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December 21, 2007
Pro-Illegal Immigration Crowd Is Afraid that 'Attrition Through Enforcement' Strategy Might Work by FAIR Media Director Ira Mehlman One of the interesting things about the lavishly funded pro-illegal alien lobby is that they all claim to be in favor of immigration enforcement, even as they work assiduously to undermine immigration enforcement. Now they seem to recognize that there is a serious hole in their strategy. While they claim to be against illegal immigration, the pro-illegal alien network has been pushing amnesty as the only practical solution for the 13 million or so illegal aliens already here. From both the left and the right we have repeatedly heard the argument that we cannot deport millions of people, therefore, we have no choice but to provide them with some form of amnesty. This argument is repeatedly proffered in spite of the fact that no one has ever seriously offered mass deportation as a way to deal with illegal aliens living here. Since its inception in 1979, FAIR has argued that the most effective strategy for bringing illegal immigration under control is to eliminate the reasons why people come to and remain in the United States illegally. In the past several years, we and other immigration reform groups have boiled the strategy down to a three-word description, known as 'Attrition Through Enforcement.' With the American public's resolute rejection of amnesty in 2007, Attrition Through Enforcement is gaining traction in the political arena, and this scares the Birkenstocks off of the pro-illegal alien network. They worry that Attrition Through Enforcement might actually work, and they have no answer for it. The Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank with a reputable staff and board, is sounding the alarm. A recent article by Tom Barry, a senior policy analyst in their Americas Policy Program, warns that, "'Attrition through enforcement' represents an aggressive step forward for restrictionism. The 'attrition through enforcement' strategy signals the advance of the anti-immigration advocates from defensive and hold-the-line positions to a long-term offensive aimed at definitively taking the battlefield." http://americas.irc-online.org/am/4816 You're right, Tom. That is our strategy and has been all along. It's the approach favored by the overwhelming majority of Americans, when that option is included in polling questions. And, judging from early results, it is working! The American public now understands that their options are not limited to mass amnesty or mass deportation. And the beauty of it all, is that this effective strategy entail enforcing the laws that the pro-illegal alien lobby has disingenuously claimed to support. Comments
A big thank you to Ira Mehlman for his work as an articulate spokesperson for FAIR! He has been making an excellent case for attrition in media interviews for quite sometime. His succinct and forthright appraisals of immigration policies have always stood in stark contrast to the senseless gibberish coming from the open borders lobby. His style reminds me of the kind of compliment a CNN caller paid to Dan Stein in which the caller said Stein's approach in discussing immigration was "like a breath of fresh air". It seems like very few beltway insiders have any clue as to what a relief it is for the average American to finally hear what their hearts and minds are telling them to be the honest to goodness truth. The constant spinning, propaganda, political correctness, and baseless emotive arguments begin to feel like an unbearable ball and chain. Americans have had their fill - and then some. Posted by: Cynthia on December 21, 2007 05:57 PM "an aggressive step forward for restrictionism" ... Get ready to be called another name. It seems when the pro illegal alien bunch notice that they are loosing ground they start calling names. We've all head that we are 'racists', 'xenophobes', and 'haters' but, lately I've been seeing the word 'restrictionism' and restrictionist' pop up. Not all online dictionaries have a definition for it but of the ones that do, it's a rather matter of fact term (the earliest reference I could find was 1935-1940 in Dictionary.com) that merely describes a "policy of enacting restrictions" with regard to imported goods, immigration, etc. Watch ... this is going to become a dirty word before the national elections are held next November. DCD Posted by: Dave In OK on December 21, 2007 06:09 PM Sadly, what the pro-illegal side will do is scream racism! It is their only fall back position. Expect to hear a lot more of it. Posted by: hugo on December 21, 2007 06:25 PM These tactics are working in states that aggressively enforce immigration law and are not afraid to prosecute illegal employers. The problem is, one or two states is not enough to attain the desired effect. Even though the pro-illegal crowd says they are in favor of this tactic, they know in the long run it will do little to stop illegals from coming and staying. They simply move to a state that's not enforcing the law. Unless the border fence is built, physically keeping the illegal aliens out, they will continue to come and the pro-illegal groups know this. That's why they are fighting so hard to stop the fence from being built. They have purposely misspoke when they said, "the majority want deportation through attrition". That statement is only half right. We want deportation through attrition and physical arrest and deportation, and a border fence to keep them from returning. What's the sense of arresting illegal aliens and dropping them at the border when all they have to do is walk back in? That's why the fence has to built. Until the border is built, deported illegal aliens should be dropped at the farthest end of Mexico. Make them walk a thousand miles back and maybe they'll find it's not worth it. Posted by: Bob Hubble on December 22, 2007 11:00 AM ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT... IT`S A PROVEN FACT! You don`t have to round up all the illegal aliens in the country, or give them amnesty either, that`s just a bunch of nonsense... Just stop the free government handouts, crack down on the illegal hiring, no more housing, free schooling, or anchor baby citizenship, and actually enforce the laws we already have, and presto, the