Planning the War on Immigrants

Politics can be an ugly affair, and it doesn't get any uglier than when
politicians try to best one another in the politics of hate and
scapegoating.

That's what is happening in America, as politicians and political
candidates at all levels of government join the anti-immigration
bandwagon. Meanwhile, immigrants who do the dirtiest work in America
are living in fear as they face a generalized immigration crackdown and
stepped-up immigration raids.

The war against immigrants and immigration is being fought on three
main fronts: in Congress, in local and state government, and on the
campaign trail. While the anti-immigration movement that is coursing
through American politics is beyond the control of any individual or
organization, the leading restrictionist policy institutes in
Wa****ngton are setting the policy agenda of the anti-immigration forces
at all levels of U.S. politics.

Following their success in stopping a comprehensive immigration reform
bill in the U.S. Senate that included legalization provisions,
immigration restrictionists have rallied around a common strategy:
"Attrition through Enforcement." Turning Up the "Heat" on Immigrants

"Attrition through enforcement" as a restrictionist framework for
immigration reform has been percolating within the anti-immigration
institutes in Wa****ngton, DC for the last couple of years. But it
wasn't until the restrictionist movement beat back proposals for
legalization that the strategy has taken hold as a unifying framework
for restrictionism in America.

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) took the lead in developing
this strategic framework. In April 2006 this restrictionist think tank
published, "Attrition through Enforcement: A Cost-Effective Strategy to
Shrink the Illegal Population," which lays out the main components of a
war of attrition against immigrants along with the estimated cost of a
multi-front campaign to wear down immigrant residents and dissuade
would-be immigrants.

CIS analyst Jessica Vaughn opens the re****t with this observation:
"Proponents of mass legalization of the illegal alien population,
whether through amnesty or expanded guestworker programs, often justify
this radical step by suggesting that the only alternative"a broad
campaign to remove illegal aliens by force"is unworkable."

"The purpose of attrition through enforcement," according to Vaughn,
"is to increase the probability that illegal aliens will return home
without the intervention of immigration enforcement agencies. In other
words, it encourages voluntary compliance with immigration laws through
more robust interior law enforcement."

Key components of the war of attrition include:

    * Eliminating access to jobs through employer verification of
Social Security numbers and immigration status.

    * Ending misuse of Social Security and IRS numbers by immigrants in
seeking employment, bank accounts, and driver's licenses, and improved
information sharing among key federal agencies, including the Internal
Revenue Service, in the effort to identify unauthorized residents.

    * Increasing federal, state, and local cooperation, particularly
among law enforcement agencies.

    * Reducing visa overstays through better tracking systems.

    * Stepping up immigration raids.

    * Passing state and local laws to discourage illegal immigrants
from making a home in that area and to make it more difficult for
immigrants to conceal their status.

CIS predicts that a $2 billion program would over five years
substantially reduce immigration flows into the United States while
dramatically increasing the one-way flow of immigrants back to their
sending communities. According to CIS, the attrition war would require
a $400 million annual commitment""less than 1% of the president's 2007
budget request for the Department of Homeland Security."

Without driver's licenses and without work because of
employment-centered enforcement, immigrants will leave the country"as
many as 1.5 million annually, predicts the CIS study. "A subtle
increase in the 'heat' on illegal aliens can be enough to dramatically
reduce the scale of the problem within just a few years," says Vaughn.

War of Attrition

"Attrition through enforcement" represents an aggressive step forward
for restrictionism. The "attrition through enforcement" strategy
signals the advance of the anti-immigration advocates from defensive
and hold-the-line positions to a long-term offensive aimed at
definitively taking the battlefield.

Tasting the blood of their victory over liberal immigration reform, the
restrictionist movement, led by Wa****ngton, DC institutes including the
Center for Immigration Studies, Federation for American Immigration
Reform (FAIR), and Numbers USA, has opted for a war of attrition as the
best strategy for rolling back immigration.

The "attrition through enforcement" is a strategic framework that
builds on tactical approaches. To counter proposals for legalization,
restrictionists successfully argued that any proposals for increased
legal immigration"either through legalization or guestworker
programs"should not be considered until the borders were secured and
current immigration law fully enforced.

The "secure borders" and "enforcement first" frameworks for discussing
immigration have been largely accepted by politicians of both parties,
eliminating approval of any immigration reform initiatives that would
address the plight of the 12 million-plus undo***ented residents of the
United States.

