UNDOCUMENTED
ALIENS IN AMERICA; WHAT IS THE TOLL ON LAW ENFORCEMENT?

In a good year, there are 15,000 or more municipal and state law agencies and departments available with the essential duty of providing some form of security to the general population. Of the 15,000 law enforcement agencies, there could be approximately 200 to 2000 sworn constables on patrol available to the public in some aspect or another. To give perspective on these numbers, that would indicate that there are 900,000 sworn officers securing and serving. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics indicates there are 11.2 million undocumented settlers living in the United States. [1] The U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) utilize less than 2000 agents in charge of the location, detainment, and expulsion of undocumented immigrants from the U.S.[2] So what are these numbers telling us? 2000 ICE agents that is responsible for 11.2 million immigrants. This is a clear demonstration that the Federal government is undermanned. And, as we all know, everything rolls down hill meaning the local and state agencies are feeling the responsibility of having to assist with the Fed’s workload.

Since the economic downfall of 2008, municipal and state agencies are being burdened with accomplishing more with less. The responsibility for the enforcement of federal immigration laws on the local and state level will overburden local and state responsibilities, redistribute limited personnel to unfamiliar functions, and sever beneficial relationships established in the communities being serviced. [3] To reduce the pressure set on municipal and state agencies, the current laws should be adjusted to incur harsher punishments to fit the criminal activity and also programs for immigrants to be provided instruction and training into their way of life so they can end up as legitimate, productive members of society.

The United States is an unfathomable blend of individuals from every part of the world. We have made it a known process for willing to accept all dreamers to our nation. Undocumented worker issues that we were dealing with numerous years ago while building this great country, are similar to what we are seeing now. For years, one of the issues that local departments are having to deal with is the immigrants not willing to learn the English language or change their way of thinking to correspond with our demographics and culture. America has created an atmosphere of slipshod laws for undocumented immigrants to prosper without the threat of detention or extradition. An example of this would be the U.S. Supreme Court case Arizona v. United States [4]which was a case involving a state law in Arizona established by the Governor that was comprised of three levels of law enforcement. First, all legal immigrants must have their documentation at all times and must present it if they are stopped by law enforcement. Second, local and state police can arrest anyone that they feel may be an illegal immigrant. Third, immigrants can be charged if they are caught searching or holding a job in the state. This law also penalized anyone who sheltered, hired or transported illegal immigrants. The Supreme Court struck down and altered some of the provisions that they felt were overbearing the already established federal immigration laws. First, legal immigrants do not have to carry documentation. Second, someone suspected of being illegal cannot be arrested. Third, it is no longer illegal to search or hold a job. The justices did agree, however, to allow local and state police to investigate anyone that they feel may have entered the country illegally only after they have been detained or arrested for a prior charge and cannot be for a prolonged period of time.

After this case
was overturned, the Solicitor General of the United States stated in an
interview that this case helped to stop other states from creating their own
immigration plans to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in their states
and that a clear and present anti-immigration movement was stopped dead in its
tracks.

There are many issues that both state and local agencies face daily. One of the issues with regards to undocumented aliens is that they are also uncensored aliens. Local and state law enforcement agencies employee officers based on population count. If there are hundreds to Thousands of undocumented aliens that are not being counted as part of the population, then the law agencies will not receive the proper funding needed to man the troops. This will create a lull in crime prevention and the ability to serve the citizens that they are sworn to protect. Departments are compelled to introduce techniques to address the issues that immigrants are creating. For example, the contracting of bilingual officers to work immigrant neighborhoods in order to create some sense of communication between immigrants and law enforcement is one of the creative techniques. Most Latin culture dictates that an undocumented worked in American society will make every attempt to avoid contact with local law enforcement in order to prevent any possibility of deportation. This causes a substantial friction for officers that are attempting to tackle violations in communities where immigrants live. The head of an immigrant family are compelling their families to not talk with officers because of a fear of repercussions.

