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www.DukeEmployees.com - Duke Energy Employee Advocate

Immigration - Page Two


“Lax enforcement of immigration laws has cost some Americans their jobs.
It has cost some Americans their lives.” – Duke Energy Employee Advocate


Send Illegal Aliens Home

Tribune Media Services – by Cal Thomas – November 3, 2001

Immigration poses a bigger threat to this country than anthrax

The American psyche, if not American resolve, has been deeply shaken by the events of Sept. 11 and the subsequent anthrax scare. President Bush has warned that victory over the Taliban will not come quickly and the war against terrorism may never end. America could use some confidence-building measures right now.

It isn't that government is doing too little. We see officials parading in front of microphones and Pentagon briefers conduct show-and-tell sessions about bombs destroying targets in Afghanistan. We know a lot of money is being spent. Anthrax has infected the cable networks 24-7.

We need the equivalent of the post-Pearl Harbor, Jimmy Doolittle raid on Tokyo. The raid itself had little military significance but did wonders for American morale, confidence and cohesiveness.

The United States has been the breadbasket to the world and has welcomed the world here. We have, and are, forgiving debt and handing out foreign aid alms like Scrooge when he faced his own mortality, though we have never been Scrooge-like in our generosity.

We've enriched Arab nations by buying their oil; it's not our fault that they have failed to use those resources to better the lives of their people. Now we learn that many countries hate us, mostly because their political and religious leaders need an enemy to deflect attention from the economic and social misery at home - for which they are largely responsible.

President Bush's signing of new laws to track down terrorists among us is an important counterstrike. But if public confidence is to soar like patriotism, we'll need to see something that produces immediate, visible results.

A bigger threat than anthrax is the huge number of illegal aliens in this country; the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there are 8 million of them. While blame for this can be equally shared by Republicans and Democrats, the Bush administration should order a massive roundup, deporting illegals to their countries of origin.

Amnesty granted to illegal immigrants, mostly for political reasons, has encouraged more of them to come here in violation of our laws. Census Bureau figures reflect plainly the problem we face. Approximately 2.7 million of the estimated 5 million illegal aliens living in this country in 1986 were given amnesty and awarded permanent legal residence.

Now, Census Bureau estimates indicate this group has been completely replaced by a new wave of illegal immigrants, and that by 2000, the illegal population was 3 million larger than before the last amnesty.

The number of immigrants living in the United States - legal and illegal - more than tripled over the last three decades, from 9.6 million in 1970 to 31.1 million in 2000. As Steven Camarota, of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., notes in a press release: "No nation in history has ever attempted to incorporate and assimilate 31 million newcomers into its society. If policy remains unchanged, at least 13 million legal and illegal immigrants will likely settle in the United States over the next 10 years."

By absorbing so many legal and illegal aliens, America has lost something of the uniqueness that attracts immigrants. Political correctness has pressured our educators, media and other social forces not to shape these new residents into Americans. We've allowed them to form their own societies among us, rather than embrace American history, American traditions and American values. Our national motto - out of many, one - has become out of one, many. No nation can survive if it loses its identity, and we're losing ours.

While reversing this downward process may take some time (and some will), deporting those who don't belong here will have the immediate benefit of ridding us of some terrorists and their cells. Then we should halt all but absolutely necessary immigration until the administration can develop a new immigration policy that puts America and Americans first.

The world has shown us that if we don't care for our own, no one else will. And if we aren't confident and strong, we won't have the capacity to be gracious and generous to those who truly need us. Let the deportations begin.



North Carolina and Virginia Have Wised Up

The Charlotte Observer – November 2, 2001

Proof of residency may reduce fraud, slow terrorists

11/1/01 - Just about a month ago, we wrote that the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles had a few things to learn from Virginia's DMV about how to end the long lines and frustration Charlotte motorists face. We still think so.

But there's one thing we're glad North Carolina is changing that's a lot like Virginia's DMV - the easy way that nonresident immigrants could get a state driver's license. Turns out Virginia's liberal policy for obtaining a driver's license or state identification card has led to fraud and corruption.

In addition, it seems it was also an aid to terrorists. It was through the Virginia DMV that at least seven of the terrorists who hijacked jetliners in the Sept. 11 attacks got I.D. cards.

