The invaluable American Patrol recently linked to a report from KGBT4 television in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. ["Does Illegal Immigrant Appear in Court?" -- March 30, 2005, reported by April Norris]

“The Department of Homeland Security estimates 90 percent of illegal immigrants released will never be seen again. Agents tell us they release the immigrants because there's just not enough detention space. After our investigation, they've stopped driving immigrants to the bus station, now they release the illegals from their side door.”

The piece basically illustrates everything I have been writing about for the past three years concerning the largely unknown federal litigation bureaucracy of the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). The EOIR's Immigration Court hearing system is the reason that illegal aliens and criminal alien residents are being caught and released back into the United States in droves . . . never to be seen.

The KGBT4 story also ties in with my most recent column on VDARE.com, concerning a curious change in illegal alien smuggling tactics.

But there's a punchline here too. The piece goes on to explain how the local Congressman Solomon Ortiz "introduced a bill requesting more border agents, housing and technology." So I guess we're to assume that this paragon of immigration law enforcement has dedicated his tenure in Congress to stopping illegal immigration and protecting American workers from the importation of pauper labor, right?

That is, until we read the final line of the story: “Right now, Congressman Ortiz is in China on business.”

Gee, I wonder what he's doing over there in the cheap labor capital of the world?