Politicians Continue to Mortgage Our Children’s Future
Gov’t. who refuses to protect its citizens puts us all in extreme danger
Monday, November 09, 2009
By Michael Cutler
NewsWithViews.com
The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge is now under construction across the Trinity River.
|
A news
report appeared
on a Texas television station, WFAA this past Thursday (November 5th)
I was
told about this deplorable situation by an old friend and a current special
agent at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) who as a member of
management at ICE was infuriated by the insanity that passes for the enforcement
of our nation's immigration laws.
I have
often taken DHS to task for its many failings to effectively address missions
that are the responsibility of that agency, at time referring to DHS as
the "Department of Homeland Surrender." But let me make this
as clear as I can- I often speak to the employees of ICE and CBP and just
about everyone I speak with are extremely unhappy with the lack of resources
that hamper the work that their agencies are supposed to be doing on behalf
of our nation and our citizens.
There
is a wonderful Yiddish expression I have quoted (having translated it
to English) in the past and feel it is appropriate to quote now: "When
a fish goes bad, it smells from the head!"
Harry S. Truman
“The Buck Stops Here!”
|
The
bottom line: if there is a problem see who is charge. President Harry
S. Truman certainly understood that concept and he acknowledged it by
placing a plaque bearing a simple, yet eloquent four word phrase on his
desk in the Oval Office: "The Buck Stops Here!"
As you
will see when you read the news article, a decision was made to hire an
Italian company to construct a bridge in Dallas, Texas. Furthermore, the
company was permitted to bring their own welders to the United States
to assemble that bridge, depriving American construction workers the opportunity
to get jobs they desperately want and need.
The
last sentence of the news report sums it up succinctly:
"And
the jobless Texas welders trying to find a way to put dinner on the table
tonight don't have anyone to plead their case."
I have
made the point that immigration has an impact on so many areas of concern
for our nation and certainly the impact that failures to secure our borders
against the unlawful entry of the millions of illegal aliens who are currently
living and working in our country is an area of great concern. The Italian
workers who are doing the work Americans want to do, did not run our nation's
borders but were, in fact, granted business visas in order to enter our
country and supplant American welders.
The
B-1 visas that they were granted are supposed to be used by business people
who come to the United States to attend conferences, make purchases of
equipment and conduct other functions relating to their businesses. Foreign
workers can used Bi1 visas to repair equipment but B-1 visas were never
intended to be used by foreign workers coming to our country to replace
American workers on construction jobs.
Workers
who possess skills that are unavailable to an employer in the United States
in a particular city are supposed to apply for visas such as H-1B and
H-2B visas. As it now stands, the H1-B Visa Program for skilled workers
is loaded with fraud and there are nearly no investigations being routinely
conducted about these egregious examples of crimes that harm American
workers. H-2B visas are supposed to be used for construction workers but
this time an employer has apparently found a way to circumvent the H-2B
process altogether by getting the United States Department of State to
issue the welders discussed in this article, with B-1 visas and somehow
the inspectors at a port of entry simple admitted them into the United
States and on to the payroll of a company that, by all right, should have
hired American workers!
As I
read the article I was compelled to recall how when the administration
and the "bobble heads" in the Congress passed the "Economic
Stimulus Package" and touted the many "Shovel Ready" jobs
that were set to get underway if only the money was made available. I
guess I was mistaken as to who was supposed to be doing those jobs!
As you
many know, if you have been reading my commentaries for awhile, my dad
was a construction worker- he was a plumber. He died more than 40 years
ago, in his mid 50's of lung cancer I believe was attributable to his
pack a day cigarette habit exacerbated by his exposure to asbestos as
a construction worker and as a worker on Navy warships during the Second
World War- a job he did because the military refused to accept his offers
to enlist. He was determined to contribute to the effort to enable our
country to win that war, but I can recall as though it was yesterday,
how many times he would come through the door with a dejected look on
his face because he had been laid off from work. My mom's eyes would well
up with tears and we resorted to eating tuna fish sandwiches for dinner
and put off buying new coats and setting the thermostat at a lower setting-
doing whatever we could to cut expenses. My mom, who could not drive,
would often walk to supermarkets that were far from our house because
she could save a little money because those stores charged less for bread
or milk than the stores that were closer to home.
