D.A. King's experience trying to report illegal aliens, just reported on VDARE.COM, says it all: An immigration enforcement meltdown is underway.
The signs are now crystal clear that the new Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE—now shortened apparently for marketing purposes to ICE) is following the same non-enforcement policies of the despised and abolished Immigration and Naturalization Service.
In fact, things may be getting worse.
The DHS still isn't asking for reports on the illegal aliens they don't know about. And it can't or won't go out and get the ones they already know about.
The policy remains: Don't ask. Don't tell us.
As I have reported before, and noted in my comment on D.A. King's article, there is still no system in place to encourage American citizens (and legally-authorized aliens, for that matter) to report illegal aliens and criminal alien residents. And, in the age of the internet, the DHS has yet to publicize any e-mail address for this purpose, or to create an online reporting form like the one the FBI has already in place to report criminal activity.
And to make matters worse, a recent DHS change in immigration bond policy has all but eliminated the financial incentive for bonding companies to capture aliens who skipped out on their immigration bonds.
As reported by Julia Malone of Cox Newspapers, [Unwanted: Fugitive illegals , Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 4, 2003] the DHS immigration bond policy has gone from difficult to even worse.
Bail enforcement agents from immigration bonding companies are the only private citizens legally-authorized to apprehend alien fugitives and turn them over to the government. But under the new policy, even if the bonding company actually turns in a fugitive alien, the government will still consider the immigration bond for that particular alien "breached." It won't give the bondsmen their bond money back—unless they bring the alien to the exact field office where the alien was released!
So for all that work in catching and transporting the aliens—all on the government's behalf, of course—why would bonding companies bother catching them at all?
ICE's Office of Detention and Removal [DRO] field offices still have the absurd task of finding the illegal aliens and criminal aliens that they already released on immigration bonds sometimes many years ago. The ridiculous delay is due to the fatally-flawed U.S. Immigration Court system as I have reported again and again.
There are 300,000-plus "absconders" (ordered "deported" on paper and) on the loose. But ICE hasn't seen fit to make the names of these fugitives public. And with no one to go get them, the vast majority of aliens who aren't detained are never heard from again. This is the "catch and release" game that resulted in the release of Beltway sniper John Lee Malvo.
ICE simply isn't interested in putting illegal aliens on ice. It certainly doesn't encourage help from the public.
Of course, first stop in reporting illegal aliens should be the local ICE investigations division field offices. But their e-mail addresses are disgracefully scarce. (D.A. King found his Atlanta-area office: atliceduty@dhs.gov.)
However, ICE has set up a phone number to "report suspicious activity" that rings at the department's Law Enforcement Service Center: (866) DHS-2ICE. This "suspicious activity" number might also be a good place to call. It's worth a try.
If calling (866) DHS-2ICE doesn't work, I suggest calling one of the ICE public affairs field offices. This is a public affair, isn't it?
Ask them what ICE is doing about the 8.4 million (give or take a few million) illegal aliens and criminal alien residents on the loose. Ask them what you can do. Ask when American citizens and law enforcement officers are going to be allowed to fulfill their patriotic duty and help enforce the law?
Who is responsible for the ICE meltdown?
Numero Uno (so to speak): DHS Secretario Ridge, of course.
But the culprits directly responsible for this non-enforcement disaster are three ICE bureaucrats:
Whenever you report an illegal alien, whether you're satisfied with the ICE response or not, be sure to share your report with these three!
Tell them VDARE.COM sent you.
Juan Mann [send him email] is a lawyer and the proprietor of DeportAliens.com.