Law enforcers said tens of thousands of illegal immigrants got legal driver's licenses or identification cards in Virginia, where applicants needed none of the standard proofs of identity or residency - such as a Social Security card or utility bill. Easier-to-fake forms from acquaintances or others stipulating residency were accepted. A booming business emerged for unscrupulous lawyers and notaries who promulgated the fraud in processing undocumented immigrants for huge fees.

Virginia only ended the practice in the last few weeks after the connection with the Sept. 11 attacks became known. Such elaborate schemes as those in Virginia have not been documented in North Carolina, but officials do suspect some fraud has occurred. So beginning today, new applicants for N.C. driver licenses must show proof of residency. Officials expect the change will end the flood of nonresident immigrants who come to North Carolina from more restrictive states. Already in South Carolina, applicants must show proof of residency and provide a valid Social Security number. North Carolina will require Social Security numbers in January...

Judge Boosts Bail for Pakistanis



U.S. to Detain Members of 46 Terror Organizations

Associated Press – by J. Lumpkin, J. Solomon – November 2, 2001

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a sweeping new immigration crackdown Wednesday, designating 46 terrorist groups whose members and supporters will be banned from entering the country.

The attorney general also announced the creation of a new foreign terrorist tracking task force to "neutralize the threat of terrorist aliens."

Ashcroft said the task force will be charged with denying entry to the United States of members or representatives of terrorist organizations and aliens who are suspected of having engaged in terrorist activities or having provided support to terrorist activities.

"We will detain, prosecute, and deport terrorist aliens who are already inside the national border," Ashcroft said. "America will not allow terrorists to use our hospitality as a weapon against us." Ashcroft said the task force will be headed by Steven McCraw, the deputy assistant director of the intelligence branch of the FBI's Investigative Services Division.

Ashcroft said the 46 groups include some linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, some whose assets have been frozen by presidential order and others determined by U.S. authorities to have engaged in terrorist activities. Ashcroft said that law can be used to deny aliens entry to the U.S. "if they provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, even if they don't specifically intend to support this terrorist activity…"



Student Visa Violations

Associated Press – by Jesse Holland – November 2, 2001

The government does not know how many foreigners are in the United States illegally after their student visas expired or who never got to the schools where they were to study, federal officials told lawmakers Wednesday. A lax tracking system means neither the State Department nor the Immigration and Naturalization Service can say how widespread the abuse of the student visa program is, agency officials told two House Education and the Workforce subcommittees.

Hani Hanjour, suspected in the hijacking of the airliner that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept.11, entered the United States on a student visa after promising to enroll at Holy Name College in Oakland, Calif. He never did.

The INS has only about 2,000 investigators, half of whom are working on the attacks case, said the agency's acting deputy commissioner, Michael Becraft.

That focus leaves few investigators to handle the agency's regular load, much less chase foreign after students who stay here too long or do not go to class, he said.

"We don't have enough people to go around," Becraft said.

In addition, U.S. intelligence agencies do not share their terrorist and criminal watch lists with the State Department, said Mary Ryan, the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs.

That lack of information makes it possible for foreigners to get legal visas even if some U.S. agencies have concerns, she said.

"The best way of protecting the United States is to keep these people out," Ryan said. "Sept.11 showed us the (difficulty) of trying to track people once they make it in..."



Student Visa System Fraudulent

CNSNews.com - by Michael Betsch - October 11, 2001

At least 16 of the 19 terrorists who hijacked the four commercial airplanes used to destroy the World Trade Center and damage the Pentagon entered the U.S. with student and tourist visas that expired before September 11, 2001.

This failure to enforce immigration policy has prompted calls to revise the system that permitted the terrorists to remain in the United States while they plotted their actions. At any given time, there are approximately 600,000 foreign students on U.S. soil. These students have been issued visas under the legal requirement that they pursue academic studies at U.S. institutions of higher learning.

"It's a total fraudulent system," said Roy Beck, the executive director of Numbers USA, a public policy group in Washington that studies the effect of immigration on the environment, quality of life and labor force.

Beck said a student visa is basically "a card that tells student-age people all around the world that you can come to the United States using a student visa and it doesn't matter whether you ever go to school, it doesn't matter if you ever go back home.

"There's absolutely no protection for the Americans in it - and there's no integrity in it," Beck said of the current visa application system.

