Pelosi's '9-11 Bill' Leaves Gaping Loopholes in Nation's Security

Washington, D.C. (TLS). In the haphazard, ill-advised attempt to appear busy at the work of passing legislation for the good of all Americans, Nancy Pelosi's Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has rammed through bills in lightening speed in order to meet the self-imposed 'first 100-hours' deadline. This is not to mention that Pelosi's 'clock' is different from everyone else's, but that is a different story in itself. Pelosi prioritized the so-called '9-11 Commission Bill,' H.R. 1, in order to give Americans the impression that her comrades implemented all the provisions recommended by the 9/11 Commission.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

As you will see in the article reprinted below by the Counterterrorism taskforce, Pelosi's bill does nothing to address one of our nation's most glaring loopholes--the immigration problem. Counterterrorism authority Michael Cutler analyzes the bill and finds it woefully inadequate.

New "9-11 Commission" Bill Does Not Seal Immigration Loopholes
By Michael Cutler

I did a cursory review of H.R. 1, the House bill that purportedly addresses the areas of concern raised by the 9-11 Commission, and I found no reference to any enhanced effort to deal with immigration benefit fraud, or to otherwise even mention any effort to improve security within the immigration system. You can read material relating to this legislation here.

I would urge that you consider the findings of the 9-11 Commission on how the terrorists who attacked our nation gamed the immigration system to enter the United States and to embed themselves within our country. I would also ask you to consider this 2005 report on the immigration fraud perpetrated by scores of foreign-born terrorists who operated in the U.S. False identities are to criminals and terrorists what changes in coloration are to chameleons. False names enable the bad guys to conceal their true identities, criminal histories and intentions. On September 11, 2001 our immigration system became the unwitting accomplice of the terrorists. The failure of the House bill to address the lack of integrity of the immigration system as well as the statements made by many of the politicians from both sides of the aisle and in both houses of Congress has made it clear that for many of our "leaders" the desire for cheap labor and new voters trumps national security and the safety of our citizens.

A sword of Damocles hangs over our nation, wielded by the terrorists, drug traffickers, gang members and assorted criminals who exploit the vulnerabilities of the immigration system to enter the United States. They would then seek to find and exploit additional vulnerabilities in the immigration system and other bureaucracies to be found in the United States to embed themselves in our country and then carry out their goals, to the extreme detriment of our citizens. For members of Congress and the administration to claim to be following the advice of the 9-11 Commission and then carefully pick and chose those recommendations that they like and thereby simply providing an illusion of attempting to protect our citizens and our nation is simply not acceptable.

The truth is that the House bill does not address the need to restore meaningful integrity to the immigration system and also secure our nation's borders. The Visa Waiver Program continues on and the President has recently called for the expansion of this program that imperils our nation's security. The proposed legislation does not address this loophole that makes it far easier for criminals and terrorists to enter the United States. While American citizens are required to remove their shoes before boarding airliners because Richard Reid, the notorious "Shoe Bomber" secreted explosives in his shoes. Meanwhile, what is ignored is that as a British citizen, Reid was able to board that airliner he intended to destroy in midair with his bombs, without first applying for and receiving a visa, because of the Visa Waiver Program. We are highly restricted in being able to bring any fluids on board airliners because a number of terrorists had planned to bring quantities of liquids on board airliners that are harmless by themselves, but become explosives when mixed together with other fluids. This ingenious scheme involving binary explosives was put together by more citizens of Great Britain. They too, could have boarded airliners without first obtaining visas.

Visas also help beleaguered inspectors at ports of entry in the United States better screen foreign visitors seeking entry into the United States. The inspector is supposed to conduct an inspection of an arriving alien in about one minute and decide on the admissibility of that alien. The visa process, if done properly, can help make this process more effective. The visa application contains about 40 questions that can provide invaluable information to law enforcement and intelligence officials should that alien ultimately become the focus of an investigation. If an alien lies on an application for a visa, that lie can result in prosecution for visa fraud. Such fraud is often easier to prove than it is to prove an alien is a terrorist. In fact, terrorist suspects are often charged with visa fraud. If it can be proven that an alien committed visa fraud in conjunction with drug trafficking, the penalty for such fraud increases to a maximum of 20 years in federal custody. The penalty further increases to a maximum of 25 years of incarceration should the alien be found to have committed visa fraud in conjunction with terrorism.

