Michael Cutler on Lodi arrests: Another Case of Immigration Violations

Michael Cutler asked me to post his comments on the case: Here is another article about the arrest of two men in Lodi, California (a father and son) on criminal charges and two other men, religious leaders who are citizens of Pakistan, for administrative immigration violations, all of whom are believed to be involved in recruiting terrorists to create terrorist "sleeper" cells in the United States. These arrests are consistent with concerns voiced by FBI Director Robert Mueller, Jr. when he testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee this past February about his concerns of terrorist sleeper cells operating in the United States.

I have several thoughts. First of all, the younger of the two men is a native and citizen of the United States. I am certain that there are many other young men scattered around the world in European and other countries, which again raises the significance of the Visa Waiver Program. If these men and women are born in countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program, they will be elligible to travel to the United Statets without first applying for a visa. I have been a constant critic of this program and these arrests simply reinforce my concerns. The requirement that aliens seeking entry into the United States provides greater opportunity to better screen such aliens before they arrive on our shores. Second, as I have pointed out, the penalty for visa fraud in conjunction with terrorism provides for a maximum period of incarceration of 25 years. Aliens who are exempt the visa requirement cannot be prosecuted for visa fraud if they don't apply for visas.

Additionally, other individuals who have been arrested in conjunction with this case were taken into custody for violations of administrative immigration laws. This is a component of interior enforcement of the immigration laws. As we can readily see in this case, these laws can be highly effective in interrupting the operation of terrorist organizations as well as other criminal organizations. Additionally, in my experience, the use of these laws for law enforcement purposes can be highly advantageous in recruiting informants, yet the two thousand ICE agents who are dedicated to the interior enforcement of these critical laws is so minuscule a number as to be nearly nonexistent.

I call this a false economy. These agents need to be augmented by many more special agents who are given effective training, ample resources and real leadership. Yet the administration is unwilling to do this. Congress authorized the hiring of an additional 800 special agents for the entire United States this year and the administration asked to only hire 143. (I wonder where that number came from?) The 800 authorized by Congress was a ridiculous number - I will not even tell you what I thought about the administration's proposal. I testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims about this very issue on March 10 of this year. You can review the entire transcript of this hearing, including my prepared testimony and the prepared testimony of the other witnesses.

The President has steadfastly maintained that we are fighting the war on terror overseas so that we will not have to fight the war within our borders. I would respectfully submit that the arrests of these individuals constitutes a very serious component of our war on terror and it was carried out in California. I realize that there are Mexicans who believe that parts of the United States should be returned to Mexican control, but this has not (as yet) happened. Consequently we have evidence that we are, indeed, fighting the war on terror within our borders. We had better be successful in this battle.