My dad
and his buddies in the construction trades were (and always will be my
heroes!) Blue collar Americans personify the "Can do" spirit
that built this great nation- doing dangerous, filthy and backbreaking
jobs.
Today
the government reported that the national
unemployment rate had risen to 10.2%, the highest it has been since
1983. This report did not note how many more Americans had given up looking
for work. This report did not discuss how many Americans are now being
"under employed."
The
GAO has recently reported that one in six Americans are now living below
the poverty line!
While
there are economists who are predicting that the economy is turning around-
I disagree! No country can be said to be doing well when its average citizens
are not doing well!
Today
other men and women, just like my dad, are facing a bleak economic reality.
They are unemployed. They don't know how they will pay their bills or
feed their kids. They fear they will lose their houses to foreclosure.
When
I read about their plight, I am reminded of my early years and my parents'
valiant struggle to keep their heads above water!
As more
Americans lose their jobs they have less money to spend. Their failure
to make purchases threatens the jobs of other Americans creating a vicious
circle in which more Americans become unemployed, spending less money,
causing still more Americans to lose their jobs! Not addressing the impact
of foreign workers on the American worker is insane!
As I
have stated before, the enforcement and administration of the immigration
laws had been the responsibility of the United States Department of Labor
prior to the Second World War because back then the concern was that foreign
workers would undercut American workers. It would appear that our government
does not really give a damn about the average American today!
So much
for "Government of the people, by the people and for the people!
According
to the article, eleven Italian welders are assembling the Margaret Hunt
Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas. But the article notes that "tens of
thousands of man hours of labor" is being done by foreign workers
that should be done by Americans.
You
may not think that 11 workers are a big deal when you consider that there
are millions of illegal aliens in our country. The point is that I believe
that this is the tip of a huge iceberg. As I have noted when I have testified
before Congress and when I have testified before legislative hearings
conducted on the state level, and at other venues, I have made the point
that our nation's entire immigration system is utterly dysfunctional.
The
biggest thing that is wrong with the immigration system is not that the
immigration laws are bad, it is that those laws are not being enforced!
A job
freed up by removing an illegal foreign worker creates a job for an American
worker. This is the principle behind worksite enforcement. It is entirely
appropriate to penalize employers who intentionally hire illegal aliens
but ICE needs to address the other side of the equation- alien workers
found to be working illegally need to be arrested, detained and removed
from the United States. The stated policy of the current administration
of only going after the employers and not the illegal alien employees
does not deter illegal immigration.
Furthermore,
statements made by the President, members of his administration and members
of Congress who speak about their intentions to legalize all of the millions
of illegal aliens who are in our country creates a huge incentive for
many more aliens to seek to enter our country in violation of law in the
hope that they will be able to participate in Comprehensive Immigration
Reform.
In 1986,
when the first amnesty was enacted, its proponents claimed that no more
than 1.5 million illegal aliens would participate in that program that
was supposed to be a "one time" program to finally get all of
the illegal aliens "out of the shadows." By the time the bureaucratic
dust settled, between 3.5 and 4 million illegal aliens availed themselves
of that opportunity to be granted lawful status.
Fraud
was rampant in that program because the INS lacked the resources to conduct
field investigations and we were dealing with aliens who had no way of
proving their true identities. There was no way of substantiating their
identities or when, where or how they entered the United States.
If the
INS was overwhelmed by "only" 3.5 million illegal aliens in
1986 to effectively administer the amnesty of 1986, what will the beleaguered
and inept USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) do
when 20 million or 30 million applications land on its adjudicators' desks?
I fear
that any massive Comprehensive Immigration Reform program would entice
many millions of additional illegal aliens to run our nation's borders
and claim that they were present in our country for whatever the requisite
period of time would be required in order to participate in this duplicitous
program.