Over the past six months, the restrictionists have moved beyond
"enforcement first" to the more aggressive "attrition through
enforcement" strategy. And the federal government, state government,
and Congress seem to be marching in lockstep with the restrictionists
as they all harden their anti-immigration posture.

Anti-immigration groups are propagating "attrition through enforcement"
as the sensible, practical "middle ground" or "third way" in
immigration reform. Rather than calling for a costly and morally
repugnant mass de****tation of millions of immigrants, the
restrictionists have united behind a strategy aimed at wearing down the
will of immigrants to live and work in the United States.

Immigration raids in the interior of the country and imprisonment by
immigration officials of those crossing the border illegally combined
with pervasive enforcement of the "rule of law" by police and
government bureaucrats will slowly but surely drive all undo***ented
immigrants out of the country. Restrictionists increasingly argue that
mass de****tation will be unnecessary since an ever-increasing number of
immigrants will "self-de****t."

"Attrition through enforcement" also addresses another weak point in
previous restrictionist strategy. Having long demanded that the federal
government gain control of the southern border, the restrictionists
found that as border control increased more immigrants were staying in
the United States, fearing that if they left they would never be able
to return. Border control has actually increased the number of
undo***ented immigrants who have opted for permanent residency.

Although still demanding tighter border control with more agents and
more fences (virtual and real), restrictionists also have in "attrition
through enforcement" what they consider to be a pragmatic and palatable
solution to ridding the country of "illegal aliens." Permanent
residency in the United States, if this strategy is fully implemented,
will become a permanent nightmare.

Attrition on the Campaign Trail

All the Republican Party candidates have to some degree adopted a
restrictionist agenda. Even John McCain, an original sponsor with Sen.
Kennedy of comprehensive immigration reform, has said that he now
sup****ts an "enforcement first" approach.

Fred Thompson won the plaudits of restrictionists when he released his
immigration platform, which explicitly adopts the "attrition through
enforcement" strategy. According to Thompson, "Attrition through
enforcement is a more reasonable and achievable solution [than] the
'false choices' of 'either arrest and de****t them all, or give them all
amnesty.'"

This more "reasonable" solution sup****ted by candidate Thompson
includes measures such as denying federal money to states and local
governments that provide social services to undo***ented residents, and
ending federal educational aid to public universities that provide
in-state tuition to undo***ented residents.

FAIR is spearheading the attrition war on the state level, working
closely with a new group called State Legislators for Legal
Immigration. Formed by right-wing restrictionists in the Pennsylvania
state legislature, the group says nothing about legal immigration in
its mission statement. Rather, the founders say the group "represents a
21st century Declaration of Independence."

"Similar to the American Revolution, the personal and economic safety
of Pennsylvanians and all American citizens depends upon definitive
action being taken by our federal, state, and local governments to end
the ongoing invasion of illegal aliens through our borders," declares
the legislators' organization. By turning back this invasion, they say
they will protect U.S. citizens from " property theft, drug running,
human trafficking, increased violent crime, increased gang activity,
terrorism, and the many other clear and present dangers directly
associated with illegal immigration."

State Legislators for Legal Immigration and FAIR intend to take the war
of attrition to every state. According to this restrictionist group,
"Once the economic attractions of illegal jobs and taxpayer-funded
public benefits are severed at the source, these illegal invaders will
have no choice but to go home on their own." FAIR says that the
legislators' group "will be teaming up with FAIR to develop state-based
initiatives to deal with the national problem of mass illegal
immigration."

The war of attrition is already leaving a trail of divided communities
and split families in its wake. Detentions and de****tations are
shattering immigrant communities and families as restrictionists
applaud and call for ever-harsher measures. It is also ramping up the
fear and loathing on the campaign trail.

As this war against the country's most vulnerable population deepens,
the American people will need to ask themselves if they feel any safer
or more secure, if they have more hope to find better-paying jobs, if
their neighborhoods and town economies are more or less vibrant as
immigrants leave, and if they are proud of themselves and their
country.

[Tom Barry is a senior analyst with the Americas Policy
Program (www.americaspolicy.org) of the Center for International
Policy.] 

For More Information see related materials:

Which Way Immigration Reform? Toward A Comprehensive Immigration Policy
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3161

Reshaping the Immigration Debate: The Actors and the Issues
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/2959

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