On Sept. 27, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) proposed a six-month moratorium on the entry of any foreign student into the U.S. until a comprehensive electronic tracking system is in place. However, a little more than a week after proposing the moratorium, Feinstein backed away from the idea in favor of a joint monitoring effort between Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials and administrators at colleges and universities nationwide.

Beck believes Feinstein's change of heart was due to the economic effect the moratorium would have had on colleges and universities in the U.S., especially those in her home state of California.

"There's no question that these colleges and universities would lose millions and millions of dollars," Beck said of the prospect of losing tuition fees for the nearly 600,000 foreign students who attend U.S. schools.

"She was just totally beaten up," Beck said of the "incredible pressure" that colleges and universities placed on Feinstein to back away from the student visa moratorium.

But, according to Feinstein spokesperson Scott Gerber, the senator met with several university administrators and each "signed a pledge to work together to make our student visa system more effective."

College and university administrators nationwide are failing to see the big picture, even in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, Beck noted. "The student age group, worldwide, including the United States, is one of the most dangerous age groups. It is the most dangerous age group," he said.

Beck believes Feinstein's current suggestion of teaming the INS with college and university administrators is "very simple," but can be effective.

Feinstein has proposed that foreigners "who come with student visas have to be who they say they are," Beck explained, "which means they have to be fingerprinted. And, when they come into the country, you check their fingerprints and when they check into the school you check their fingerprints."

Beck noted that Feinstein "would have the schools report on them (foreign students) at least every quarter." He added that if they "don't check in the school, the computer system will know and they'll be on the lookout for them to get them out of the country.

"It's pretty exceptional," Beck said of the current efforts being made to curtail the illegal entry of foreigners into the U.S. "The Senate has had nobody championing security in terms of illegal immigration since 1996," he concluded.

Employee Advocate note: You may visit Roy Beck’s website, “Numbers USA,” at: www.numbersusa.com.



Judge Boosts Bail for Pakistanis

High Point Enterprise - by Jeremy Phillips – October 11, 2001

A Guilford County District Court judge quadrupled bail Wednesday for three Pakistani men accused of illegally obtaining driver's licenses after hearing that the state has added fraud charges against them.

The three men - Mohammed Arshad Malik, 45, Chaudrey Waseem Masood Joura, 26, and Mohammed Nadim-Jared, 32 - appeared in court Wednesday on charges of financial identity fraud and conspiracy to commit financial identity fraud in connection with the Sept. 26 incident that led to the original charges, which drew the attention of federal authorities.

Judge Thomas Foster set each man's bond at $100,000 Wednesday, citing the five additional felonious charges.

"It appears that (the men) were engaged in some form of ring involving financial identity fraud to give them false paperwork to allow them to stay in the country," said Brandon Goldsborough, Guilford County assistant district attorney.

One of the suspects spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday. Via closed-circuit television from the Guilford County Jail in High Point, Malik asked Foster why the three men each have been placed in isolation.

"I don't understand ... we are not violent people," Malik said.

Sheriff B.J. Barnes said deputies separated the suspects from other inmates as a precautionary measure. "I don't want anyone to make the assumption that they're guilty of anything and try to do something on our watch," Barnes said. "We want to keep them as safe as possible. This is still America."

Don Causey, supervisor of the Greensboro FBI office, said no federal charges have been brought against the three men, though the investigation continues.

"We're still looking into some things right now," Causey said. "If something comes up that we can disclose to the public about the investigation, we will do that as soon as possible."

The three men first were arrested after police said Joura and Malik entered the Department of Motor Vehicles office on Francis Street and applied to get a license for Joura by using a false W-2 tax form. Nadim-Jared was waiting outside the office and was holding Malik's wallet, police said, which also contained two stolen credit cards.

The three men were charged with one count each of obtaining North Carolina drivers license with false information and placed under $25,000 bond. Malik was charged with an additional count of possession of stolen goods.

The incident occurred 15 days after terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, although authorities have not linked the men to the attacks.

Both the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) requested the men be held for questioning after their arrest.

Investigators said the men gave authorities conflicting stories on where they resided, mentioning Maryland, New York and North Carolina. Malik said he had resided since June at 1820 Branch St. in High Point, an address that was occupied by a man named Mohammad Nadeem - similar to Mohammad Nadim-Jared - prior to Sept. 11.

