AMNESTY-FREE "TRUE ENFORCEMENT" (H.R. 4313)
By
Juan Mann
· November 21, 2005 11:48 PM
The amnesty-free TRUE Enforcement and Border Security Act of 2005 made its official debut in the House of Representatives as H.R. 4313 last week, ending the suspense created following its unveiling by Congressmen Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Virgil Goode (R-VA) as "the border fence bill."
The text of H.R. 4313 has yet to appear on Thomas. But a VDARE.COM reader kindly sent me an advance copy [PDF] after reading my last column.
So — does TRUE Enforcement live up to its advance billing?
Well, compared to the amnesty-filled garbage legislation now in Congress—whether packaged as "temporary worker" and "guest worker" programs—the 189-page collection of items in H.R. 4313 is certainly much closer to what’s needed.
TRUE Enforcement is the antidote to the Bush Administration’s Big Lie that another massive illegal alien non-deportation scheme and foreign worker importation program is necessary to make America more secure. This propaganda was peddled most recently by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff to the Senate Judiciary committee and to his own employees. In contrast, TRUE Enforcement looks like a knight in shining armor.
But what is "true" immigration law enforcement anyway?
Answer: Real immigration law enforcement is arresting aliens, deporting them, and making sure they stay out.
That means summary removal, not perpetual federal litigation. That means officers with guns removing as many interlopers and criminals as quickly and efficiently as possible.
This past July 4, I wrote about a "look-out-the-window" reality check for judging Congressional immigration proposals. It applies now more than ever:
"Until the time comes when Americans look out of their windows one morning and see vans, trucks, buses and trains filled with illegal aliens and criminal alien residents streaming outbound toward the border, or to the nearest airport out of the country . . . ONLY THEN will we know that something is being done.
"But until that day comes, Americans can know with absolute certainty that the federal government has done NOTHING to halt the illegal alien invasion of these United States . . . But until then, you’ll know that all of the "solutions" emanating from Congress—including the ghastly specter of another "amnesty"—are all just a lot of hot air."
So does TRUE Enforcement actually deport aliens?
Answer: Yes . . . well, some of them.
There are some excellent summary removal provisions in the bill. But unfortunately, there are other parts of the bill that work in the exact opposite direction, expanding and perpetuating the worst elements of the federal immigration litigation bureaucracy.
For example, the bill features three excellent summary removal amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that take jurisdiction away from the Immigration Court bureaucracy of the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
And that’s a good thing. Bravo!
But the bill then turns right around and authorizes the hiring of at least 250 more government attorneys—including 50 EOIR immigration judges to fuel the immigration litigation factory even further!
Remember there’s an important distinction among government lawyers. Hiring more Assistant United States Attorneys to actually prosecute immigration crimes and put criminal aliens in federal prison (for crimes such as reentry after deportation, alien smuggling, or for the newly-criminalized "illegal presence" grounds in the bill’s Sections 503 and 504) is GOOD.
But hiring even more EOIR immigration judges? . . . that’s BAD!
The internationalist faction in Congress would love to hack TRUE Enforcement to pieces. But there is hope.
The last two major immigration bills from 1996 (the AEDPA and IIRAIRA bills) actually established the important concepts of Expedited Removal and Reinstatement of Removal for the first time.
And those bills—America’s last attempt at real immigration law enforcement—passed both the House and Senate and were signed into law by none other than President Clinton.
So stranger things have happened, folks. A groundswell of popular support for "the border fence bill" could cause it to carry.
Click here for my section-by-section highlights of the TRUE Enforcement and Border Security Act of 2005 (H.R. 4313) . . . which just might become law someday.
[Original posting on VDARE.com]
