RUTHFULLY YOURS

As I read the USA Today March 21, 2015 news report, “Police departments hiring immigrants as officers” I realized that my late father was, once again, correct. He used to say, “Nothing is so good it could not be better or so bad it could not get worse.” Hard as it is to imagine, things have gotten worse — much, much worse.

Here is an excerpt from the USA Today article:

At a time when 25,000 non-U.S. citizens are serving in the U.S. military, some feel it’s time for more police and sheriff departments to do the same. That’s why the Nashville Police Department is joining other departments to push the state legislature to change a law that bars non-citizens from becoming law enforcement officers.

Department spokesman Don Aaron said they want immigrants who have been honorably discharged from the military to be eligible for service.

“Persons who have given of themselves in the service to this country potentially have much to offer Tennesseans,” he said. “We feel that … would benefit both the country and this city.”

Current rules vary across departments.

Some, like the Chicago and Hawaii police departments, allow any immigrant with a work authorization from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to become an officer. That means people in the country on temporary visas or are applying for green cards can join.

Colorado State Patrol Sgt. Justin Mullins said the department usually struggles to fill trooper positions in less populous corners of the state, including patrol sectors high up in the mountains. He said immigrants from Canada, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Central America who are willing to live in those remote places have helped the agency fill those vacancies.

“People that want to live there and build a family there and work there is a little more difficult to find,” Mullins said. “People moving from out of state, or out of the country, if they’re willing to work in these areas, then that’s great for us.”

Other agencies, like the Cincinnati Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, require that officers at least have a pending citizenship application on file with the federal government. And others, like the Burlington, Vt., and Boulder, Colo., police departments, require that officers be legal permanent residents, or green-card holders.

The notion that it is acceptable to hire non-citizens, and in some jurisdictions, aliens who aren’t even lawful immigrants as police officers, defies logic and reasonableness. However, this lunacy should not really come as a surprise. After all, the presumptive next Attorney General has some distressing ideas about immigration that came to light during her confirmation hearing as noted in a Yahoo/AP news report, “Attorney General nominee defends Obama immigration changes,”

I included an excerpt of that report in my February 2, 2015 article for FrontPage Magazine, “Loretta Lynch: Same as the Old Boss – The Attorney General nominee’s disturbing views on U.S. immigration law.”

Here is the quote from the Yahoo/AP report:

Lynch said she had no involvement in drafting the measures but called them “a reasonable way to marshal limited resources to deal with the problem” of illegal immigration. She said the Homeland Security Department was focusing on removals of “the most dangerous of the undocumented immigrants among us.”

Pressed by Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a leading immigration hard-liner, she said citizenship was not a right for people in the country illegally but rather a privilege that must be earned. However, when Sessions asked whether individuals in the country legally or those who are here unlawfully have more of a right to a job, Lynch replied, “The right and the obligation to work is one that’s shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here.”

Sessions quickly issued a news release to highlight that response. Under later questioning by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, Lynch clarified it, stating there is no right to work for an immigrant who has no lawful status.

Ms Lynch’s statement that everyone, irrespective of how they came to the United States, has an obligation to work is certainly unsettling, to say the least, especially since she will, if confirmed as Attorney General, set the standards for criminal prosecutions of federal crimes across the United States — including crimes that involve violations of our nation’s immigration laws.

Of course Ms. Lynch made a half-hearted attempt to make it seem as though, in her judgement, U.S. citizenship was a privilege, but, with the incredible hiring practices of a number of police departments around the United States, this distinction about U.S. citizenship no longer matters for law enforcement officers in the United States.

This administration and so-called “Sanctuary Cities” and “Sanctuary States” have made a mockery of some of our nation’s most important and, you would think, uncontroversial laws — our immigration laws that were enacted to protect innocent lives and the jobs of American workers.

Yet you would never know it to listen to the advocates for Comprehensive Immigration Reform and the mayors and governors who openly shield illegal aliens from detection, thereby undermining national security and public safety.

These politicians refuse to consider how their actions run in direct opposition to the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, the subject of my March 11, 2015 article for FrontPage Magazine “Ignoring the 9/11 Commission’s Warnings — Even as terrorists expand operations in Europe.”

Additionally, consider that last year the DHS released more than 30,000 criminal aliens last year and then had the chutzpah to make a big deal about arresting 2,059 criminal aliens under the aegis of “Operation Cross Check” in a press release ICE issued on March 9, 2015. This press release served as the predication for my March 18, 2015 FrontPage Magazine article, “The Problem at Immigration and Customs Enforcement – A federal agency takes a step forward — and ten steps back.”

On March 19, 2015 I was interviewed by J.D. Hayworth on Newsmax-TV’s program, “America’s Forum” about this deplorable practice of releasing criminal aliens whose very presence in the United States represents a violation of law and aliens who have committed violent crimes, including homicide and rape have been intentionally released by the DHS operating under Mr. Obama’s orders. Newsmax posted a report about my interview with a link to the video under the title, “Michael Cutler: ‘Anarchy’ to Free Illegals Guilty of Crimes.”