DMV Inspector C.W. McAdams said he recognized Malik as having visited several times previously the Francis Street DMV office. Malik appeared to serve as a translator for other men of Middle Eastern descent seeking to obtain driver's licenses, McAdams said.

Policies to Target Illegal Immigrants



Policies to Target Illegal Immigrants

The Charlotte Observer – by Tim Funk – October 7, 2001

Legislators and other top officials in the Carolinas are citing the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and near Washington to support their push for new, get-tough policies on illegal immigrants.

They say states must do their part to boost national security and foil would-be terrorists.

But Hispanic leaders and immigration lawyers fear such crackdowns will target hard-working, though illegal, immigrants who are building up, not tearing down, the states.

In recent days:

The N.C. House voted 58-43 to tentatively approve an amendment that would require the Division of Motor Vehicles to recall 388,000 driver's licenses issued to motorists who didn't provide a Social Security number. Illegal immigrants cannot get valid Social Security numbers.

S.C. Attorney General Charlie Condon said he's asking the Immigration and Naturalization Service to let the state help enforce federal immigration laws. He wants the INS to train up to 15 state officers, then give them authority to arrest and detain undocumented immigrants.

Two S.C. lawmakers said they plan to introduce a bill that would go even further by also giving local police authority to crack down on illegal immigrants.

N.C. Transportation Secretary Lyndo Tippett said Friday that, starting Nov. 1, first-time applicants must show proof of residency before getting a driver's license.

Tippett didn't refer to Sept. 11 but did say the new requirements were going into effect two months earlier than mandated by the legislature "to crack down on those who apply for a license using fraudulent documents."

Proponents of these and similar measures around the country point to reports that some of the hijackers who flew into the World Trade Center and Pentagon may have used false papers to get driver's licenses and ID cards. Last week, three out-of-state Pakistani men were jailed in High Point after being charged with trying to obtain a driver's license with a false document.

"America is a melting pot, and we welcome people who want to come in and share our freedoms and obey our laws," says N.C. Rep. Russell Capps, R-Wake, who sponsored the driver's license recall, which has been sent back to an Appropriations Committee.

"But if we're going to have lawless people coming in here and making our world unsafe, we're going to have to take a stronger look."

Some Hispanic leaders, though, charge that Capps and other politicians are invoking national security to push their longtime anti-immigration agenda.

"This is just people using the tragedy to gain political points," says German De Castro, a Colombian American who heads Charlotte's Hispanic Voter Coalition. "They are trying to point the finger at the wrong people. Instead, they should be asking how the terrorists managed to defeat our technology with razor blades?"

In South Carolina, Condon says he proposed a state role in immigration enforcement after learning that some of the terrorists got into the United States on visas and then stayed beyond expiration dates.

The INS doesn't have the staff to monitor all such violations, he says, so why not offer state help?

"I often hear from law-enforcement officers, `We stopped a car full of illegal immigrants. We knew it, they knew it.'" Condon says. "But whenever they called the INS, the INS said, `We don't have the manpower. Let them go.' They no longer call the INS."

But the prospect of state or local police enforcing the complex maze of federal immigration laws worries Randall Dong, an immigration attorney in Columbia.

"Racial profiling would obviously be a concern," Dong says. "The natural consequence is that they'll be more zealous in asking for papers from someone who looks different. In other words, my Swiss clients probably wouldn't get hassled; my Mexican clients probably would."

Before the attacks, President Bush and many business leaders appeared ready to give limited legal status to undocumented workers from Mexico, who make up most illegal immigrants.

Tennessee and a few other states were copying North Carolina's policy of awarding driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The state's thinking has been that public safety is more important than proper papers.

But the climate have changed, says N.C. Sen. Wib Gulley, D-Durham. "The September 11 tragedy," he says, "clouds the issue of us trying to integrate our new residents into our community, state and nation."

Fake IDs Lead to Local Arrests



Ban On Foreign Students

San Diego Channel 10 News - September 29, 2001

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is making a controversial proposal to institute a six-month, temporary ban on international students coming into the United States.

Federal investigators revealed that at least one of the suspected highjackers in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon came to the United States on a student visa.

Feinstein said that she wants immigration policy authorities to have time to create a better system For background checks and for tracking students after they have entered the country.

For the several hundred international students at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and the University of California-Santa Cruz, Feinstein's the proposal isn't very popular.

