Article

2010-05-10 Home Front: Politix

Not every illegal immigrant in the United States snuck across the border. A very large number, perhaps as many as 5.5 million, entered legally with visas and then never left.

But unlike the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants apprehended at the border every year, very few visa violators are ever caught.

The Border Patrol's Tucson sector, the busiest in the nation, logged 112,488 apprehensions last fiscal year. In comparison, federal agents in Arizona tracked down and arrested 27 people who had overstayed their visas.

Visa violators represent nearly half of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. But they have been largely ignored amid a national clamor to secure the border, fueled in part by Arizona's tough new immigration law, the killing of a southern Arizona rancher and worries that cartel violence in Mexico could spill into this country, analysts and experts say.

"It's not that we have too much emphasis on the border. We still need enforcement on the border. The problem is not enough attention to the other issue," said Michael W. Cutler, a former senior agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which became Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In the past five years, the number of Border Patrol agents stationed along the U.S.-Mexico line has doubled, to more than 20,000 people. That's the highest level of staffing in the Border Patrol's 85-year history. And Arizona politicians including Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, Republican Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, and Democratic Reps. Gabrielle Giffords and Ann Kirkpatrick have called for deploying the National Guard to the border, too.

There has been no corresponding call to increase the search for those who overstay visas.

In 2003, Immigration and Customs Enforcement created a special unit to track down visa violators. Funding grew from $6.7 million the first year to $68.3 million in fiscal year 2009, according to testimony in March by Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for ICE John Morton to the House Homeland Security Committee.

Investigators analyze records of hundreds of thousands of potential violators based on data from various government databases that keep track of students, tourists and other people who enter the U.S. On average, the 272 investigators assigned to the unit arrest 1,400 visa violators a year, Morton said. ICE officials said the number of overstayers arrested each year has steadily risen, though they could not provide details.

Lon Weigand, assistant special agent in charge of ICE investigations in Phoenix, said most of the 27 visa violators in Arizona last year had overstayed tourist visas. ICE could not say whether that was up or down from previous years.

AsI recall, the 9/11 hijackers were in the country on legitimate visas.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-05-10 08:58|| || Front Page|| [10 views ] Top

#1 272 investigators assigned to the unit arrest 1,400 visa violators a year

That's 5.14 arrests per agent, per year.

Or one arrest every 71 days.

Our tax dollars at work.

Posted by Bobby 2010-05-10 12:52|| 2010-05-10 12:52|| Front Page Top

#2 Visa violators represent nearly half of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country. But they have been largely ignored amid a national clamor to secure the border

Ignored by the media and Left in an attempt to make ILLEGAL ALIEN enforcement a 'race' issue. The Arizona law applies equally to visa violators as well as border crossers. But the media and left (including Obumbles himself) want to protray it as only an anti-mexican law.

Posted by CrazyFool 2010-05-10 14:17|| 2010-05-10 14:17|| Front Page Top

#3 Well for Arizona you have to suspect the majority of illegals are border hoppers.

Posted by rjschwarz 2010-05-10 15:41|| 2010-05-10 15:41|| Front Page Top

#4 When I was vainly trying to arrange a US visa for my Thai wife, we briefly considered sneaking across the Arizona border. In fact, a high-ranking immigration official (off the record) suggested it as the most effective method to get her into the country.

The only (legal) alternative was a 3-5 year wait and $30,000+.

Posted by Scooter McGruder 2010-05-10 16:50|| 2010-05-10 16:50|| Front Page Top

#5 P.S. My Thai wife could not fathom the insanity of our immigration system. The only thing she could figure was that I DIDN'T WANT HER TO SEE THE USA AND WAS TRYING TO SABOTAGE THE VISA PROCESS.

It destroyed our marriage.

Posted by Scooter McGruder 2010-05-10 16:53|| 2010-05-10 16:53|| Front Page Top

#6 I'm sorry, Scooter dear.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-05-10 22:18|| 2010-05-10 22:18|| Front Page Top

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