The dangerous legacy of the 1986 amnesty for illegal aliens—financial problems

By Frosty Wooldridge

Part 3:  Financial problems

Twenty five years ago, President Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty meant for 1 million illegal aliens to gain citizenship.  Instead, over 4.1 million illegal aliens applied for and received citizenship for crossing over US borders illegally.

Later, Reagan said, “The amnesty was the worst mistake of my presidency.”

My long time friend Rick Oltman, long time immigration activist looks back on what happened to America when the amnesty passed.  You can find his work at www.TheSocialContract.com .

Give us an overview of what happened in 1986:

“What the federal government apparently didn’t take into account was that many of those 1.1 million would bring friends and relatives back to America to claim 5 years residence in the same fraudulent manner as those who came and went on a regular basis,” said Oltman. “That is one reason why the number of applications was three times higher than the original estimate.

“When the knowledge of fraud got out, there was a literal stampede of people coming across the border illegally to apply for amnesty and the government was quickly overwhelmed.

“Stoddard recalls that fraud was rampant in the application process. Estimates of application fraud ranged between 66 percent and 75 percent.

“He also remembers that packages of counterfeit utility receipts, written receipts, and anything else that would establish a 5-year residency were for sale and only required the name to be filled in. And, these were in the days prior to personal computers. “The adjudicators started out doing a bang-up job in collaborating and investigating, but the administration came down with orders not to look too closely if on the surface the application appeared to be legitimate.”

“On the line, whole groups of illegals were turning themselves into Border Patrol officers as soon as they crossed the border, saying they wanted to apply for the amnesty.

“And then the Border Patrol was given orders not to interfere with an alien who was “en-route” to apply for amnesty.

“The quid pro quo for the amnesty was enforcement. There were going to be employer sanctions and the promise of more resources.

“Regarding the amnesty and the promise of Employer Sanctions, Stoddard remembers, “I thought, OK, I can live with this if we can prevent the employers from enticing more illegal aliens into the country. I don’t like it, but I can live with it.”

And then…

“As a supervisor I took my men to training sessions where they were being trained on the Employer Sanctions provisions. And I sent people out on instructions. I sent people out to visit employers in the area to educate employers on how to fill out an I-9 and what to look for. Then one day that all turned around. The training was cancelled and we were told not to worry about the Employer Sanctions provisions.”

George Z. (Zach) Taylor was working in the McAllen, TX Sector in 1986 and was told by supervisors that he actually wrote up the very first amnesty case. As he recalls,

It was Christmas Eve 1986 and a woman and her three sons aged 7, 5 and 4 were picked up in the McAllen Floodway walking south towards Mexico. She had had a fight with her husband who had ripped the door and window out of the shack they were living in. It was so cold it was sleeting and when they were picked up all four were suffering from hypothermia. They were seven miles from the border and never would have made it.

“Taylor listened to her story as he wrote up the case and realized that she qualified for the Amnesty and prepared the paperwork. Then, he took her and the boys to a local church where they were all fed and well taken care of. Taylor saw her again when she returned to thank him for helping her and her sons.

“Helping the woman and her sons is the best memory Taylor has of the IRCA. He too knew of the massive fraud in the application process. He too had heard the stories of picking strawberries off of trees as well as picking okra off a vine.

“Taylor was a sign cutter, a tracker, and remembers, “All of a sudden there were no tracks, nobody was going north…when the Employer Sanctions went into effect.” Further, “Nobody was going north, but they were going south. And they (his supervisors) made me stop picking these south-bounders up because I was documenting the fact that it was working. Employer Sanctions was working. The aliens were actually walking back to Mexico, they were self removing themselves.

“And, there was a real fear within the immigration service that the illegal alien problem had been solved.”

Success, it seemed, was a threat to their reason for being.

“They didn’t want to document that the employer sanctions was working,” Taylor says. “At risk was the budget for the whole program of investigations, detentions, deportations; the whole thing.”