In many countries, the criminal violations that happen may not be viewed as a criminal violation in another country. In this country, the crime of rape or sexual assault is an offense punishable by time in prison. There are locations in South America where you are permitted to capture and sexually assault a female as long as you plan to marry her. This is an issue that neighborhood officers are dealing with when undocumented aliens are entering our country suspecting that what they did in their country of origin is reasonable here. Another real worry for local agencies is the foundation of gangs shaped by immigrants. Gangs are performing criminal acts at every opportunity in order to raise their awareness to the community, create a sense of fear, and provide the much need monetary capital for the gangs to prosper. Gangs, for example, MS-13 are blood in, blood out associations that are making problems for local law enforcement due to the sheer numbers of members. This gang association is lead from inside the prison walls with chilling apprehension for any individual who endeavors to cross them. Speaking of the prison system, another worry for local law agencies is the congestion of our detainment facilities. This is compelling jail systems to early release a great many undocumented alien criminals into society for us to manage. On the off chance that a worker in jail is not somebody that ICE can extradite within a six month time span, they will be discharged under probation. In the event that the country of the alien is not allowed or willing to take the criminal back, he is considered un-deportable and will be released to society. ICE reported that between 2001 and 2004, it released 28,000 aliens with 75% originating from countries that support MS-13 gang members that are known to be active. [5]  

John Antal stresses a point with regard to the changing structure of trans -border activities. According to Antal, today threats to borders come not only from conventional attacks by enemy armies, but also from contemporary conflicts such as illegal immigration, smuggling, drug trafficking, criminal activities and mainly terrorism. [6] To control the receipt of these aliens into society by way of “crossing the border”, a plan of action must be established to reduce any possibilities of immigrants crossing with detection. Supposedly, an extensive fence has been talked about by everyone from the local agencies that patrol the border all the way to the President himself who used this as a campaign strategy. The border fence was a part of President Trump’s ten point plan to decrease border crossings and increase alien deportations. Aerial video automations and heat seeking cameras from observation towers are a couple of the hardware needs that the U.S. would require to eliminate the endeavors of the border crossers.

The biggest issue for any of these border crossing
issues is funding. Someone will need to construct the fence, someone will need
to fly the aerial automaton, and someone will need to watch the cameras. These
things take funding and that is not something that local and state agencies
have a plenitude of.

All endeavors with the precept of attempting to accomplish something return to cost. There is a gigantic cost for the American individuals, on all levels of government, with regards to the taking care of undocumented settlers in this country. They range from education to welfare to medical care to criminal justice and beyond. [7] The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) indicates that the United States government contributes $113 billion yearly to the existence of undocumented immigrants in this country. The Federal government’s share of that is about $29 billion, while states and local governments shoulder more than $84 billion a year. [8] There are local administrative systems or projects that help immigrants with their everyday needs. Welfare is defined by such programs as or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which funds for low income families, the elderly, and the disabled; Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) food program; free or reduced lunch; food stamps, which are also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; Medicaid or health insurance for low incomes persons; public housing; and rent subsidies. [9] The purpose behind these projects being utilized by illegal settlers is not on the grounds that they are not willing to work, similar to some of our own individuals from society, rather in light of the fact that there is just a single provider in the family unit and they can’t bring home the bacon without these administrations. In order to receive these benefits, these individuals must be able to provide proof to demonstrate their identity. A driver’s permit, visa, birth cert., and so on must be utilized as an origin of recognizable proof. Whenever these or any recognizable proof of identity is not accessible, local law enforcement is finding that immigrant criminal’s have cornered the market on exhibiting fake docs to undocumented aliens at a insignificant cost. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a fact sheet that stated from 2006 to 2010, the DHS Fraud Department generated 1,871 indictments, 2,251 criminal arrests, and 1,643 felony convictions for the manufacturing, sale, or use of counterfeit documents. [10]  

