DAN STEIN // STEIN REPORT 2000-2008® | Federation for American Immigration Reform

December 31, 2002

ARE CLONES CITIZENS?

At yesterday’s State Department press briefing spokesman Philip Reeker fielded questions about the ‘cloned’ baby being brought to the U.S. Since the baby is the clone of a U.S. citizen, reporters wondered if the child was considered a U.S. citizen. “In the hypothetical situation of a cloned baby, this would be a new situation and therefore, at this time, we would be unable to determine how US laws regarding nationality would apply to this child,” Reeker said.

STEVE BRILL: TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT DOCUMENT SECURITY

Steve Brill, a journalist and commentator, says the U.S. should get serious about security for its identity documents. “Fifteen months after September 11, the idea that some people are less of a threat than others-and that they should be able to carry a credible card that verifies that-should not be kept under wraps for fear of offending those who oppose a government ID card,” he says. Brill says the in the absence of strong governmental moves to secure driver’s licenses and other identity documents, a private firm should start a voluntary national ID card, linked to government databases, that would allow people to at least secure their own identities.

REMITTANCES UP FOR 2002

“Money transfers from Mexican immigrants such as Valenzuela skyrocketed to a record $10 billion in 2002, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C. That amount is up $800 million from last year,” the San Bernadino County Sun reports. “Experts and workers say cross-border transfers increased this year because the Mexican economy is in even worse shape than the U.S. economy, leaving many Mexican families desperate. . . . The rise in remittances is being driven by a 60 percent increase in the U.S. Latino population during the 1990s and the declining cost of wire transfers, partly caused by increased competition among banks and transfer services such as Western Union.”

SOME ARRESTED DURING REGISTRATION STILL DETAINED

“The number of Bay Area immigrants detained after complying with new INS registration rules primarily designed for those from Muslim or Arab countries has grown to more than two dozen,” the San Jose Mercury News reports. “Under INS rules, men and boys older than 16 who are in the United States on temporary visas are required to register if they are from one of five countries: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan or Libya. People from an additional 13 countries -- including Afghanistan -- are required to register by Jan. 10. Those from Pakistan or Saudi Arabia must register from Jan. 13 through Feb. 21.”

Related: Pakistani news coverage of reaction to the detentions (Daily Times)

IG REPORT FAULTS INS FOR PAKISTANI SAILORS’ RELEASE

“Four Pakistani sailors were mistakenly allowed into the United States by immigration officials who were not told by their bosses about new restrictions on foreign crewmen, a report on the incident has found,” reports the AP. “The Justice Department inspector general blamed the Immigration and Naturalization Service's poor internal communications for the error. At the time [of the release], the INS was already being criticized by Congress and administration officials for sending student visa approval forms to a Florida flight school for two of the men who mounted the Sept. 11 hijackings, six months earlier.”

OFFICIALS FEAR NEW YEAR’S TERROR ATTACK; MANHUNT ON FOR ILLEGAL CROSSERS

“Five foreign nationals who are being sought by the FBI for questioning, and who may have entered the United States illegally from Canada, are connected to a passport smuggling operation with possible ties to terrorists, U.S. and Canadian officials said yesterday,” the Washington Post reports. Other news sources suggest federal and state officials, especially in New York, are engaged in a furious search for the men in case they are planning a terrorist attack. “One source familiar with the ongoing investigation said the five men were part of a group of 19 individuals who had sought fake documents in order to enter the United States.”

According to Canada’s National Post one woman in British Columbia spotted two of the five men on a ferry this month. “Men wanted by the FBI ‘in the broader context of 9/11 and the New Year’ were reportedly aboard a B.C. ferry carrying a large, heavy box and taking photographs of the docks earlier this month,” the paper reports.

The Toronto Sun says the five men arrived in Canada via plane and claimed refugee status, as did convicted terrorist Ahmed Ressam, who also crossed the Canadian border. “The FBI has issued alerts to agents along the northern border, asking them to check video, licence plate and facial recognition databases for clues in locating the men.”

“As long as we continue to have a situation that the [immigration] numbers we allow in are so enormous that the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) is completely overwhelmed ... it seems very likely that we will continue to be at very significant risk for more terrorist attacks," said CIS researcher Steven Camarota.

National Post columnist Paul Kedrosky says that the incident should be a wake up call for Canadians who are complacent about easy access to the U.S. “Canadians are fond of saying that it takes two to do the border tango. After all, while these people may have come from Canada, it was the United States that let them into their country. This is a slippery and dangerous argument, and it is surprisingly common. . . . The trouble with this border tango argument is that it allows Canadians to be typically smug. They can have their lax immigration policies that allow anyone to become a refugee, and they can still pretend that there are no special obligations that come from having such a long, undefended (and often unmarked) border with the largest economic and military power in the world. That is childish, naive and dangerous.”