BORDER SECURITY Plan to stem illegal immigration

The changes will likely expand to other border regions.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
WASHINGTON -- U.S. immigration officials Tuesday announced plans to expand a program that returns illegal immigrants to their home countries without a judicial hearing.
The program, known as "expedited removal," will soon be applied to undocumented immigrants from countries other than Canada and Mexico who are apprehended near the border areas of Tucson, Ariz., and Laredo, Texas, Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday.
Currently, immigrants whose home countries do not share a border with the United States and who are apprehended outside the ports of entry are held temporarily, given a court date and then released on bond, but about 90 percent of them do not show up for court, Hutchinson said.
Will be sent back
Beginning later this month, illegal immigrants who are caught by patrols in Arizona and Texas within 14 days of their arrival and within 100 miles of the border will be detained and flown back to their homeland as soon as possible. They would not enter the legal system unless they applied for asylum or expressed a fear of return.
Of the 1 million illegal immigrants apprehended nationwide since October, more than 57,000 came from countries other than Mexico -- mostly from Central and South America, said Border Patrol spokeswoman Gloria Chavez. In that same period, about 3,000 non-Mexican illegal migrants came from 140 countries outside the Western Hemisphere.
The changes are likely to be expanded to other border regions in the future, said Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger, including the Canadian border. Illegal immigrants from Mexico are already returned to their homeland immediately.
Hutchinson, who is responsible for border and transportation security issues, also confirmed that his agency was lengthening from three to 30 days the amount of time Mexicans traveling on a special border-crossing card can stay in the United States.
What card allows
The card, issued by U.S. consulates after completion of a background check and fingerprinting, allows Mexicans to travel within 25 miles of the border in Texas, New Mexico and California and 75 miles of the border in Arizona without filling out additional immigration paperwork.
The changes are consistent with the Bush administration's immigration policy, Hutchinson said. They will take effect upon publication in the Federal Register this week.
"We are rewarding those that seek a legal path to our country," Hutchinson told reporters. "We're very committed to enforcing our immigration laws. It is important for the security of our country and the integrity of our immigration law."
Tuesday's announcement may help President Bush court two critical constituencies -- Hispanics in border communities in the battleground states of New Mexico and Arizona, who could benefit from increased business and tourism promoted by the border-crossing card extension, and conservatives who rank homeland security and tighter immigration high on their list of concerns. Bush campaigns today in those two states.
The "expedited removal" revisions expand a program in use since 1997 at ports of entry to include land areas between the official entry points -- such as the Arizona desert, a common route for illegal migrants.