Immigration Crackdown Proves Chertoff Wrong

When the government initiates an enforcement "crackdown," it is reasonable to conclude that it was previously lax on enforcement. Today's headlines read, "Bush to Order New Crackdown on US Border," or "Feds Stepping Up Immigration Efforts." Less than three months ago, while pleading for passage of the McCain-Kennedy illegal immigration amnesty bill, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warned that America needed to "bow to reality" and realize that deportation of illegal immigrants in large numbers was "not going to happen."

At the time, Congressman Brian Bilbray (R-CA) rebutted Chertoff's white flag approach by pointing out that the proposed legislation would not be necessary if the Bush administration actually enforced existing laws. Bilbray accused Chertoff of intentionally following a "conscious strategy of not enforcing the law," that has created the crisis of 12-20 million illegal immigrants to which Chertoff and President Bush wanted to grant amnesty. Who was right, Bilbray or Chertoff, in the debate over enforcement of existing laws versus the need for "comprehensive" solutions contained in the failed McCain-Kennedy legislation?

The answer to that question will be officially announced today by the Bush administration and the Department of Homeland Security. Without passing the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill, the government is initiating a series of "initiatives" that increase punishments for employers hiring illegal immigrants, crack down on workers using fake or stolen Social Security numbers, reform temporary worker programs, deploy Border Patrol agents to the borders in larger numbers and with less delay, and increase the number and pace of deportations. Secretary Chertoff had previously claimed that such reforms were "not going to happen" without the McCain-Kennedy legislation, yet now we see most of those reforms being implemented through internal initiatives within Homeland Security and executive initiatives authorized by the president. As the Associated Press reports, the initiatives are strikingly similar to many of the immigration reform and enforcement provisions of the McCain-Kennedy bill, minus the "path to citizenship" aspects that critics rightfully castigated as facilitating amnesty for those already in America illegally.

Chertoff has apparently changed his tune, now vowing to enforce laws that in May he considered unrealistic. From the AP and Fox News:

Chertoff alluded to the new enforcement tactics in a speech in Boston on Wednesday, calling it "tool sharpening."

"We shouldn't have a patchwork of laws. We should be doing a comprehensive federal solution, but we haven't got that thing done," Chertoff said. "What I can tell you is we will certainly use every enforcement tool that we have, and every resource that we have available, to tackle the problem."

Even after suffering a major defeat when the proposed amnesty bill went down in flames this summer, Chertoff continues to pine for his beloved "comprehensive federal solution." Yet now, under enormous political pressure from conservatives to enforce existing immigration laws or be replaced by someone who will, Chertoff vowed to use every tool and resource available "to tackle the problem" of illegal immigration. Congressman Bilbray and American voters have the right to ask Chertoff, why weren't you using every available tool and resource to crack down on illegal immigration before your beloved reform bill was rejected?

There was no such assurance of enforcement before the defeat of McCain-Kennedy. Homeland Security appeared to be content to place strict enforcement efforts on sabbatical until an amnesty bill could be passed that would remove the impetus for tracking down 12-20 million illegal immigrants and gradually deporting them. It is clear that Congressman Bilbray's accusation against Chertoff was accurate: prior to the failure of the recent amnesty bill, the Bush administration was indeed consciously avoiding strict enforcement of existing illegal immigration laws, which only made the problem more severe. The administration seemed to believe that it could get itself off the hook for lax immigration enforcement and simultaneously earn the affection of millions of potential voters by granting amnesty.

Why has the Bush administration stepped forward now to enforce laws it would have been content to replace with amnesty only a few months ago? Considering its intentional failure to enforce existing law prior to the McCain-Kennedy debacle, the Bush administration appears now to be stepping up enforcement and initiating internal immigration reform within Homeland Security out of political expediency rather than actual desire for enforcement. The grass-roots groundswell in both parties, but championed most effectively by conservatives, that was created by the president's attempt to grant amnesty was much stronger and career-threatening than anyone in the White House or Congress apparently anticipated.

Now running for their political lives, those who once claimed reform could not happen without amnesty are rapidly "discovering" that the reform that voters wanted most, strict enforcement of existing immigration laws, is possible and essential to their future political viability.

Without granting amnesty and by merely changing internal priorities, Homeland Security will reportedly announce later today the following crackdown enforcement measures, among others:

1. Impose criminal sanctions against employers who refuse to terminate workers using fake or stolen Social Security numbers.

2. Install by the end of the year an exit visa system to track foreigners leaving the U.S. Currently only entrance visa data is collected.

3. Update the list of international gangs whose members are denied U.S. entry.

4. Speed up deployment of Border Patrol agents to the border.

5. Increase fines imposed on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

6. Reduce processing times for immigrant background checks.

7. Request that states voluntarily share driver's license info and photos with DHS to facilitate an employment verification system.

8. Reform temporary worker programs.

9. Increase the number of beds for detained illegal immigrants so they will not be released due to insufficient detention space.

10. Train increasing numbers of state and local law enforcement to identify and detain immigration offenders.

11. Reduce the number of documents accepted as foreign identification for immigration purposes and weed out those most frequently associated with fraud.

Each of these is certainly a welcome change from what could charitably be described as "deficient" previous enforcement efforts. The very fact that the government can "crackdown" on illegal immigration when it becomes politically expedient demonstrates that it already had all of the tools and resources needed to enforce existing laws, as Congressman Bilbray argued. While this new crackdown is a step in the right direction, it should also keep Americans wary of government officials who insist that something cannot be done. The McCain-Kennedy bill debate demonstrated that the government did not lack the tools or resources needed for strict illegal immigration enforcement, it simply did not have the stomach or political will to enforce the law.

Our justice system is supposed to be blind, as the symbol of that system, Lady Justice, illustrates. She holds the scales of justice and hears the arguments from each side of the scale, yet she also wears a blindfold. This is symbolic of the need for justice to not see or take into consideration the race, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, or any other characteristic of the parties pleading their cases before her. Law enforcement is supposed to take the same approach. It should not matter whether an administration, Democratic or Republican, might suffer politically from the enforcement of our laws. Those laws were enacted by the people's representatives and should be enforced with blindness to the political climate of the moment. Governments should not pass laws they do not intend to enforce. Hopefully these new initiatives to be announced later this morning signal a new resolve within this administration to listen to voter concerns and strictly enforce existing laws long enough for us to determine what changes, if any, are needed in the future.

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Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, Brian Bilbray, Illegal Immigration, Immigration Reform, McCain-Kennedy, Border Enforcement, Immigration Crackdown