However, under the Visa Waiver Program, none of these potential benefits can be brought to bear. I have been told that this is the case because the travel, hospitality and airline industries have powerful lobbyists and that they are concerned that the visa requirement would discourage aliens from visiting our country, thereby cutting into their profits. In my judgement, this is a foolish and flawed concern. First of all, in the days, weeks and months after the attacks of September 11,2001, many airlines found a huge drop in the number of passengers buying tickets. Hotels in New York had a significant drop in occupancy rates and the world economy reverberated for years in the aftermath of the attacks. Visas can be issued that are valid for up to 10 years so that well-established travelers can travel as frequently as they desire and apply for a visa once every ten years. Generally, motorists in the United States and in other countries as well, need to spend a day at the dreaded DMV to renew driver's licenses. Yet nobody would refer to that process as unreasonable. Before the attacks of 9-11 we used to be able to arrive at an airport 30 minutes before flight time to take a trip. Today we need to get to the airport at least 2 hours before flight time. If you take a couple of trips a year, you wind up spending more time at airports to comply with the ever more intrusive security requirements than an alien seeking a visa would have to spend at an American embassy or consulate. Yet our government refuses to require visas from the citizens of 27 countries that currently participate in the dangerous Visa Waiver Program. Incidentally, the e-passports that are finally being used are not a substitute for the visa requirement anymore than airbags do not obviate the need to wear seatbelts.

The report that Senators Collins and Grassley recently requested that indicates that USCIS lost some 111,000 immigration files and subsequently adjudicated an estimated 30,000 applications for United States citizenship should provide more than ample evidence that there is no integrity to the immigration system. Over the last couple of years a number of spy rings were discovered and dismantled. In many of these cases the spies were naturalized United States citizens. Perhaps a better screening effort would have uncovered the true nature of these individuals so that they would have not been granted United States citizenship. This is only conjecture, but it is important to understand that the conferring of resident alien status and especially United States citizenship upon aliens represents handing the "Keys to the kingdom" to these people. That is why this process is so important.

Today, the emphasis is on clearing the backlogs. In that classic comedy scene in which Lucille Ball, in an episode of "I Love Lucy" got a job at a candy factory and, accompanied by her friend Ethel, attempted to wrap candy headed their way on a conveyor belt. At first the job went well. Then the belt started to pick up speed and more and more candy hurtled at them. Ultimately, unable to wrap the candy, they tried eating them, they tried stuffing them down their dresses, but all to no avail! The audience howled with laughter! It was indeed a funny sight, but the situation at USCIS in which the applications are thrust upon the beleaguered adjudicators at USCIS is not the least bit funny. The adjudicators cannot eat the applications nor can they stuff them down their clothes. In order to get good evaluations, they need to move these applications as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do this is to approve them!

Needless to say, this means that fraud-laden applications are often not detected and aliens receive a wide variety of benefits including United States citizenship to which they would not be entitled if the relevant facts were known. As more aliens get away with committing fraud, the 'word' spreads through the communities and more aliens are emboldened to commit fraud, further eroding any integrity that might have still remained in the process. When an application is denied, the alien is virtually assured that no special agent will be looking for him to seek his removal from the United States.

As I said in the beginning of this e-mail, the entire immigration system lacks integrity. The 9-11 Commission recognized that this lack of integrity aided the terrorists who attacked our nation and slaughtered so many innocent people. Many more people, mostly first responders, are ill, sickened by their exposure to toxins at "Ground Zero." Their lives are being cut short because of the attacks. Yet the 'sacred cow' of immigration is being ignored by all too many politicians.