Here's a fact you don't hear much about: Between a third and a half of the nation's illegal immigrants - at least 3.8 million people - entered the USA

[almaty 19]

Place in your mind the image of an illegal immigrant and chances are you'll think of a Spanish-speaking worker who sneaked across the porous Mexican border in search of a job. That is the stereotype - and it was the dominant image caught by TV cameras Monday as hundreds of thousands of protesters from Boston to Los Angeles took to the streets for the "Day Without Immigrants" rallies.

But an accurate portrait of the illegal immigrant population is surprisingly different - so much so that it exposes some proposed responses as off-target, particularly those aimed at border security.

Here's a fact you don't hear much about: Between a third and a half of the nation's illegal immigrants - at least 3.8 million people - entered the USA legally. That's right. They didn't slip across the border in the dead of night. They came from all over the world, stayed longer than their visas or entry documents allowed, and melted into society. There's little to stop them, despite millions spent on a post-9/11 program supposedly aimed at those who "overstay."

That's what four of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers did, according to a 2004 report by Congress' Government Accountability Office. Ringleader Mohamed Atta, who came legally on a visitor's visa, stayed longer than he was supposed to, left and was allowed back in the USA, despite having illegally overstayed.

Record-keeping on who stays and goes has been so haphazard for decades that the government can't even say how many "overstays" there are, let alone figure out how to find and deport them. To do those jobs, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would need three things: an effective system to track all foreign entrants, another to track those who leave, and enough agents and judicial manpower to go after those who remain illegally.

It has none of those.

But DHS isn't solely to blame. Until 9/11, Congress was as schizophrenic about tracking foreigners who overstayed their visas as it is about nearly every other aspect of immigration.

More than two years after the terror attacks, the government started an automated entry-exit system called US-VISIT. Then-DHS undersecretary Asa Hutchinson promised that "we will be able to know who is overstaying their visa." But US-VISIT can't deliver because of how DHS has chosen to run it:

• The program covers a small percentage of foreign visitors. It exempts the vast majority of Canadians, as well as Mexicans who enter for short-term stays, even though an estimated 80% of illegal immigrants are from Mexico and other Latin American nations. People from Canada and Mexico accounted for nearly 156 million border crossings in 2002, the latest data available.

• The exit system, the key to detecting overstays, is running at only a dozen airports, three seaports and none of the nation's 154 land ports of entry. Where it exists, there's nothing to prevent visitors from ignoring it.

While the program has denied entry to about 1,100 criminals and other violators, it has done little to prevent or detect overstays.

Fixes for the nation's out-of-control immigration problem aren't easy in any case, but they'll prove useless as long as those who write the laws respond solely to stereotypes. A fence in the backyard isn't the solution if as many as half of the illegal immigrants are walking in through the front door.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I hear it coming...

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The fact that many of them are overstays does not make their presence here any less illegal.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

A fence in the backyard isn't the solution if as many as half of the illegal immigrants are walking in through the front door.

but then again it sure won't hurt

[Sister Fracas 5]

The fact that many of them are overstays does not make their presence here any less illegal.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

A fence in the backyard isn't the solution if as many as half of the illegal immigrants are walking in through the front door.

but then again it sure won't hurt

It's a very spurious argument. It's like the argument that a nuclear shield (assuming it worked) isn't any good because it won't keep back suitcase nukes. Different problems require different solutions. People sneaking across the Mexican and Canadian borders is one problem. A barrier is a good solution for that problem. People coming in on overstays is a different problem. The solution?

[Jasman0717 9]

The fact that many of them are overstays does not make their presence here any less illegal.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

A fence in the backyard isn't the solution if as many as half of the illegal immigrants are walking in through the front door.

but then again it sure won't hurt

It's a very spurious argument. It's like the argument that a nuclear shield (assuming it worked) isn't any good because it won't keep back suitcase nukes. Different problems require different solutions. People sneaking across the Mexican and Canadian borders is one problem. A barrier is a good solution for that problem. People coming in on overstays is a different problem. The solution?

GPS implant devices.

[almaty 19]

A fence in the backyard isn't the solution if as many as half of the illegal immigrants are walking in through the front door.

but then again it sure won't hurt

It's a very spurious argument. It's like the argument that a nuclear shield (assuming it worked) isn't any good because it won't keep back suitcase nukes. Different problems require different solutions. People sneaking across the Mexican and Canadian borders is one problem. A barrier is a good solution for that problem. People coming in on overstays is a different problem. The solution?

GPS implant devices.

that explode once you get 25 klicks in america...

I hear it coming...

i posted this cause i think this is an area over looked via the media and also, what lead to the 9/11 people being here..

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

i posted this cause i think this is an area over looked via the media and also, what lead to the 9/11 people being here..

Well, to be fair, some of them had their visa petitions approved by USCIS in March of 2002.

[Indo_mommy 0]

Wow, a friend of mine in Albany, NY had this co-worker, a Chinese girl that came to NYC with a tourist visa sponsored by her sister and now working illegally to have enough money to pay a so called lawyer to get her a GC. The lawyer charged her $5,000. Crazy!

[iceyspots 0]

A fence in the backyard isn't the solution if as many as half of the illegal immigrants are walking in through the front door.

but then again it sure won't hurt

It's a very spurious argument. It's like the argument that a nuclear shield (assuming it worked) isn't any good because it won't keep back suitcase nukes. Different problems require different solutions. People sneaking across the Mexican and Canadian borders is one problem. A barrier is a good solution for that problem. People coming in on overstays is a different problem. The solution?

GPS implant devices.

lmao.... Like teathers?

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

welcome to america. here is your gps tracking bracelet, just like the criminals wear. don't try to take it off, it has some c-4 in it

[j&js 0]

Where ever illegals are coming from, and that does make sense that it is a lot of overstayed visas, after all, it is easy to get in with VWP or visitor visas, the government needs to get its head out of the sand and actually start doing something.

[Looking4Wife 0]

Almaty:

Great post! Do you have any references to site?

This is exactly why IMBRA is STUPID! Instead of fixing the current immigration process domestically, some special interest groups (match.com, tehrih justice center, etc.) have sent up this IMBRA smoke screen under the guise of protecting women and immigrants... ironcially making it harder on those of us who are actually working on LEGAL immigration.

The immigration process was and is broke to begin with, and IMBRA just makes it "broker" (it wasn't a word before, but it is now :-)

Now I digress...

I have seen arguments from those on VJ who say "I think its great that you can find out if your fiancee has a police record". OK, fine, no problem, but why didn't the IMBRA architects construct a law in the USA that makes DOMESTIC COUPLES submit police records BEFORE EXCHANGING PHONE NUMBERS or contact info... that's what IMBRA does... now do you folks see how STUPID this is?