I’m not so sure this
bill will work; here’s why -
The bill which was
recently introduced into the U.S. Senate, the
Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of
2013,
requires the achievement and maintenance an effectiveness rate of 90 percent or
higher in all high risk border patrol sectors before the Registered
Provisional Immigrant (Amnesty provisions) application processes can even commence.
The
bill defines ‘‘effectiveness rate’’, in the case of a border patrol sector, as
the percentage calculated by dividing the number of apprehensions and turn backs in the sector during a fiscal
year by the total number of illegal entries in the sector during such fiscal
year.
The
question, however, must be asked, if illegal entries are made surreptitiously,
by evading DHS border security, then how is it remotely possible to know the
number of illegal entries made during any time period? As such, there is
absolutely no way to calculate “effectiveness rate”.
Additionally,
the commencement of the legalization (RPI ) process outlined in
the bill is also dependent upon notification that the Secretary of DHS has implemented a mandatory employment verification
system to be used by all employers to prevent unauthorized workers from
obtaining employment in the United States .
This system would need to be much more
technologically sophisticated than the E-Verify System currently being used by
DHS, as it would be required to allow any individual to view and monitor their
own record in the system, contain a photo tool which would be used by the
employer to verify an employee’s identity, and would need to include mechanisms
to measure employer compliance, system error rates, and any misuse of the
system. Considering the time it has taken for DHS to get the E-Verify system to
its current state, this appears to be yet another major stumbling block in the
path of immigration reform.
Finally, it is noted that DHS cannot start taking applications for RPI status until DHS
is using an electronic exit system at air and sea ports of entry that operates
by collecting machine readable
visa or passport information from air and vessel carriers.
For 17 years Congress has tried to force the establishment of an
exit-tracking program, first on the INS and now on DHS,
to no avail. This task has recently been shuffled off from USVISIT to CBP, but
there is no indication that this exit verification part of the USVISIT system
will be accomplished any time soon.
In the final analysis, one must ask, were these prerequisites, which
seem to be impossible to accomplish, put in place intentionally by those who
oppose immigration reform to doom this bill to failure?
A current DHS official (name, title,
agency and location withheld at the author’s request).
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Seems like Congress is sticking to their old motto - nothing is impossible unless of course you get stuck having to do it yourself!
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