Speech #960270668

The headline of the column is "Carter DoubleTalking on Problem of Aliens." and it goes back to April 1. 1979. Here is what that particular column said: As recently as August. 1977. President Carter promised to increase the INS Border Patrol staff by 2.000 positions as he introduced his administrations proposals for curbing illegal immigration. At that time. the force numbered only 2.300. And its outnumbered ranks were under constant criticism. Then a few months ago. Mike Egan. the associate United States attorney general who supervises INS. repeated the Carter administrations vow to strengthen the Border Patrol so that taxpayers would not have the keep footing the bill for millions of illegal aliens. It all sounded good. The administrations words bore the promise of action. Even INS Commissioner Leonel Castillo thought the pronouncements were for real. Castillo naively asked the Justice Departmenthis agencys parent organizationto increase the INS budget by $192 million during fiscal 1980 so that 3.978 new positions could be created. more than half of them in the enforcement field. Of the new posts. 1.204 would have been allocated to the Border Patrol. the elite unit that prowls the lonely backwaters of the 1.946mile U.S. boundary with Mexico in search of illegal aliens and contraband. Another 599 plainclothes investigators would have been hired to seek out illegals within the countrys interior. And still another 307 inspectors would have been recruited to man ports of entry. Now. Wiedrich pointed out that the problem was not just in having illegal aliens cross our borders. but. as he points out in his columns. that many of them were ripped off by marauders and by gangs. And then he pointed out in addition that there were employers in the United States who were taking advantage of the illegals. To make a long story short. the article continues: When his requests reached the Justice Department. artisans there chopped the 3.978 new positions down to 261. Of that figure. they allocated only 202 to the Border Patrol. a number representing the only increase proposed for law enforcement personnel. Then it went to OMB and it got chopped down even further until there was actually a negative impact. Then more recently I came across an article that appeared in the TRB column of the New Republic dated May 24. 1980. which stated as follows: Today unwillingness to face up to a disagreeable choice is producing enormous numbers of illegal aliens. communities of cowed workers taking U.S. jobs as unemployment grows. an exploding bilingual ethnic minority (soon expected to surpass blacks in actual numbers). political pressures. an almost silent press. and international tensions like the current Cuban refugee crisis. And. once more. contempt for the Constitution. The unfortunate stepchild U.S. border patrol is so starved for funds that on any given eighthour shift on the 2.000mile Mexican border only about 350 patrolmen are on duty. There has been no U.S. immigration commissioner now for eight months. Patrol funds are so low that in certain areas vehicles are unofficially rationed to two gallons of gas for an eighthour shift. Apprehension of illegals has dropped sharply. according to some observers.