Amnesty Called an Alien Invasion

Any guest-worker program approved by Congress for the nation’s 11 million illegal aliens would spawn a new wave of cheap-labor illegals that already-overwhelmed federal authorities are unprepared to handle, law-enforcement authorities and immigration officials say.

A former high-ranking U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) official said the federal government does not have an adequate post-legalization enforcement program to prevent an expected flood of fraudulent identity documents or sanction employers who hire the new illegals.

“The new illegal aliens will be cheaper than the guest workers, and there will be nobody in the government to check up on them,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “If there is no enforcement, illegals will pour in, requiring serial amnesties or legalization efforts.”

If any of the guest-worker, or amnesty, plans now pending in Congress are approved, the nation will experience an even greater flood of illegal aliens than in the wake of President Reagan’s 1986 amnesty program, said several officials.

Under the Immigration and Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), INS added 1,000 inspectors — bringing the total to 2,000 — and they were not able to enforce the employer sanctions and fraud laws outlined in the bill, said the former immigration official. The law-enforcement authorities and immigration officials said IRCA was designed to address a population of fewer than 3 million illegal aliens.

“The illegals kept flooding in . . . and now we have another fine mess, this time with marching in the streets,” he said, adding that newly arriving illegal labor under a guest-worker program will compete against those granted legal status and can be paid less because they will have no recourse or appeal.

“It is not likely that the smuggling and illegal labor industry will just shut down due to a guest-worker program,” he said.

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“If we are unable to determine these aliens’ true identities, we will not be able to determine when they actually entered the United States,” he said. “The proposals requiring these individuals to provide evidence they were in the United States for a specific period of time may sound impressive but, in reality, constitute nothing more than smoke and mirrors.”

“They are trying to convince the American people this is a workable and reasonable system, while not doing anything to enhance border security,” he said, adding that the September 11 Commission report found that the terrorists who attacked the U.S. were able to embed themselves in this country by committing immigration fraud and using loopholes in the immigration system. “This amnesty program, even if you want to call it guest worker, would create nothing but false security.”

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