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Article published Dec 3, 2007 Local Immigration Service certified officers would help
No doubt many illegal (unlawful) immigrants are innocent, hard-working individuals. However, they should “get legal.” They should either get a workers permit green card indicating they are in the United States legally, seek U.S. citizenship, or return to their home country.
We have a major problem resulting from our lack of enforcemnt of our federal citizenship laws. This lack of enforcement of exisitng laws leaves the door standing wide open for terrorists, and equally important many who would undermine our way of life - the things we believe are worth defending.
Recently, nearly two dozen illegal immigrants were arrested for wearing fake security badges to work in critical areas of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Illinois. The 23 illegal workers were employed by Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc., whose corporate secretary and office manager were also arrested after an eight-month investigation involving federal, state and Chicago authorities.
The company contracted work for carriers including United Airlines, KLM and Quantas.
Much of the investigation centered on the airport security badges issued by the Department of Aviation. Agents found that 110 of the 134 badges issued to Ideal Staffing workers did not match the individuals who carried them.
Two individuals were each charged with one federal count of harboring illegal immigrants for gain and one federal count of misuse of Social Security numbers. More than 100 arrest warramts were issued during the investigation.
One affadavit from a temporary worker who cooperated with authorities said they were told to look through a box containing about 20 airport security badges and to pick one with a picture that resembled his own face.
The workers arrested included 21 from Mexico and two from Guatemala. They face state criminal charges and deportation. Applications for the 110 bogus badges listed Social Security numbers that either did not exist or belonged to other individuals some of whom were dead.
Such lack of enforcement leaves the Social Security program at further risk, indicating it would be quite possible for illegal aliens able to get benefits to which they are not entitled.
We think it would be a good move for Sheriff Jim Berrong to apply for a grant to train a local team of officers to act as agents of the Immigration Service along with their regular duties. That would permit trained and federally certified officers to hold illegal aliens arrested on law violations for the Immigration Service and for deportation. That is something local officers cannot do otherwise.
There is one major drawback to that idea.
Until the pay for county deputies is brought up to a level comparable to that of officers in the Alcoa and Maryville police departments, such qualified deputies would be hired away as fast as they were trained. That does not necessarily mean they would be hired by Maryville or Alcoa, but other area counties and cities would grab them up as soon as they were trained and certified as agents of the Immigration Service.
If there is any difference in the risk faced by members of the local law enforcement agencies, no doubt county deputies face greater risks because of the extensive rural areas which they cover. These often dark areas provide much greater cover for those who would ignore our laws.
We are getting a bargain in service from all the local law enforcement agencies. The pay of our county deputies should be brought up to the level of the two cities. And we think a team of local officers certified to act for the Immigration Service would be of major benefit to local law enforcement efforts.