Deporting Fugitives
FBI Database Identifying Illegal Aliens
By Daniel Muniz

The FBI National Crime Information Center database is repository of criminal records amassed from around the country. It is especially useful to local law enforcement because they can run a person’s name through it to see if there are any outstanding warrants. For instance, during a routine traffic stop, a quick check in the FBI database can identify someone with a warrant which can lead to their immediate arrest. As a result, it is now becoming much more difficult for criminals to brazenly roam our streets because of this comprehensive database.

Incidentally, federal lawmakers have tried to add illegal aliens to the FBI database but to no avail because of our schizophrenic immigration policy that has prevented enforcement of existing laws.

However, after the 9-11 attacks, the Department of Justice rescinded previous opinions that discouraged local law enforcement from enforcing immigration laws and issued a new opinion that gave local police departments’ broader authority in dealing with illegal immigrants. Additionally, in 2002 the federal government began adding immigration warrants to this national database.

Now when local police pull someone over for a traffic stop, they can identify anyone who has an outstanding deportation order and arrest them which will subsequently lead to their deportation.

As a result, the FBI database is becoming an invaluable tool in cracking down on fugitive aliens especially as more records are being added to the system. As a result, it is becoming far more difficult for illegal aliens who have been ordered to leave the country to brazenly roam our streets with impunity.

Out of approximately 12 million illegal immigrants, there are around 600,000 of them who already have outstanding deportation orders although not all of them are in the FBI database. But that is quickly changing as more of them are being added to the system which is slowly becoming a healthy first step in getting serious with illegal immigration. As a country, we still have a long way to go but these new measures are long overdue.

Of course not everybody agrees with these developments.

Advocates for illegal aliens are outraged because they make no distinction between the people who are following the law and the ones who are openly flouting it. The inclusion of illegal aliens with deportation orders into the FBI database now means that local law enforcement agencies from anywhere in the country now have the capability to identify them. For the two past decades, these advocates have enjoyed the breakdown of our immigration policies and they are now horrified that this country is finally enforcing the laws on the books.

In addition, two police associations, numerous local law enforcement agencies, and quite a number of municipalities oppose acting on these warrants. They claim that such enforcement of existing laws will alienate communities of illegal aliens and create a climate of fear and suspicion. They insist that a level of trust that they are have been establishing with these communities is being compromised.

These are bogus arguments.

First of all, these so-called segments of the population are already lawbreakers. They are here in this country illegally and they have already been ordered to leave. They should indeed be living in a climate of fear because they should not even be in this country in the first place especially since they have been asked by our government to leave yet they blatantly refuse to go home on their own accord.

If they mistrust our local law enforcement agencies for upholding the law, then so be it because these police officers are doing their job. And it wouldn’t be any different about what happens in their country when their laws are broken.

It is easy to comprehend the philosophy of the illegal immigration advocates because they want an open border policy so that anyone can come here. Well, there are four billion people who live in countries that are economically worse off than Mexico so there is no way the United States can handle such an influx of people. Our local, state, and federal budgets are already strained from dealing with the 12 million illegal aliens who are already here. But as a point of view and a political philosophy, I can at least understand it and respect it even though I disagree with it.

But what I really have an issue with are the police departments and governmental entities that refuse to enforce the existing laws particularly now that the tools are becoming available to identify the illegal immigrants who already have orders to leave the country. That is a dereliction of duty and represents a breakdown of law and order. It is this kind of shameful abandonment that leads to anarchy.

For example, some of the plotters who wanted to kill U.S. servicemen at Fort Dix in New Jersey were illegal aliens who had been arrested numerous times for all kinds of traffic and drug violations but they were never prosecuted because of their immigration status. Any citizen or legal resident would have been raked over the coals for the same crimes.

Overall, it is refreshing to see that as a country, we are taking the first step in cracking down on illegal immigration even though it is long overdue. However, it is time for local police departments to step up to the plate and begin to enforce the laws that are already on the books.

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