So Much for the 9/11 Commission Report’s.

Michael Cutler writes:

Once again we see politicians make artful use of language to create an illusion that the program they are desperate to implement would have real integrity. An example of this is former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Senator John McCain making a point to refer to the fact that the identity documents issued by USCIS to these millions of undocumented aliens, whose true identities are unknown and unknowable, would be “Tamper-Proof.” Incredibly they link this to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and claim that this would meet the requirements of the 9/11 Commissions findings and recommendations. All I can say is that I was born on a Wednesday, but not last Wednesday!

“… The bigger issue, however, is not whether the documents issued could be altered, but rather that there would be no reliable way to know what information to put on those cards in the first place! Simply conducting a “Security Check” on the names that the aliens write on their applications is nearly worthless. Running a fictitious name through a computer database would yield no benefit for national security inasmuch as terrorists and criminals who were careful enough to avoid having any scrapes with law enforcement authorities in our country would not have their fingerprints in our databases. If they then provided a false name on their applications, they would be given a “clean bill of health” and issued one of these “tamper-proof” identity documents that they could then use as breeder documents to obtain an entire suite of official identity documents in a false name. This would include driver’s licenses, Social Security Cards, library cards, credit cards and bank accounts. And off we go to another 9/11!

If you think I am wrong, consider that when we make purchases at a department store, even if we are using our own credit cards, we are often required to show the store clerk a driver’s license to assure that clerk that we are who we claim to be. This is an even more important issue when we pay by personal check. Yet, USCIS would, under the provisions of a Guest Worker Amnesty Program, provide millions of illegal aliens, who have violated our nation’s borders and laws from the first day that they set foot on our nation’s soil, with official identity documents that would enable terrorists to embed themselves in communities around our country as they await instructions to launch the next terrorist attack against our nation.
…
John McCain said, “We all know this issue can be caught up in extracurricular politics unless we move forward as quickly as possible.”

This is how con artists operate. I find it reprehensible that there are members of both houses of Congress and candidates for the highest elected office of the United States who would act as mere charlatans! Any politician who could conduct himself in that fashion has made it clear that he is not worthy of our trust and should have his political head handed to him.

I commend Congressman Pence’s (R-IN) leadership evidenced in his statement:

“The president’s willingness to accept the granting of amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants has sent a harmful message to Republican voters around the country. But I also believe that’ll sort itself out in the primaries of 2008. At the end of the day, this is an issue where I find myself focusing less on politics than what policy I think is in the best interests of the American people. There are many reasons why I oppose this ill-conceived and extremely dangerous bill. First and foremost is the continuing threat of terrorism and the way that terrorists would benefit by this piece of trash masquerading as legislation. The title of this bill should be the “Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007.”

Kris W. Kobac writes today in the Washington Times:

The ability of terrorists to obtain legal status by fraudulently applying for amnesty is also well established.
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A 2005 study by Janice Kephart, counsel to the September 11 commission, found that 59 out of 94 foreign-born terrorists (about two in three) successfully committed immigration fraud to acquire or adjust legal status. So, we know that terrorists will seek amnesty under the Senate bill. Unfortunately, the legislation creates two huge doorways for them to get it.

First, the bill limits the government’s ability to stop a terrorist operating under his real name, because it allows the government only one business day to do a “background check.” If the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) adjudicator can’t find any terrorist connection in time, the alien receives a probationary “Z” visa, allowing him to work and roam the country at will.

This might work if the government had a single, readily searchable database of all the world’s terrorists. But we don’t. Much information exists only on paper, while foreign governments are the source for other data. Twenty-four hours simply isn’t enough time. It’s a terrorist fast track [emphasis added mine].

Moreover, as a practical matter, the adjudicators wouldn’t even have 24 hours. As the Government Accountability Office reported in 2006, USCIS is already stretched to the breaking point, receiving approximately 6 million applications for immigration benefits (asylum, green cards, etc.) annually. As a result, the GAO concluded, failure to detect fraud is already “an ongoing and serious problem.” It’s so bad that an informal “six-minute rule” is in place — spend no more than six minutes looking at any application.

Assuming (conservatively) that 12 million illegal aliens apply for the amnesty within the year allowed, it would triple the annual workload, from 6 million applications to 18 million. Consequently, applications for the amnesty would receive only a few minutes of scrutiny. Terrorist applications would sail through.

The second doorway is just as troubling. The Senate bill also fails to stop terrorists who invent an entirely “clean” identity. Because the bill contains no requirement that the alien produce a secure foreign passport proving that he is who he says he is, terrorists will easily game the system.

A terrorist could walk into a USCIS office and offer a completely fictitious name — one without any negative information associated with it. In other words, a terrorist could declare that his name is “Rumpelstiltskin,” produce two easily forged scraps of paper indicating that he was in the country before Jan. 1, 2007, and walk out with a probationary Z visa — complete with a government-issued ID card backing up his false identity.

Don’t expect proponents of the bill to fix that loophole. The majority of the 12-20 million illegal aliens do not possess a passport. Requiring them to present one would disqualify too many aliens for the pro-amnesty crowd Consequently, dozens of terrorists will receive amnesty if the bill becomes law.