“The real fear at that time,” Taylor repeated, “Was that the system was working.” He also recalls that USBP officers were, “…not allowed to go within a block of the amnesty office.”

“Once the wave of people began heading north and got into the process, in some offices up to 75 percent of the applications were fraudulent on their face.

Taylor knew many working in the Dallas Adjudication Center and was told that they got chewed out for denying an amnesty application. They were just supposed to stamp it “Approved.” Some wouldn’t do it and sent the obviously fraudulent applications on as “denied.” And, many times they would come back with a waiver, and the applicant received amnesty.

“One agent from another sector said he heard that only “Approved” rubber stamps were issued.  Another agent described how he and a co-worker went to their supervisor to report that they needed more help to do a credible job with the amnesty applications. They were told to go back and just do the best they could. Shortly thereafter they returned to the supervisor and told him again that they really needed more help if they were going to it right and were told, “Look, this is the job. If you can’t do it, then go back to enforcement.”

You may contact Mr. Oltman at www.thesocialcontract.com

##

In a five minute astoundingly simple yet brilliant video, “Immigration, Poverty, and Gum Balls”, Roy Beck, director of www.numbersusa.ORG, graphically illustrates the impact of overpopulation.  Take five minutes to see for yourself:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=player_embedded

“Immigration by the numbers—off the chart” by Roy Beck

This 10 minute demonstration shows Americans the results of unending mass immigration on the quality of life and sustainability for future generations: in a word “Mind boggling!”  www.NumbersUSA.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muw22wTePqQ

This is the best website to start:  www.numbersusa.org ; watch Roy Beck’s “Immigration by the Numbers” at 14 minutes. Bi-partisan and very effective. Become a faxer of pre-written letters to your reps to make positive  change.

Visit www.TheSocialContract.com for the best information on what we face as a civilization as to overpopulation, energy, immigration and much more.

Canada www.immigrationwatchcanada.org ; in Australia www.population.org.au and[email protected]; in Great Britain www.populationmatters.org ; and dozens of other sites accessed at www.frostywooldridge.com.   In Florida, www.flimen.org .

Must see DVD: “Blind Spot” www.snagfilms.com/films/title/blind_spot/ , This movie illustrates America’s future without oil, water and other resources to keep this civilization functioning. It’s a brilliant educational movie! www.blindspotdoc.com

Must see: Rapid Population Decline, seven minute video by Dr. Jack Alpert-

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTWduFB_RX0

Must see and funny: www.growthbusters.org ; www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXSTrW_dARc
Dave Gardner’s Polar Bear in Bedroom:

growthbusters.org/2010/03/save-the-polar-bear-in-your-bedroom ; Dave Gardner, President, Citizen-Powered Media ; Producing the Documentary, GROWTH BUSTERS; presents Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity, Join the cause at www.growthbusters.org ;760 Wycliffe Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 USA; +1 719-576-5565

Check out this link with Wooldridge on bicycle and Lester Brown and panel discussion:

www.upnorthmedia.org/watchupnorthtv.asp?SDBFid=1631

Tomorrow’s Americaproject on www.youtube.com/contemporarylearning.

Producer: GEORGE A. COLBURNwww.tomorrowsamerica.com

DC: 202-258-4887

Email: [email protected]

Link to www.tomorrowsamerica.com for more discussions on America’s predicament.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.starbrightmediacorp.com

www.tomorrowsamerica.com

##

Frosty Wooldridge has bicycled across six continents – from the Arctic to the South Pole – as well as six times across the USA, coast to coast and border to border. In 2005, he bicycled from the Arctic Circle, Norway to Athens, Greece. He presents “The Coming Population Crisis in America: and what you can do about it” to civic clubs, church groups, high schools and colleges. He works to bring about sensible world population balance at www.frostywooldridge.com He is the author of: America on the Brink: The Next Added 100 Million Americans. Copies available: 1 888 280 7715