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July 23, 2004
HOUSE COMMITTEE REJECTS MEXICAN ID CARD FOR BANKING Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) successfully amended the Transportation, Treasury appropriation bill with language effectively barring banks and financial institutions from accepting consular identification documents from illegal aliens opening bank accounts in an appropriations subcommittee meeting last Thursday. Yesterday that amendment was sustained in the full committee by a vote of 26-25, despite major arm twisting by the Bush Administration to remove the provision. Treasury Secretary Snow wrote Appropriations Committee Chair, Rep. Bill Young, “The Administration believes as a general matter that Americans are better protected if consumers of all nationalities are invited into the financial mainstream.” 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT INDICTS SLOPPY SECURITY SCREENING AND MONITORING OF VISITORS “At times verging on a how-to guide for sneaking across international borders, the 9/11 commission's report describes the ease with which terrorists obtained faked and doctored passports,” writes the International Herald Tribune. "Lax passport issuance standards are among the vulnerabilities exploited by terrorists, possibly including two of the 9/11 hijackers," the report states, urging tighter screening of travel documentation at airports. The paper notes that of the two passports belonging to the hijackers that were recovered, both showed signs of doctoring. Furthermore, the report said that all the records they could review showed that despite having incomplete applications, the hijackers were granted tourist visas. Rep. Tom Tancredo, Chair of the House Immigration Reform Caucus, issued a press release that welcomed the report, noting "Many of the border security and immigration enforcement recommendations made in the report are helpful. However some of these, particularly with regard to border enforcement, dealing with visa overstays, and cooperation between state, local, and federal authorities on information sharing are already enshrined in law. Many of them have been on the books for decades. The problem is not -- nor has it ever been -- a lack of legal authority. The problem, as I have been saying for some time, is that our government simply cannot muster the political will to simply demand enforcement." DHS WANTS STATES TO TIGHTEN DRIVER’S LICENCING At the National Conference of State Legislatures in Salt Lake City, Asa Hutchinson, U.S. undersecretary for border and transportation security, noted that drivers' licenses are in states' hands for now, but if the security risk becomes too great in the future, there could be more federal intervention. He noted that fingerprinting people when they get their drivers' licenses is a sure way to verify a person's identity, and he suggested that the expiration of drivers' licenses should be tied to visa expiration. He noted that 40 percent of the nation's estimated 8 million undocumented residents are visitors who overstayed their visas. FISTICUFFS ERUPT AT FORUM ON IMMIGRATION IN DENVER A forum touting the benefits of immigration and encouraging amnesty for illegal aliens organized by First Data Corp., the parent of Western Union, which handles large amounts of remittances abroad by immigrant workers, became controversial when numerous persons in the audience challenged the make-up of the panel. Remarks were made that the organizer had refused to include any balance in the make up of the panel. These challenges from the audience were met with catcalls and, according to the Denver Post, one Hispanic activist “…struck a heckler on the head.” The Post quotes participant Michael McGarry, a member of the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, which supports a crackdown on illegal immigration, "If they really wanted an open dialogue on immigration, they wouldn't have set up a panel with such a glaring exclusion of people who hold opinions they don't like." JOBS GOING TO IMMIGRANTS HARM NATIVE BORN WORKERS A commentary by Bob Herbert in the New York Times describes “A startling new study [that] shows that all of the growth in the employed population in the United States over the past few years can be attributed to recently arrived immigrants.” The study by noted researcher Andrew Sum for the Center for Labor Market Studies showed that despite the recovery from the recession of 2001, American families are still struggling with serious issues of joblessness and underemployment. Sum is quoted as commenting that, "We need a serious, honest debate about where we are today with regard to labor markets." In sum, Sum finds that at present, "there is something wrong." TAKING TO TASK A CONGRESSMAN WEARING BLINDERS A commentary by Dr. Stephen Steinlight in FrontPageMagazine.com describes his effort to discuss with his representative in Congress U.S. immigration policy on admitting persons with connections to Islamic fundamentalism. He writes, “ Amazingly, he [Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY)] had not heard that some Muslims in Brooklyn along Atlantic Avenue and some others in Queens had celebrated in the streets when the World Trade Center was destroyed by the genocide bombers. Nor did he know they were filmed in the act by local TV crews – whose tapes were not replayed often and then, suspiciously enough, disappeared completely from the airwaves as the news reports got worse and worse. Even when I told him about it he denied it. Facts can be such horrid things." GILBERT ARIZONA COUNCIL REJECTS MEXICAN ID CARDS A report in The Arizona Republic says that city council members refused to accept the Mexican matricula consular ID cards for official purposes expressing concerns that allowing the cards' use in town validated unlawful immigration. Councilman Les Presmyk commented, "We shouldn't be in a position of codifying what basically is an illegal act.” The paper notes that Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler and Mesa accept the cards. |