Illegal Immigration = More Terrorists in the U.S.

Stay sharp: according to US News & World Report, the debate on Shamnesty Bill (Part 2) will resume next week.

In an article for the Heritage Foundation, Kris Kobach writes an article that shows just how dangerous illegal immigration is when it comes to terrorism. As discussed in previous blogs, several of the latest foiled terrorist attempts on US soil have involved terrorists that came here illegally: "[t]he four JFK terrorists include two nationals of Guyana, one of Trinidad, and one former Guyanan who was granted U.S. citizenship. The Fort Dix Islamic terrorists who were arrested in May included five foreign nationals from Yugoslavia and Jordan. A sixth, from Turkey, eventually obtained U.S. citizenship. Of the five aliens, three were illegal aliens who snuck across the southern border years ago near Brownsville, Texas."

Now, let's say this new bill goes through. What would happen?

Kobach points out that the bill requires Z-visas to start being issued 180 days after the legislation is signed into law by the President. Contrary to what supporters say, no 'triggers' have to be met. From that point, terrorists have three options.

Terrorist Option #1: Continue to operate as an illegal alien. Clearly, this is already very easy to do (although if the Secure Borders First Act currently in the House goes through that might change - we can hope!). Even if the terrorist is found by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), they simply pick from option 2 or 3.

Terrorist Option #2: Obtain amnesty by using one's real name. Given the 24-hour period for background checks, there is virtually no chance that even a known terrorist name would be flagged. Even worse, the system is currently stretched so thin that there is an informal 6-minute rule - "adjudicators are pressed to spend no more than six minutes looking at any application." Even in the current system, fraud is rampant - "A 2005 study by Janice Kephart, Counsel to the 9/11 Commission, found that 59 out of 94 foreign-born terrorists (about 2/3) successfully committed immigration fraud to acquire or adjust legal status."

Terrorist Option #3: Invent a clean identity with the US's help. This shamnesty bill requires no proof of identity in the form of a passport from a foreign country. Any terrorist simply needs two pieces of (easily forged) paper showing someone by the same name being in the country prior to January 1st of 2007, and they gain legal status. As Kobach says, "[a] pay stub, a bank receipt, or a remittance receipt would suffice, as does a declaration from one of the terrorist's friends". That last one will be especially tough to come by, don't you think?

Kobach also does the math on just how many terrorists we're talking about: "In fiscal year 2005, the Border Patrol apprehended 3,722 aliens from nations that are designated state sponsors of terrorism or places in which al-Qaeda has operated, and for every one alien whom the Border Patrol apprehended, there were likely three aliens who were not caught. If so, it is probable that more than 10,000 aliens from high-risk, terrorist-associated countries illegally entered the United States in fiscal year 2005 alone. Assuming conservatively that only one in 100 was an actual terrorist, that is still over 100 terrorists who snuck across the border in a single year." How many did it take to pull off 9/11? Nineteen. So, based on those numbers, we've had enough hard-core terrorists enter the US since 2005 to perpetrate almost 15 more acts of terrorism with the same magnitude as 9/11.

What's the correct answer to this problem? SECURE OUR BORDERS FIRST!!!

One of the leading opposers of amnesty, Sen. James Inhofe (Rep, OK), has an online petition you can sign to underscore this point to the Senate. Sign here. Then call your Senators. Yes, call them again...and again...and again, until this shamnesty is dead for real. Yes, it is that important.

If the American people don't stand up against this fraud, it will get rammed through the Senate, and that will be bad news for everyone. Except the terrorists, of course.

There's my two cents.