Amnesty without Justice: Sacrificing American Children on the Pathway to Citizenship

By Ronald W. Mortensen on December 22, 2009
Amnesty: the act of an authority (as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals.


The advocates for the "comprehensive immigration reform" bill that was recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R. 4321) claim that it is not an amnesty bill because illegal aliens have to pay a $500 fine, which is roughly 5 percent of the cost of the services of a good "coyote" or alien-smuggler.

This means that for a $500 payment, illegal aliens will be granted total amnesty from the multiple felonies that they commit in order to get jobs – document fraud, perjury on I-9 forms and identity theft.

In addition, under Sec. 404 of H.R. 4321 (see text below), all information provided by illegal aliens on their applications for legal status will be treated by the federal government as secret. This will allow the illegal aliens to list the stolen Social Security numbers, stolen identities, and counterfeit "green cards" that they have been using to get jobs on their applications for legalization without fear of prosecution. This information cannot be released to any law enforcement officer or even to the victims of identity theft.

This is outrageous since, according to the Social Security Administration, 75 percent of illegal aliens use fraudulent Social Security cards. According to the Federal Trade Commission which tracks identity theft, one in every seven cases (15 percent) of identity theft committed in the United States in 2008 was employment-related. The simple fact is that identity theft and illegal immigration go hand-in-hand.

Children are prime targets of illegal aliens since no one checks their credit histories. An impartial study in Arizona found that as many as 1.1 million Arizona children had their identities stolen.

These are not victimless crimes. Children and other Americans suffer very real harm when illegal aliens use their Social Security numbers. They have their credit ruined, are saddled with arrest records, are denied government means-tested benefits, and may even suffer life-threatening consequences if the illegal aliens using their Social Security numbers corrupt their medical records.

However, under H.R. 4321, the millions of American men, women, and children who are victims of illegal-alien job-related felonies will be sacrificed so illegal aliens can get on the path to citizenship.

This bill even prohibits government employees who are processing the applications of illegal aliens applying for legal status from reporting any criminal activity found in the applications to law enforcement authorities. And it threatens government employees with a $10,000 fine if they violate this prohibition.

Thus, under this legislation, if a government employee tries to help an American citizen who is the victim of an illegal alien, the government employee will have to pay $10,000 and will risk losing her job. If she protects illegal aliens and ignores the American citizens who are the victims of illegal-alien crimes she will be rewarded and allowed to keep her job.

In addition to protecting criminal illegal aliens, the bill (Sec. 407; see below) also protects and rewards the dishonest employers of these criminals. This is simply a bribe to ensure that employers provide the employment verification information required by illegal aliens to get on the pathway to amnesty and citizenship.

In return for helping the illegal aliens who have been using the Social Security numbers of American children, employers are granted amnesty, pure and simple. They don't even have to pay a token fine. According to the bill, employers "shall not be subject to civil and criminal tax liability relating directly to the employment of such alien before receiving employment authorization under this subtitle" and they "shall not be subject to civil and criminal liability under section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) for employing such unauthorized aliens."

And what about those employers who obeyed the law and only hired legal workers and paid their taxes? They don’t even get a letter of thanks for playing by the rules – assuming they are still in business.

So in spite of the denials by the advocates for illegal aliens and their phony $500 fine, this bill, just like all previous "comprehensive immigration reform" bills, is indeed an amnesty bill for illegal aliens and their employers who have committed and facilitated felonies ranging from identity theft to tax evasion.

Where is the justice in this bill for the millions of American men, women, and children who are the victims of illegal alien identity theft?

Where is the justice for employers who made sure they hired only legal workers and who met their tax obligations?

Where is the justice for the millions of foreign nationals who have suffered because illegal aliens have lied and cheated in order to get to the head of the line?

The answer is that there is no justice in this amnesty bill.

******



SEC. 404. MANDATORY DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION.
(a) Mandatory Disclosure- The Secretary and the Secretary of State shall provide a duly recognized law enforcement entity that submits a written request with the information furnished pursuant to an application filed under this subtitle, and any other information derived from such furnished information, in connection with a criminal investigation or prosecution, or a national security investigation or prosecution, of an individual suspect or group of suspects.
(b) Limitations- Except as otherwise provided under this section, no Federal agency, or any officer, employee, or agent of such agency, may--
(1) use the information furnished by the applicant pursuant to an application for benefits under this subtitle for any purpose other than to make a determination on the application;
(2) make any publication through which the information furnished by any particular applicant can be identified; or
(3) permit anyone other than the sworn officers and employees of such agency to examine individual applications.
(c) Construction- Nothing under subsection (b) shall prevent an alien or an alien's attorney access to his or her application, case file, or information related to such application or adjudication thereof.
(d) Criminal Penalty- Any person who knowingly uses, publishes, or permits information to be examined in violation of this section shall be fined not more than $10,000.

SEC. 407. EMPLOYER PROTECTIONS.
(a) Immigration Status of Alien- Employers of aliens applying for conditional nonimmigrant or conditional nonimmigrant dependent classification or adjustment of status under section 401 or 402 shall not be subject to civil and criminal tax liability relating directly to the employment of such alien before receiving employment authorization under this subtitle.
(b) Provision of Employment Records- Employers that provide unauthorized aliens with copies of employment records or other evidence of employment pursuant to an application for conditional nonimmigrant or conditional nonimmigrant dependent classification or adjustment of status under section 401 or 402 or any other application or petition pursuant to any other immigration law, shall not be subject to civil and criminal liability under section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) for employing such unauthorized aliens.
(c) Applicability of Other Law- Nothing in this section may be used to shield an employer from liability under section 274B of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324b) or any other labor or employment law.




If you enjoyed this blog, please visit our HR 4321 overview page.