Having raised the issue of “anarchy,” on March 12, 2012 Californians for Population Stabilization published my commentary, “Fast Track to Anarchy” which I wrote in response to the wrong-headed decision by the LAPD to not impound the cars of unlicensed illegal alien drivers encountered by their police officers. I wrote my commentary because I expressed my concerns that this was pushing California down the slippery slope of anarchy.

Clearly the federal government is not alone in its failures to protect us- on September 24, 2014 FrontPage Magazine published my article, ‘Sanctuary Cities’ or ‘Safe Havens’ for Terrorists?

So-called “Sanctuary Cities” and even “Sanctuary States” refuse to cooperate with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) even where aliens who are incarcerated for committing crimes are concerned. New York City is now issuing municipal identity documents to illegal aliens.

Every politician who supports “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” has made it clear that aliens who evade the inspections process conducted by CBP (Customs and Border Protection) officers are, nevertheless, entitled to a pathway to United States citizenship, or at the minimum, a pathway to lawful status and be immediately granted employment authorization — making them as eligible for any job in the United States as any lawful immigrant or even United States citizen, including now jobs as police officers in some cities.

Indeed, because of the provisions of Obama Care, aliens who have been granted employment authorization are not covered under Obama Care and therefore their employers are not saddled with the economic hardship imposed by mandatory health insurance requirements when they hire these aliens.

Therefore, aliens, such as DREAMers who have been granted employment authorization, are actually far more attractive to employers than are lawful immigrants and United States citizens. This was the very topic of my interview by Charles Payne when he filled in for Neil Cavuto on November 28, 2014. My segment is posted on the Fox News website under the title, “ObamaCare incentivizing hiring of illegals? Former INS agent Michael Cutler weighs in.”

While the job of a police officer is often difficult and dangerous, it provides an excellent career for those who meet the requirements. It is a coveted position and it has taken decades for women and American minorities to be hired as police officers in many jurisdictions — often only happening after successful lawsuits were filed. Now aliens will be, once again, given equal standing with Americans, in the long line for this important career.

Police departments are always concerned about corruption and the way that officers are screened and monitored to make certain that the officers demonstrate inscrutable integrity. This is entirely understandable, police officers hold a position of ultimate trust, they are empowered to literally make life and death decisions.

By hiring aliens as police officers, not only will qualified Americans lose out on a promising future, but public safety and, indeed, national security will be undermined — DHS has an abysmal record where the effective screening of alien applicants for immigration benefits is concerned.

The USA Today article ended with this excerpt:

“The security risk is a straw man,” he (Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum) said. “This is about people who have gone through criminal background checks, who are meeting the very high standards that we set as a country to stay here and who only want to serve and protect their communities.”

To say that Mr. Noorani is being naïve does not go far enough. Time and again criminals and terrorists have easily gamed the immigration system, committing fraud, to acquire lawful status. This includes aliens granted political asylum, lawful immigrant status and even United States citizenship. In point of fact, false security is far worse than no security.

Let’s consider some examples.

The Tsarnaev family applied for political asylum claiming, as the law requires, “credible fear” that if they returned to Russia, their home country, they would face persecution or worse. Yet once they were granted political asylum, published reports indicate that they subsequently voluntarily traveled to Russia. It certainly appears they committed fraud in their applications for political asylum.

Subsequently the two Tsarnaev brothers decided that the best way to repay America’s kindness and compassion was to plant deadly explosives at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013.

On February 24, 2015 Progressives For Immigration Reform posted my commentary, “The Immigration Factor –Naturalized U.S. Citizen Added to FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List.”

On March 12, 2015 Yahoo News posted an Associated Press report, “15 immigrants protected from deportation arrested in sweep.” Here is how this report began:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents in a sweep targeting the most dangerous criminal immigrants arrested 15 people who have been allowed to remain in the U.S. under President Barack Obama’s executive action intended to protect children who came to the U.S. years ago with their parents, The Associated Press has learned.

On September 3, 2014, Fox News affiliate KMSP-TV posted this disturbing news report: “EXCLUSIVE: ISIS fighter worked at Minneapolis airport.” Here is how this report began:

An airport is probably the last place anyone would want a suspected terrorist to work, but before he died overseas, that’s exactly what Abdirahmaan Muhumed did in the Twin Cities. In fact, he may have cleaned your plane at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Muhumed was the second known Minnesotan killed while fighting for ISIS in Syria, and a Fox 9 exclusive uncovering his employment history is raising a few eyebrows.

