- A Georgia congressman says U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) needs help in capturing thousands of convicted aliens
now loose on the streets of America and wants Congress to pass pending
bipartisan legislation to address "America's criminal alien crisis."
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- Rep. Charlie Norwood said 80,000 illegal aliens who served
time in prison and were released, including convicted murderers, rapists,
drug dealers and child molesters, have eluded capture despite the creation
of a new agency to hunt them down and the infusion of millions of dollars
to get the job done.
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- "Sending 2,000 federal agents into the field to
find 80,000 criminal aliens is like trying to stop a tidal wave with hand
towels ? it's a farce, it doesn't work, and the outmanned folks at ICE
? as the numbers now show us ? are simply drowning," said the Georgia
Republican.
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- "These latest numbers are a wake-up call for Congress
to stop making political hay and start getting serious about helping ICE
find, arrest and deport the 80,000 criminal aliens our broken immigration
system has released back into our streets," he said.
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- According to ICE and its predecessor agency, the Immigration
and Naturalization Service, more than 375,000 known illegal aliens have
been ordered deported, but have disappeared before immigration hearings.
About 80,000 of those aliens, referred to by ICE as "absconders,"
already had been convicted and served prison time for felonies. Mr.
Norwood said ICE agents,according to a report last week, have arrested
150 criminal aliens, which he said "translates into a shocking .002
percent success rate for ICE in its effort to remove these individuals
from America's streets and neighborhoods."
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- The five-term congressman introduced the Clear Law Enforcement
for Alien Removal Act on July 9 that would, among other things, give 600,000
state and local police officers authority to enforce immigration laws.
The pending bill, with 115 co-sponsors of both parties, also would grant
state and local police agencies access to the National Crime Information
Center (NCIC) database for immigration-status information.
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- In addition to its 115 bipartisan congressional co-sponsors,
Mr. Norwood said the pending bill also has been endorsed by 20 law-enforcement
organizations nationwide, including the National Sheriffs' Association,
Law Enforcement Alliance of America, Southern States Police Benevolent
Association, Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police and Connecticut Association
of Women's Police.
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- Last month, several pro-immigration and civil rights
groups filed a class-action lawsuit to stop the government from entering
immigration information into NCIC, saying the data was being misused in
the wake of the September 11 attacks.
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- Filed in U.S. District Court in New York, the suit charges
that the Justice Department unlawfully entered immigration information
into NCIC, subjecting immigrants to the risk of unlawful arrest by state
and local police. The suit also questioned the authority of Attorney General
John Ashcroft to enlist state and local police in the enforcement of federal
immigration laws.
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- The suit was filed by La Raza, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, Latin American Workers Project, New York Immigration Coalition
and the Union of Needletrades and Industrial and Textile Employees.
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- The NCIC database, which includes information on felons,
fugitives and others being sought by federal law enforcement, was expanded
after the September 11 attacks to include immigrant criminals who failed
to show up for their deportation hearings.
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- It includes the names of thousands of immigrants who
registered with the government under the "special registration"
program, which requires that foreign visitors from designated countries
register when they enter the United States. NCIC is used by 80,000 law-enforcement
agencies across the country.
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- http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040210-105656-1568r.htm
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