Here
is something else to consider: an issue that further exacerbated the issue
of fraud was a provision that prohibited INS agents from sharing information
contained in the amnesty files with other law enforcement agencies regardless
of what crimes these aliens might have been suspected of committing! Even
if an alien who had acquired lawful status through that amnesty program
was wanted for drug trafficking, murder, rape, child molestation, etc.,
etc, INS agents were ordered to not provide that information to any other
law enforcement agency! The purported rationale was that our "leaders"
did not want illegal aliens who violated our borders, violated our laws
and violated their victims to be intimidated and not come forward to get
their green cards and, ultimately, United States citizenship!
Two
years ago, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation contained
the same provision!
On September
1, 2006 I testified at a field hearing conducted by the Committee on the
Judiciary of the House of Representatives at Dubuque, Iowa on the topic:
"IS
THE REID-KENNEDY BILL A REPEAT OF THE FAILED AMNESTY OF 1986?"
Here
is
the link to the complete transcript of that hearing:
Here
is a segment of my prepared testimony at that hearing:
That
piece of legislation (the 1986 Amnesty) led to the greatest influx of
illegal aliens in the history of our Nation. Fraud and a lack of integrity
of the immigration system not only flooded our Nation with illegal aliens
who ran our borders, hoping that what had been billed as a one-time amnesty
would be repeated, but it also enabled a number of terrorists and many
criminals to enter the United States and then embed themselves in our
country.
A
notable example of such a terrorist can be found in a review of the facts
concerning Mahmud Abouhalima, a citizen of Egypt who entered the United
States on a tourist visa, overstayed his authorized period of admission
and then applied for amnesty under the agricultural worker provisions
of IRCA. He succeeded in obtaining resident alien status through this
process. During the 5 year period he drove a cab and had his license suspended
numerous times for various violations of law and he ultimately demonstrated
his appreciation for our Nation's generosity by participating in the first
attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 that left six people dead, hundreds
of people injured and an estimated one-half billion dollars in damages
inflicted on that iconic, ill-fated complex. America had opened his doors
to him so that he might participate in the American dream and he turned
that dream into our worst nightmare. The other terrorists who attacked
our Nation on subsequent attacks, including the attacks of September 11,
2001, similarly exploited our generosity, seeing in our Nation's kindness,
weakness, gaming the immigration system to enter our country and then
hide in plain sight among us.
As
I recall, when IRCA was proposed, one of the selling points was that along
with the amnesty for what was believed to have been a population of some
1.5 million illegal aliens would be a new approach to turn off what has
been described as the magnet that draws the majority of illegal aliens
into the United States in the first place, the prospect of securing employment.
In order to accomplish this important goal, IRCA imposed penalties against
those unscrupulous employers who knowingly hired illegal aliens. My former
colleagues and I were pleased to see that under the employer sanctions
of IRCA, the unscrupulous employers of illegal aliens would finally be
made accountable, or so we thought.
Of
course, we now know that the relative handful of special agents who were
assigned to conduct investigations of employers who hired illegal aliens
made it unlikely that employers would face a significant risk of being
caught for violating those laws and they would face an even smaller chance
of being seriously fined. Furthermore, the way that the amnesty provisions
of the law were enacted simply created a cottage industry for fraud document
vendors who provided illegal aliens with counterfeit or altered identity
documents and supporting documents to enable the illegal alien population
to circumvent the immigration laws of the United States. Ultimately, approximately
3.5 million illegal aliens emerged from the infamous shadows to participate
in the amnesty program of 1986.
Our
nation's leaders have mortgaged our children's and our grandchildren's
futures by siphoning an incredible sum of money out of our economy to
supposedly create new jobs to jump start our economy.
The
unemployment rate continues to climb and yet there are those "leaders"
who still want more foreign workers to come to our country and undercut
Americans whose only goal is to pay their bills and support and feed their
families!
