Attorney General John Ashcroft apparently doesn't spend much time chatting with Mexican diplomats about United States immigration policy. And that's a good thing.

Last May 24, then-Immigration Service Commissioner James Ziglar met with Mexico's finest. And here's what Ziglar was inspired to say about his duty to detain and deport the millions of illegal aliens in the United States:

"No one likes the idea that people came into the country illegally, but it's not practical or reasonable to think that you're going to be able to round them all up and send them home. . . . We need to set up a regime where we don't have to spend so much of our time and effort in enforcement activities dealing with people who are not terrorists, who are not threats to our national security, who are economic refugees."

Pretty much the same thing just happened when current Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge met with Mexican diplomats in San Diego, California, this April 24. Ridge did not support the whole enchilada of amnesty for illegal aliens – to the dismay of his Mexican guests. But he made these shocking remarks:

"How we deal with the presence of men and women and families that was initially unlawful but has proven to be productive is one of the biggest challenges that we have in our country."

Emphasis added!

VDARE.COM Note to Secretary Ridge: Whaddya mean, "initially"? When did "the presence" of illegal aliens become lawful?

And what's "productive" about having so many illegal aliens around anyhow?

But back inside the Beltway, far out of reach of Mexican politicos, Attorney General John Ashcroft sends a different message.

Ashcroft recently affirmed that detaining illegal aliens for Immigration Court hearings in the Executive Office for Immigration Review goes hand in hand with "considerations of sound immigration policy and national security."

In this April 17 decision, In re D-J-, the Attorney General struck down a measly $2,500 immigration bond for an illegal alien asylum-seeker from Haiti, and ordered the alien detained during the EOIR process.

The original $2,500 bond was set by a Miami immigration judge and approved by the Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church, Virginia. Upon paying this bond, the illegal alien would, of course, have been free to disappear in the United States and the EOIR deportation abyss.

In rebuking the EOIR, Ashcroft wrote that

"releasing [the asylum-seeking alien] or similarly situated undocumented seagoing migrants, on bond would give rise to adverse consequences for national security and sound immigration policy."

But it gets better. Ashcroft wrote:

"There is substantial risk that granting release on bond to such large groups of undocumented aliens may include persons who present a threat to the national security, as well as a substantial risk of disappearance into the alien community within the United States.

"[E]vasive behavior — [at the time of entry] does not provide reassuring evidence of the [alien's] likely reliability in appearing for future proceedings … even sporadic successful entries fuel further attempts."

There's been the usual hue and cry about the decision from the usual anti-law enforcement, pro-illegal alien suspects–as syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin has documented.

But VDARE.COM says: Bravo, Mr. Ashcroft!

And we add a helpful suggestion about detaining and deporting illegal aliens on the Mexican border. 

Helpful suggestion: It's time to stop the invasion in places like Arizona and California – where illegal alien behavior is just as – in Ashcroft's term - "evasive."

Whether by land or by sea, illegal alien opportunists all exploit the detention revolving door and EOIR's permanent amnesty.

Ashcroft's In re D-J- masterfully shows that releasing rootless recently-arrived illegal aliens has consequences - even if the alien is not Beltway sniper Lee Boyd Malvo or foiled subway bomber Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer. Both were released on bond for EOIR Immigration Court but had other plans than appearing for hearings.

Hopefully, the next time Bush Administration officials meet with our neighbors to the south, they'll heed the Attorney General's ringing words:

"[e]ncouraging . . . unlawful mass migrations is inconsistent with sound immigration policy and important national security interests."

And, Mr. Ashcroft, on Cinco de Mayo, stay home!

Juan Mann [send him email] is a lawyer and the proprietor of DeportAliens.com.