ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601100087
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN S. VOIT
NATIONAL Public Radio recently and alarmingly reported the concern of California and federal officials over that state's exploding prison population. Simultaneously amusing and troubling were the obvious pains taken by NPR to avoid stating the obvious: that much of the explosion in the inmate population of California, and other states, is due to the enormous increase in criminal aliens.
The immigration debate typically revolves around economic issues and jobs, or occasionally around cultural issues such as language. But rarely is a link forged between criminal justice and U.S. immigration policy. Yet events since the passage of the 1965 immigration act have increasingly forced policy-makers and commentators to admit the previously unmentionable: Changes may be necessary.
A true debate about immigration policy has been all but impossible because the 1965 immigration act, and its 1986 and 1990 amendments, has so radically altered the ethnic mix of the immigrant inflow into the United States.
According to the 1992 Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Europe and Canada provided 89 percent of our immigrants from 1820 to 1967. Then, an almost complete reversal: From 1968 to 1993, only about 7 percent of the immigrants entering this country came from Europe and Canada; the rest came from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. It therefore became inevitable that one would be accused of prejudice or racism when questioning the wisdom of immigration or INS policy even if one's concern was not with the ethnic mix per se. To broach the subject in any fashion other than vociferous cheerleading was considered taboo. But one can only ignore a foaming, steaming pot for so long before it begins to boil over.
A recent interview I held with Tom Metzger of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., revealed that 26 percent of the federal inmate population is composed of criminal aliens, both legal and illegal, and their proportion is growing. The impact they have can be both dramatic as well as subtle - even insignificant. For example, tacos are now regular fare, and soccer balls are included in prison recreational budgets along with the traditional softballs and basketballs. But if the thought of those prison-made tacos make you feel a little queasy, take a good whiff of the following statistics:
In 1980 federal and state prisons housed 9,000 criminal aliens. By 1993 they housed more than 53,000 - a whopping 500 percent increase! The average cost in federal prison is $21,352 per inmate per year.
Criminal-justice costs for criminal aliens in New York have exploded to $270 million per year.
The costs to Florida's judicial and correction system for criminal aliens were $73 million in 1993 alone.
Despite the many benefits and wonderful contributions the United States derives from the vast majority of its immigrants, the World Trade Center bombing, the CIA shooting, the Golden Venture smuggling ring and the growth of the Russian "mafia" are examples showing that, sadly, many immigrants are coming here to do harm. Without needed modifications and policy reform, the criminal-alien problem will only worsen.
We must repeal the 1965 Immigration and Naturalization Act and reinstate some form of a realistic national-origins system that takes into account common-sense notions about who can most easily assimilate. Immigrants who assimilate more easily will be more quickly able to support themselves and feel less alienated. They will therefore be less tempted to engage in criminal activity.
The CIA, FBI and INS must work more closely with the Russians, Israelis and American Jewish groups to clamp down on the Russian "mafia." The Russian mob often abuses the leniency in granting visas to those who claim Russian and Eastern European anti-Semitism. As it gets a foothold here, it is regarded as the most ruthless syndicate of organized criminals to date.
Some of the more heavily impacted cities, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, have declared themselves sanctuaries for illegal immigrants including criminal aliens. The federal government should then cut off federal funds to local governments that refuse to cooperate in enforcing INS laws.
The INS has only 6,000 detention beds for all aliens awaiting deportation. Add new beds by using one or more of the military bases currently being decommissioned.
The INS currently gives aliens 72 hours notice by mail that they should surrender for deportation. Is it any wonder that these notices have been nicknamed "run letters" by INS personnel? Take aliens into custody from the time they receive notice until the time they are deported.
Make it a matter of foreign policy to bring pressure to bear on any country that refuses to accept criminal aliens that have been deported from the United States. We should require this before these countries gain any cooperation from us in the foreign-relations arena.
All these suggestions and more could be implemented while actually raising the quota for skilled, legal immigrants. One does not have to be anti-immigration to support common-sense, needed changes.
John S. Voit of Roanoke is completing a master's program in criminal justice at Radford University.
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