Those
who are pushing for Comprehensive Immigration Reform know that the law,
the facts, commonsense and morality are all against their position so
they play the only card they have left. They engage in lying and engaging
in name-calling. They claim that anyone who wants to secure our nation's
borders are "nativists." They use the term "racist"
to describe anyone who calls for securing our borders against unlawful
entry of illegal aliens and the creation of an immigration system that
has real integrity.
Hear
is the reality they don't want to hear (and that they don't want you to
hear): America is not a "white" country. Our nation is arguably
the most ethnically diverse nation on the face of this planet. As a New
Yorker, I can tell you that my home town is home to people of all races,
religions, ethnicities and cultures.
Enforcing
our nation's borders against illegal entry is not about racism but it
is about security and commonsense.
Many
of the workers who have become unemployed are members of various minority
groups. In fact, it is the minorities who are getting hammered the most
by our nation's continuing failures to secure its borders and create an
immigration system that has real integrity.
The
most likely victim of ethnic organized crime groups and pernicious gangs
is a member of the immigrant community. This is true for immigrants from
every country and of every ethnicity.
Any
politician who refuses to work to secure our borders and create an immigration
system that has integrity is either corrupt or too dumb to keep his (her)
job. Any politician, irrespective of party affiliation who favors Comprehensive
Immigration Reform should be shown the door at the next election!
If you
find yourself to be in agreement with this commentary, I ask that you
forward to as many of your friends and family members as possible and
encourage them to do the same.
Next
year each and every member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection.
Next year more than one third of the members of the United States Senate
will have to face their constituents. They need to be reminded that they
work for us, We the People!
However,
the practice of good citizenship does not end in the voting booth, it
only begins there.
The
large scale apathy demonstrated by citizens of this nation has emboldened
elected representatives to all but ignore the needs of the average American
citizen in a quest for massive campaign funds and the promises of votes
to be ostensibly delivered by special interest groups. There is much that
we cannot do but there is one thing that We the People absolutely must
do- we must stop sitting on the sidelines!
The
collective failure of We the People to get involved in make our concerns
known to our politicians have nearly made the concerns of the great majority
of the citizens of this nation all but irrelevant to the politicians.
I implore
you to get involved!
Any
American who has lost his job certainly has enough time on his (her) hands
to get involved!
Any
American who fears the loss of his job must make effective use of his
spare time to make certain he keeps his job!
If this
situation concerns you or especially if it angers you, I ask you to call
your Senators and Congressional "Representative. This is not only
your right- it is your obligation! You need to politely but pointedly,
demand to know what they are doing to protect our nation. You need to
ask them how they are protecting you and your families. You can also forward
this commentary to them.
All
I ask is that you make it clear to our politicians that we are not as
dumb as they hope we are!
We live
in a perilous world and in a perilous era. The survival of our nation
and the lives of our citizens hang in the balance.
Michael W. Cutler graduated from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in
1971 with a B.A. in Communications Arts and Sciences. Mr. Cutler began
working for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in October
1971 when he entered on duty as an Immigration Inspector assigned to John
F. Kennedy International Airport. In August 1975 he became a Criminal
Investigator (Special Agent) for the INS at NYC.
He rotated through virtually every squad in the Investigations Branch. From 1988 until 1991
he was assigned as the INS representative to the Unified Intelligence
Division (UID) of the DEA in New York. In 1991 he was promoted to the
position of Senior Special Agent and was assigned to the Organized Crime,
Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) which required that he work with
members of other law enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF,
U.S. Customs and local and state police as well as law enforcement organizations
of other countries including Israel, Canada, Great Britain and Japan,
to conduct investigations of aliens involved in major drug trafficking
organizations. He retired from the INS in February 2002, after a career
that spanned some 30 years.
Finally, Michael Cutler has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including
Lou Dobbs, Fox News, MSNBC and many other television and radio news-oriented
programs to discuss the enforcement of immigration laws.
E-Mail: mcutler007@aol.com
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For further information please refer to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