On the campus of Monterey Institute of International Studies, there are more than 350 foreign students, and it's likely that most if not all of them have come to the Monterey Peninsula with good intentions.

Feinstein's proposal would lock many students like Norwegian Ketil Horn out for at least a semester and possibly for admissions for next fall.

Horn wants to become an international negotiator for global businesses.

"I took my degree here to specialize in a field that cannot be found in other places but Monterey," Horn said. "I think this would destroy or at least limit many people's careers."

Feinstein said in a Thursday statement that her proposal may be controversial, but she said that there has to be recognition that this is an unprecedented time in the country, and the country's national security depends on the system functioning to ensure that terrorists do not take advantage of the vulnerabilities in the student visa program. "I understand the senator's concern, but I think this is too much," Taiwanese student Selina Chang said.

"I don't think, just because of one accident, you're going to make America safer by locking out international students," German student Karin Riedl said.

Feinstein will be proposing legislation to temporarily lock out international students in the coming weeks.

She is also asking for $32 million to go to Immigration and Naturalization Services to help the organization track foreign students in the country.



Fake IDs Lead to Local Arrests

High Point Enterprise - by Jeremy Phillips - September 28, 2001

A Guilford County District Court judge denied bond Thursday for three Pakistani men jailed in a case that has attracted the attention of federal authorities.

Responding to a request from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Guilford County District Judge Tom Jarrell denied bond on charges of obtaining North Carolina drivers' licenses with false information against Nadim Javed Mohammed Bahir, 32, Chaudrey Waseem-Mosooo Joura, 26, and Mohammad Arshad Malik, 45.

"I don't know if you're guilty of the charge," Jarrell said. "But I know you certainly picked the wrong time in our country's history to come to North Carolina to try to obtain a driver's license."

Jarrell set bond at $250,000 secured for each defendant but after hearing the INS request, Jarrell removed the option of release.

INS agents were scheduled to have questioned the three men Thursday, Guilford County Assistant District Attorney Brandon Goldsborough said. The FBI also is investigating the case.

As of last Friday, federal authorities had about 115 people in custody across the country for questioning and investigation of possible immigration violations.

Inspector C.W. McAdams, with the N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles, testified that Joura and Malik entered the DMV's Francis Street office about 2 p.m. Wednesday and applied for a driver's license for Joura.

McAdams told reporters after the hearing the two men presented W-2 forms to show their identity, along with other documents that conflicted with the information. He said the W-2 forms later turned out to be fakes.

McAdams said he noticed a third man outside the DMV office and went outside to talk to him. That man, Bashir, had a wallet that McAdams found to belong to Malik.

The wallet contained fraudulent checks and stolen credit cards, McAdams said. Malik faces an additional charge of possession of stolen goods.

McAdams testified in court that one of the suspects told him they traveled to North Carolina to obtain a license because he said it is easier to do so in this state.

"They said they were going to leave as soon as they got a driver's license," McAdams told reporters. "They said they left from New York 15 days ago, (and) that stood out as a large issue to me." Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon occurred Sept. 11, or 15 days prior to Wednesday.

The men also gave conflicting stories on where they resided, he said. The men said they were from New York, Maryland and North Carolina.

Capt. Tim Collins, supervisor of the nine-county DMV district that includes Guilford, said although the reported crime is the first involving people of Middle Eastern descent since the terrorist attacks, the charge itself is fairly common.

"We have that situation happen about every day with every race, nationality and socioecomonic background," Collins said.

The defendants were not present in the courtroom Wednesday. Jarrell communicated with them through a television hook-up to the Guilford County Jail in High Point.

Spokespeople at the FBI's National Press Office said the agency will not comment on ongoing investigations.

McAdams said he immediately recognized Malik as having several times previously visited the Francis Street DMV office. The officer said Malik had appeared to serve as a translator for other men of Middle Eastern descent seeking to obtain driver's licenses.

Bashir successfully obtained a license Sept. 7, when he listed his address as 1820 Branch St. An apartment at that address was occupied by a man named Mohammad Nadeem - similar to Nadim Javed Mohammed Bashir - according to an employee of George Clements Realty, which manages the apartment. The apartment became vacant soon after Sept. 11, neighbors said.

NC Welcomes Illegal Aliens, Not 3ed Party


Immigration - Page One