entering our country every day.

[crabjoe]

"What most the small minded posters on this site have failed to understand (and they could never comprehend as much as they attempt at coming off as intelligent patriot Americans) is that the IRS has been collected taxes from millions of illegal immigrants working here, using false social security ID#s. The IRS has made out, the employers have made out, and only when our economy is going south, is our government going to rid us our problem of immigrants. And what most the bigots on this site also forgot, all of us are immigrants."

What you fail to understand is that SS and the IRS would still get paid if the jobs were done by Americans.

Remember, SS and IRS only collect when someone is paid legally, and not under the table.

The only reason that illegals pay anything to SS and IRS is because of FALSE documentation.

Bottom line... Whether the work was done by a teen or an illegal, the government would get paid if the wages are on the books.

Please stop trying to say that SS and IRS are making out because they would collect regardless of who did the job. And if anything is happening, they are losing money because so many illegals work under the table.

[Kevtop]

The only sure way to end illegal immigration is to go after the employer's who keep hiring them. Unfortunately, this will never happen! Oh, I forgot, there is another way; it's called an "ECONOMIC CRASH/DEPRESSION," and it's almost here. Can you imagine the insane traffic jams, as millions of illegal immigrants scramble toward the Mexican border.

[delaney]

You must have made a typo Darren "And what most the bigots on this site also forgot, all of us are immigrants."

Think you must have meant LEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

[Rick]

" Darren
What most the small minded posters on this site have failed to understand . . . . And what most the bigots on this site also forgot, all of us are immigrants. . . "

LIberal fascists like Darren always start out by insulting their opponent.

The biggest bigots are the people who think european-americans are evil and we need to import enough anti-europeans to dilute them and eventually get rid of them. The biggest racists are the open border supporters.

PS I was born here. By definition, I am not an immigrant. And so what? Hitler was an immigrant too, from Austria to Germany.

[doctorfixit]

OK, election year, everybody pretend to do something about open borders - but remember the boss said no fence building.

This will be good for the trial lawyers, too, they will get all these criminal cases at taxpayer expense instead of deporting them - and we will get to house them in our prisons too at taxpayer expense so it;s good for the prison guard union.

Win-win-win

[Kenneth Reed]

Does this increase in enforcement of U.S. immigration laws mean that our federal government is finally going to put the welfare of U.S. citizens in front of that of foreigners???

Now that our government is doing something to stop the entry of things that are harmful to the U.S. economy, are they also going to stop things (manufacturing facilities) that are good for the U.S. economy from leaving the country?

It's a good idea to 100% control a door that opens in both directions............................................................

[Bob]

Two words:

ATTABOY CHERTOFF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brian Cummings]

This is election year politics! Anyone who thinks this will continue after January is crazy. The next time this will happen is in 2012.

[Shredder]

Vote for Obama or McCain and we will have Amnesty in a year. Republicans do not be fooled by McAmnesty.

[Linda]

The politicians have NO INTENTION of stopping illegal immigration. They plan to implement CAFTA, an enhanced NAFTA with WIDE OPEN BORDERS to Mexico and Canada, with a superhighway through the U.S. But states are passing laws which have a major impact on stemming the flow. See www.ALIPAC.org

FUNNY VIDEO: "How Hard Is It To Build A Fence?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbZloTsP9NA

CAFTA: Coming soon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TShPYA-OuPs