The "A" Word

After previous failures to get any traction on comprehensive immigration reform or the DREAM Act, President Obama has again ramped up his efforts to call for reform. The outlines of the President's proposed plan are nothing new. He emphasized the need to pore further resources into securing the borders and prosecuting business owners who willfully employ undocumented workers. At the same time, those illegally in the country could begin a legalization process after they (1) admit to having broken the law, (2) pay taxes and a fine, (3) learn English, and (4) undergo background checks to ensure that they have no serious criminal history.

For opponents of reform, the broad outline of the plan will be immediately deemed as unacceptable because it amounts to an amnesty. With so much of the political debate centered on whether or not a given plan is an amnesty, it is probably worth looking at what the word amnesty means.

According to dictionary.com, the definition of "amnesty" is (1) a general pardon for offenses, especially political offenses, against a government, often granted before any trial or conviction; (2) an act of forgiveness for past offenses, especially to a class of persons as a whole; or (3) a forgetting or overlooking of any past offense.

The relevant definition word “pardon” is defined as (1) a release from the penalty of an offense; a remission of penalty, as by a governor; or (2) forgiveness of a serious offense or offender.

Would requiring offenders to (1) admit to having broken the law, (2) pay taxes and a fine, (3) learn English, and (4) undergo background checks to ensure no serious criminal history before they could start a legalization process really be an amnesty? Such requirements seem more akin a mass guilty plea and sanction (a presumably substantial fine and English classes) than a "release from the penalty of an offense" or a "forgetting or overlooking of any past offense."

When a person pleads guilty to DUI, he admits to having broken the law and then is required to pay court costs and fines and often agrees to take classes. DUI and other criminal offenders are not seen as having been granted amnesty.

A reform program should be envisioned as a mass guilty plea with serious sanctions attached. It would be to American society's benefit that fines will be paid, those who do not know English will be required to learn it, and 10 or so million people will no longer be living in the shadows.

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Mexican Police Chief to Seek Asylum in U.S.

Last October, Marisol Valles Garcia, a 20-year-old college student from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was hired as police chief of the small border town, Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero in Chihuahua; a town taken over by drug cartels and corruption. Marisol was studying criminology and was offered the job after two other job candidates stepped down when the town’s mayor and his son were killed. Now, after just five months on the job, Marisol has reportedly fled Praxedis for the United States. It is reported that after Marisol received death threats from a criminal group that wanted to force her to work with them, she fled to the U.S. last week with her husband and son to seek asylum.

Two months ago another Mexican border down was left without a police chief. Police chief and sole officer on the force in Guadalupe, Erika Gandara, was kidnapped. Erika’s fate is still unknown.

To read more on Marisol’s story and her quest for asylum, please visit http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41904784/ns/world_news-americas/?GT1=43001

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DHS and Mexico Cooperate to Reduce Crime at the Southwest Border

On October 22, 2010, twenty-four Mexican Customs officers graduated from the inaugural Mexican Customs Investigator Training (MEXIT) in Charleston, S.C. The 10 week training session, modeled on the U.S. ICE Special Agent Training Program, was designed to train Mexican law enforcement officials to more effectively identify and fight crime along the southern border and within Mexico. The training and graduation represents the continuing effort of DHS/ICE to partner with Mexico in combating drug cartels; money laundering; weapons, drug, and human trafficking; and other criminal organizations that operate across the U.S.-Mexico border, threatening the security of people living in both countries.

The training included instruction in both Mexican and U.S. customs law, as well as an emphasis on investigative techniques and officer safety. Both Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Mexican Secretary of Finance, Ernesto Cordero Arroyo, attended the graduation ceremony. In an ICE news release, Secretary Napolitano said that fighting the drug cartels “demands a response that is transnational and coordinated,” while Secretary Cordero remarked that “A well-functioning border is an opportunity for growth – it opens doors to commercial exchange, peace, progress, and human development.” The training is designed to lead to more cooperation and information sharing so both countries can more effectively fight crime on the border.

The Mexican Customs Investigator Training is part of a multiyear, Department of State-led initiative designed to provide assistance to Mexico and Central America to better equip law enforcement agencies to complete their missions. So far, the United States has contributed $1.4 billion in aid for Mexico through the initiative. President Obama is committed to shared responsibility with President Felipe Calderón and the government of Mexico to secure the Southwest border and ensure the security of both nations.

Read more:
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1010/101022northcharleston2.htm

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Border Arrests Down

A southern Colorado television station reported yesterday that border patrol arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border are down for the fifth straight year. According to Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, there has been a 17 percent drop in arrests between 2009 and 2010, due to increased enforcement along the border that is slowing illegal immigration. There are currently 20,500 border patrol agents stationed along the border, which is an all-time high.

To read the complete article, please visit http://www.kktv.com/news/headlines/Border_Arrests_Down_Seventeen_Percent_105251658.html

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Suicides Among U.S. Border Patrol Agents Increase

Since February of 2008 at least 15 U.S. Border Patrol agents have committed suicide. This is the largest spike in suicides the agency has seen in the last 20 years. Officials are unsure of the exact cause of the increase in suicide rate and some insist the suicides have nothing to do with the agency itself.

Due to the increasingly violent U.S.-Mexico border, the Border Patrol has doubled in size since 2004. All but two of the most recent deaths involved agents in Texas, California and Arizona. Administrators for the agency have started suicide-prevention initiatives, including training for supervisors, videos about the warning signs, and other educational programs for Border Patrol agents all across the nation.

It is reported that suicide rates among law enforcement are usually higher than the general population; however, the Border Patrol now ranks above the typical rates for law enforcement.

To read more about the possible causes of suicides among Border Patrol agents, please visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38727328/ns/us_news-security

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Border Security Bill Signed Today by Obama

Today President Obama signed a new border security bill known as the Southwest Border Security Bill. According to a statement issued by the White House, the bill provides $600 million “to enhance technology at the border, share information and support with state, local and tribal law enforcement, and increase (federal) presence and law enforcement activities at the border.”

The bill will provide increased agents, investigators, and prosecutors in an effort to target illicit trafficking of people, drugs, illegal weapons and money. The hiring of 1,000 new Border Patrol agents will be funded by the bill, in addition to the hiring of more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The new Border Patrol agents will be deployed at critical areas along the border.

For more information, please visit the following sites:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/08/obama-signs-border-security-bill/1
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38692070/ns/politics

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