illegals will leave on their own, it`s already happening in states that are cracking down... It`s just common sense, which most of the corporate whores in Washington don`t have... Let`s see how long it takes the pro-illegal crowd to start calling this racist, when in fact they support enforcement. Posted by: American Me on December 22, 2007 12:14 PM RIGHT ON IRA: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU TOO!!! I'd add to your fine article that the Amnesty Bent American Politicians are finding this overpopulation mess they're in denial over is a witches brew and full of traps for them as follows: Have you ever imagined what would happen to America's unemployment rate if amnesty was legalized? My assumption is the jobs losses not tracked now, would be tracked and the actual unemployment rate would go through the roof. I'd also add none of the undocumented slaves leaving the ghost unemployment jobs created job openings either, so its not like it does the rest of us any good now anyway. Why has "overpopulation" become a politically incorrect term and what has the slam dunk science that overpopulation is destroying America today got to do with politics in the first the place? Its a witches brew all right!!!! Posted by: Softwarengineer on December 22, 2007 12:33 PM The reason the open-borders advocates are worried, is that if attrition by enforcement works it will slow their plans to remove the middle class. This is a part of the agenda of the Bilderberg, CFR and The Tri-Lateral commission. It is a very real part of an actual plan. Read The True Story of the Bilderberg Group; by Daniel Estulin. It explains exactly what is happening, why and for how long. It is a book I wish every American would read before they go to the polls next November, or vote in the Primary Election. Posted by: marg on December 22, 2007 03:35 PM "'Attrition through enforcement' represents an aggressive step forward for restrictionism. The 'attrition through enforcement' strategy signals the advance of the anti-immigration advocates from defensive and hold-the-line positions to a long-term offensive aimed at definitively taking the battlefield." Indeed. That is why this option has been traditionally played down, left off poll options, and in general ignored by the MSM. Posted by: D Flinchum on December 22, 2007 06:31 PM Poeple like Ira and his brother Ken Mehlman might be good but they are not able to compete against the courts. "CIVIL RIGHTS" groups and the government and business who are all on the side of illegals Posted by: impeachbush on December 23, 2007 10:24 AM There is no doubt that Ira and all others who have consistently stated that attrition works. Of course one of the problems not addressed is the the other 87 million or so illegals who haven't made a dash for the border yet. I suppose that attrition might work in the next decade for them, too. But why wait? In the meanwhile, I suggest that we look to Techno Patriots to stop them before they make the trip. www.technopatriots.com Posted by: Iris Lynch on December 23, 2007 10:05 PM Just a thank you to Ira Mehlman and Dan Stein and Roy Beck, etc. It is good to know that some Americans are still working for the best interests of America and Americans. Posted by: Bobby on December 23, 2007 10:28 PM I'm always amazed at how the liberal press spins stories about arrests of suspected illegal aliens as a tale of victimization! You hear something along the lines of "...Gee, he's getting deported just for having a taillight out..." or some such nonsense. NO, he's getting "deported" [actually "removal" is the term the immigration bureaucracy uses now!] because he's here ILLEGALLY! What happened is the cop stopped a car for an equipment defect, asked the guy for a license, registration and insurance card, and the guy didn't have SQUAT. So, he gets arrested, booked, and ICE gets notified. In a surprisingly high percentage of cases, the guy was ALREADY ordered to leave the country but, hey, what's one more violation of the law? So, now you have the wailing and nashing of teeth about how it's all so "unfair" and he was 'racially profiled"...ad nauseum. If we could just streamline the removal/deportation process and put some teeth in our laws so that deported illegals STAY deported instead of walking back in through a revolving door to start the whole charade over again, we'd be well on our way to solving this mess. Posted by: Russ G on December 23, 2007 10:36 PM GET INVOLVED----we are winning!! Posted by: Bren on December 23, 2007 11:44 PM The whole global warming thing is another name for overpopulation. Who's putting out these excessive CO2 gases? snakes? bears? daisys? Posted by: kerthialfad on December 24, 2007 01:16 AM Kudos to Ira Mehlman. Our strategy IS to become the zeitgeist of our politics, economics and culture. With two great waves of immigration already in the history books, this country has done a brilliant job of absorbing and progressing onward, but we are not obligated to provide limitless immigration. Many of those who immigrated here are citizens now--not immigrants anymore--and as we at FAIR have seen, many of our own ranks are immigrants and descendants of immigrants who are defending the integrity of the land we love. Posted by: Concerned Citizen on December 24, 2007 11:19 AM IT WORKS! Take away the free government handouts, jobs, and all the other freebies illegals get, and the illegals will go home, or commit crimes to survive, in which case they`ll end up in jail, if an activist judge doesn`t let them off. The only answer the pro-illegal crowd will have is racism, it`s usually their only answer, or the economy will crash without illegals, which is also a bunch of nonsense. The sell-out politicians want you to believe it`s either massive round ups or amnesty is the only options, which is a bunch of lies, so they can try and force amnesty down our throats. It didn`t work in June, and it won`t work in the future. So pack up illegals and go home, and take your anchor babies with you. SECURE THE BORDER - ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT Posted by: Independent on December 24, 2007 01:09 PM Attrition through Enforcement is the best option we have right now for Illegal Immigration. Illegals have know need to come over here if they can't get jobs, right? Posted by: John on January 13, 2008 05:06 PM |