Antimulticulture

More aliens try to enter for amnesty.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...5622-4260r.htm
By Jerry Seper
February 20th, 2004

The number of illegal aliens caught crossing into the United States
increased dramatically just days after President Bush proposed a
guest-worker program that would give legal status to millions of illegal
immigrants now in this country, according to the union that represents the
Border Patrol's 9,000 field agents.

The National Border Patrol Council said apprehension totals increased
threefold in the San Diego area alone, adding that the vast majority of
aliens detained along the border told arresting agents that they had come to
the United States seeking amnesty.

Most of those arrested and, eventually, deported had no history of
immigration violations, the council said.

Law-enforcement authorities, immigration specialists and others -
including the council - had predicted that the Bush proposal, outlined Jan.
7, would lead to increased illegal immigration by those seeking to take
advantage of what many perceived to be an offer of limited amnesty.

The White House painstakingly has denied that the president's
guest-worker proposal offers amnesty, saying instead that illegal aliens who
hold jobs in the United States would be given only temporary work permits,
not placed on the path to citizenship, and that they eventually would have
to go home.

Outlined as a set of principles and not as specific legislation, the
Bush proposal does not prescribe any penalties for those who entered the
country illegally and would allow them to remain in the United States for
renewable three-year periods.

Meanwhile, the Border Patrol has canceled a survey of illegal aliens
detained at the U.S.-Mexico border that had sought to establish whether
"rumors of amnesty" after Mr. Bush proposed his guest-worker program
influenced their decision to cross into the United States.

Described as routine information gathering "critical to the better enfor
cement of immigration laws," the confidential survey - developed by Border
Patrol officials in Washington - was scrubbed Jan. 27 after its public
disclosure. Agency executives determined that the survey, which had begun
two weeks earlier, had become compromised.

"The questions are no longer being asked, but the Border Patrol will
continue to gather and analyze operational intelligence as necessary," said
Mario Villarreal, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border
Protection (CBP), the Border Patrol's parent agency.

The Border Patrol survey has not been made public nor have any
preliminary results, but agents said it contained 13 questions, including
one specifically concerning the guest-worker proposal. The agents referred
to the survey as the "amnesty questionnaire," although the Border Patrol
denied that it was politically motivated or that it was intended to imply
that Mr. Bush was calling for a general amnesty.

The government has estimated that 8 million to 12 million illegal
aliens, mostly Mexican nationals, are in the United States.
Since the Bush proposal was announced, the administration has rolled out
its top immigration officials and several senior Republican senators to
endorse it, saying it would fix a broken immigration system, allow U.S.
businesses to hire needed workers, bring illegal aliens into the mainstream
economy and assure greater homeland security.

Several leading Republicans have questioned the proposal and others have
suggested that Mr. Bush needs to do a better job of explaining the proposal
to a public overwhelmingly opposed to the legalization of millions of
illegal aliens.

Sen. Jon Kyl - Arizona Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary
subcommittee on terrorism, technology and
homeland security, and a member of the subcommittee on immigration, border
security and citizenship - said the Bush plan was "subject to
misinterpretation" and, as a result, "needed further clarification."

Rep. Lamar Smith, Texas Republican and a member of the House Judiciary
subcommittee on immigration, border security and claims, said that the
proposal, by definition, is an amnesty program and that past amnesty
programs "have not reduced illegal immigration; rather, they have increased
illegal immigration."

"Amnesty rewards those who broke our laws, and thus encourages others to
do the same," Mr. Smith said. "Our immigration policies should do the
opposite - discourage lawbreakers by sending the message that illegal entry
into the United States will not be rewarded."

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican and a senior member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge
to explain whether "rumors of amnesty" concerning the Bush proposal had
played any role in attempts by illegal aliens to cross the border.

Mr. Grassley told Mr. Ridge in a letter this week he is concerned that
illegal aliens are risking their lives and putting their futures in the
hands of corrupt alien smugglers in an attempt to gain entry to the United
States to cash in on pending immigration reform that could offer them
limited amnesty.

He said the "notion of legalization has been erroneously conveyed around
the country and even abroad," adding that the Border Patrol questionnaire
"raises some questions as to the consequence of the president's reform
initiative."

In his letter, Mr. Grassley asked Mr. Ridge to determine who authorized
the questionnaire, who tallied the responses, what the preliminary report
suggested, how aliens were hearing about "amnesty proposals" and whether
those "rumors" were influencing their decision to enter the United States.

The National Border Patrol Council has told its members to challenge the
guest-worker proposal, calling it a "slap in the face to anyone who has ever
tried to enforce the immigration laws of the United States."