Immigration and homeland security

Immigration and homeland security

Written by Christi Covington Friday, 07 December 2007

Editor’s Note: When both congressmen mentioned the immigration issue was a top concern for Central Texans, we knew we needed to address the subject in a snapshot feature. This page barely touches on all the problems and needs. Our purpose was to present a bit of each of your representative’s view along with some thoughts of local constituents.

When U.S. representatives John Carter and Michael McCaul talk to their constituents, they find people repeatedly bring up the same topic—immigration.

“It is the No. 1 issue, maybe even more important than homeland security [to citizens],” McCaul said. “It’s the top one or two. I have never seen more people angry in politics. We have the problem of illegal labor and the Other Than Mexicans who come here.”

Immigration concerns encompass everything from national security to economics to healthcare, Carter said.

“Most people agree we have a need for workers in the country,” said the former Williamson County district judge. “I think people should be legal in the country – invited in, they follow the rules and then let them in. We have got 12 million who do not follow the rules. We have to figure out what we are going to do with them, and I am not one to give any slack.”

This year, Carter has authored two bills and recently introduced them to congressional committees where they must be approved before reaching the floor of the House of Representatives.

One requires identification cards with biometric identifiers for anyone residing in the U.S. and the other increases legal enforcement against illegal immigrants.

A third bill that is yet to be introduced is a worker program that requires illegal immigrants to accept a criminal charge on their record, but allows them to stay and work without a path to citizenship.

Andrew Martinez, president of the Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, sees the need for a worker’s program. He said that as the Austin area continues to grow, the economy requires the services provided by Mexican immigrants, largely in construction labor.

“Lets get them out of the shadows,” he said. “Lets legitimize and get them to work here.”

Immigration issues concern even more than service industry jobs, Carter said. Of the top U.S. engineering programs, fewer and fewer students that graduate with a doctorate are American citizens, according to his office. That situation makes it more challenging for high tech employers, such as Samsung and Dell Inc., to employ American citizens.

According to current law, Martinez agrees it is very difficult to gain worker status.

“Immigration laws needs to be reformed,” Martinez said. “It is not implementable. It needs to be more realistic to the needs we have. Many people want to work here and not be citizens.”

A green card gives official immigration status in the absence of citizenship. The application must be approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. First, the appropriate form must be filed with a sponsor who already has citizenship status. Sponsors are usually an employer or relative because the immigrant must have an American advocate to enter the country.

The wait period to get into the U.S. depends on the method of entrance. A brother trying to move from Mexico with the help of his American sister has a wait of around 12 to 15 years, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is under the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigration legislation

H.R. 3851

• Increases the number of full-time border patrol agents and requires a plan for recruitment and retention from the Secretary of Homeland Security
• Affirms state and local law enforcement are authorized and directed to enforce immigration law for illegal aliens who have been ordered removed
• Requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to post all warrants for illegal alien offenders on the National Crime Information Center database
• Increases the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program funding authorization to help state and local law enforcement comply
• Doubles the criminal penalties for illegal aliens in possession of a firearm and/or a controlled substance

• Carter sponsored this bill
• McCaul co-sponsored and supports this bill
• Status: Introduced Oct. 16, which means it must go to committee for approval and possible revisions.

H.R. 4073

• Requires the Commissioner of Social Security to create a new Social Security card for citizens using biometric identifiers and tamper-proof safeguards
• Requires illegal aliens to obtain a similar identification card, including criminal penalties for non-compliance
• Excludes illegal aliens from receiving Social Security benefits for work completed while residing illegally within the United States

• Carter sponsored
• McCaul co-sponsored and supports this bill
• Status: Introduced Nov. 16, which means it must go to committee for approval and possible revisions.

Future legislation by Carter

A bill will implement a probationary non-citizen worker program that requires illegal immigrants to admit they came to the U.S. illegally, accept a criminal charge on their record, but will allow them to stay and work within an accountable and effective employment system that does not offer a path to citizenship.

Combating cyber warfare

Other efforts for homeland security

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul has attracted attention to what he considers another major front for homeland security—some foreign countries have the ability to potentially shut down major infrastructure in the U.S. through computer hacking.

“There have been multiple intrusions from foreign powers,” McCaul said. “If files were taken from the Pentagon, then it would be very concerning. It is because they are virtual that we do not notice as much.”

McCaul regularly receives briefings from the staff of the Congressional Homeland Security Committee concerning the issue.

“Through cyber [attacks] they could do physical damage in the physical world,” said Kevin Gronberg, a Homeland Security staffer, in September. “If we are not secure, we are vulnerable to espionage or a physical attack.”

In response, McCaul, with The Center for Strategic and International Studies and Congressmen Jim Langevin (D-Rhode Island), announced Oct. 30 a bipartisan Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency – the administration that will take office in January 2009.

This commission will develop recommendations for a comprehensive strategy for organizing and prioritizing efforts to secure America’s computer networks and critical infrastructure.

Austinite and retired Navy Admiral Bobby Inman, who is also the Lyndon B. Johnson National Policy Chair at the University of Texas, will co-chair the commission of 31 members. Work will be completed by December 2008.

"We educate all of the kids who come to us that live within our district. We really don’t have any data on whether the students here are legal immigrants or illegal immigrants or anything besides that. At last count, 1,338 — or 4.6 percent — of our students are in our English language learning programs, which include English as a second language and bilingual education together. The point for us is to educate all the children who live within our district and provide the services they need to be effective learners. For some of our students, that means the ESL program where they receive their core instruction in English and support services for those language difficulties that they face. The state does allow some testing for those kids that are in bilingual programs that [are printed] in their native language, although they have to transition within three years to taking an English language exam."

Bill Britcher, executive director of school and community relations for the Leander Independent School District

"I’ve been working with the construction industry since 1978. As professional surveyors, we are not really impacted very much, but people we work with in construction are. There are so many forgeries and illegal documents. As far as the employers are concerned, they basically leave it to those individuals to provide them with the paperwork [the employers] need. It’s not that they turn a blind eye; it’s just that they have to work with what they are given at face value. Right now, there’s not any kind of a database or a number that they can call to check. They’re really at the mercy of these documents. I know of two stories where the social security numbers ended up being from a man who had passed away in 1958, and the other one was from a person who had passed away as well. There’s a whole network of people who recover these various numbers.

When I was up in the Dallas area in the 70’s, immigration [officials] would pull up on the site and then there wouldn’t be a crew for two weeks until they filtered back in. But it’s not even happening anymore. Immigration does not pull up on job sites, or very rarely. But when those vans pulled up on the job site people would be scattered in all directions. The first time I witnessed it, I didn’t have a clue what was happening. I thought something was falling, like the road or something. You don’t see immigration like you used to; I don’t know what happened within the organization, but I know it’s nothing like what it used to be.

That’s where I think the politicians don’t want to wake that sleeping dog because it is such an impact economically to these various companies. The immigration problem is a lot deeper than an immigration van pulling up and scattering all the people."

Chuck Walker, owner of Walker Texas Surveyors

 

“It has an obvious impact at a local level because we have immigrant or undocumented workers who contribute to the economy of Texas. They have an impact on a personal level because we know them on a personal level. We have families, relatives.

The concept of requiring identification cards—that would be interesting. That means if you look a certain way, we might have to carry cards around. For those of us with Mexican ancestry, we don’t walk around with a birth certificate in our pocket.”

Carlos Salinas, Round Rock council member and member of Congressman John Carter’s Hispanic Council