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By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON
TIMES
Published February 20, 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 enforcement 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."
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