[…]

Before he died, Muhumed left behind a trail of selfies and questions. Who recruited him to join the terror group, and how did he support himself and 9 children? Multiple sources tell Fox 9 News that, for a time, he worked at a job that gave him security clearance at the airport, access to the tarmac and unfettered access to planes.

On October 21, 2011 ABC News posted a report that paints a very worrying picture, “FBI Finds Gangs Expanding, Even to U.S. Military.” This report begins by stating:

A new FBI assessment has found there are now an estimated 1.4 million gang members in the United States with gangs expanding even infiltrating the U.S. military.

The National Gang Threat Assessment has found there are 33,000 officially designated gangs in the United States. The gangs’ 1.4 million members represent a 40 percent increase in gang membership since 2009. The FBI’s National Gang Threat Assessment has found that gangs are expanding in the United States and are responsible for up to 48 percent of violent crime in many urban communities.

While FBI and law enforcement officials do not have estimates on the number of gang members in themilitary officials have seen gangs in 100 jurisdictions in the U.S. and overseas with 53 different gangs who are in every branch of the military.

“Gang recruitment of active duty military personnel constitutes a significant criminal threat to the U.S. military,” the threat assessment noted. “NGIC [National Gang Intelligence Center] reporting indicates that law enforcement officials in at least 100 jurisdictions have come into contact with, detained, or arrested an active duty or former military gang member within the past three years.”

Here is another important excerpt:

The report notes that while most gang members are in the West, gangs have been growing in the Northeast and the Southwest. The expansion in the Southwest could be because of gangs reaching out to and linking with Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (MDTOs).

“U.S.-based gangs and MDTOs are establishing wide-reaching drug networks; assisting in the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and illegal immigrants along the Southwest Border; and serving as enforcers for MDTO interests on the U.S. side of the border,” the assessment noted.

On February 25, 2015 The Daily Caller posted my article, “Political Asylum: How America’s Compassion Creates National Security Nightmares.” Here is an excerpt from my article:

On February 5, 2014 the Washington Times published a truly disconcerting article, “Audit finds asylum system rife with fraud; approval laws broken with surge of immigrants.”

This report began with the following two paragraphs:

At least 70 percent of asylum applications showed signs of fraud, according to a secret 2009 internal government audit that found many of those cases had been approved anyway.

The 2009 fraud assessment, obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and reviewed by The Washington Times, suggests a system open to abuse and exploitation at a time when the number of people applying for asylum in the U.S. has skyrocketed, particularly along the southwestern border.

Having raised the issue about how asylum applications along the U.S. southwestern border have dramatically increased, it is appropriate to consider the that House Judiciary Committee conducted hearings about this very issue.

On December 12, 2013 a hearing was conducted on the issue: “Asylum Abuse: Is it Overwhelming our Borders?”

This hearing included information that members of the Mexican Drug Cartels had successfully gamed the asylum process and were granted political asylum seeking to either hide from their compeititors in the United States or sought to be able to track down their competitors inside the United States to attack them. While the title of the hearing focused on the impact this was having on our borders- the reality is that the impact is being felt in each and every state.

On February 11, 2014 a hearing was conducted on the issue: “Asylum Fraud: Abusing America’s Compassion?”

Both hearings made it clear that there is a serious lack of integrity to the political asylum program. This important humanitarian program programs thousands of applications each year yet the fraud rate in this program bars witness to the lack of integrity. Because USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) cannot effectively identify fraud and take measures to counter this fraud, national security is compromised.

Consider this excerpt from the prepared testimony of the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte:

Accounts indicate that aliens are being coached in the asylum process and are being taught to use certain terms to ensure that they are found to have a credible fear. According to critics many of these claims are often an orchestrated sham. 

In addition to this alarming trend, the House Judiciary Committee recently obtained an internal CBP memo that states many people claiming a “credible fear” of persecution at our ports of entry have a direct or indirect association with drug trafficking and other illegal activity, such as human smuggling. Since there are intelligence gaps and loopholes in the system, the asylum process is often being abused by individuals who would otherwise be subjects of interest or subjects of criminal investigations. Once these unscrupulous individuals falsely claim a “credible fear” of persecution, there is virtually no investigation by U.S. authorities. Because the Obama Administration refuses to detain most of them, criminals and those who pose national security threats are then able to live and work in the U.S. for many years before their cases are ever heard by immigration judges.

Taking all of the foregoing into account, how on earth could any responsible mayor or governor or, for that matter, chief of police, give a gun and badge to aliens who are not United States citizens and may have, in fact, initially entered the United States by violating our borders and our immigration laws?

Could you imagine how a terrorist or member of a transnational gang could turn that gun, badge and access to law enforcement databases and intelligence into an asset for those who would seek to commit crimes in our communities or even seek to carry out a terror attack? Yet this is precisely the potential being created by governors and mayors across the United States even as many of those same mayors and governors are tightening up on firearms laws and regulations for United States citizens.