There is another cost identified with undocumented workers in this country and it doesn’t have any fiscal esteem. The cost is what is going on to immigrant families when the provider or breadwinner is ousted from the family by way of detainment or deportation. It is a cornerstone e of the American approach to make each attempt to keep families together. We catch wind of projects on the radio and see ads on the TV referencing families needing help when circumstances become difficult. The Associated Press published an article that stated about two million immigrant families face the risk of being split up because the children are U. S. born citizens, but their parents are illegal immigrants. [11] The expression “anchor baby” was created as a ploy for immigrants to have children in this country which, thusly, enables the mother and child to wind up as inhabitants. What happens to the children of immigrants if the guardians are sent to their countries of origin without wanting to? Is the cost to excessive for the children and is the cost too high for the Americans who are in charge of the children that were abandoned? In view of what I realize about the alien culture, it is obvious that these children will never have the chance to be a part of the child care network. Rather, their parents with either take them back to their country  of origin where they will live in poor conditions or they will be given to other immigrant families that are still in this nation, since they have not been extradited yet, to live until the point when they ideally come back to recover them. These families are having a sufficiently hard time fighting for themselves, now they have at least one new mouth to satisfy. Not a decent circumstance for the children or the families.

Implying that the government is not helping with the subsidizing of projects would be a lie, and, the way that illegal immigrants don’t pay their portion of taxes, which is additionally another lie. Federal taxes paid by illegal alien’s amount to about $9.6 billion annually. [12] Despite the fact that this sum does not approach what the immigrant’s utilization of state and local resources, it is a beginning. Welfare programs are paid for with tax assessment dollars from business charges. In the event that immigrants are being taxed on their wages, at that point they are helping with paying for the resources that they are utilizing. Be that as it may, most immigrants are paid, “under the table”, since they can’t give the correct identification to compose a W-2. Keep in mind, per the US Census, tax liability is based on income and household dependents and does not take legality of residence as a factor.

After 9/11, legislative enactment has made endeavors to formalize and blend numerous immigration resources under one heading, Homeland Security. As a result of the merger, ICE brought together approximately 20,000 employees from various agencies in six operational units. [13] The convergence of these administrations is useful with immigration issues especially for local agencies however; this process also creates substantial delays for the same local agencies. Municipal agencies are centered on the securing and serving of the citizens in their metropolis. This is what these agencies do best on a day to day basis. These agencies know where the criminal activity will happen and we create the procedures to decrease the crime with minimal measure of losses. They make plans of action to make the residents feel that they are a piece of the procedure. At the point when the government infers that local agencies must deal with the immigration issues as it identifies with criminal activity, this discredits their capabilities to do what they do well. Local and state law authorities should now create an endeavor that tends to lessen immigrant criminal actions by associating with immigrant groups by way of enlisting officers with a comprehension of the dialect and different complexities of these people.

The United States has criminal issues from our own people without the help from underdeveloped country hoodlums running amuck. I will not accuse illegal immigrants from South America and Mexico of the whole issue; they are no less than a piece of it. In view of the expansion of undocumented immigrants crossing the border at disturbing rates, our prisons are taking the limit of this with a disturbing number of immigrants carrying out crime and being housed by our jail system. The Supreme Court ruled, in 2011, an instance of eighth amendment rights infringement with respect to the congestion of a California jail was remorseless discipline. Since the Supreme Court found for the offended party, the Court expressed that the State of California must discharge detainees to make room. California did as such by discharging nearly 200,000 detainees. While it would seem a simple solution to just send them back over the border, the federal government argued that immigration enforcement is not a state issue but a federal one; yet they expect California, the state, to pay the bill. [14] Our economy is not in the best shape, when we include the billions of dollars spent to house and sustain illicit criminals in our correctional facilities and jails, it makes one feel that there must be an answer. Perhaps that border wall is not an awful thought.

Ideally, local and state law authorities would deal with their own immigrant issues, and the federal government would deal with everything else. Immigration enforcement should remain the sole responsibility of the federal government in an effort to prevent further complications of the overflowing duties surrounding the mission of crime reduction. [15] Local and state organizations need to remain vigilant regarding their obligations and not lose concentration as to what their real purpose is, to protect and preserve life. Law enforcement executives have chosen to take a careful balance approach in responding to pressure of immigration enforcement on a local and state level showing the significance in maintaining community support. [16] 

We, as Americans, are kind and inviting to all that need to carry on with the way of life that we underestimate. We grasp that numerous immigrants to this country work hard and are deserving of any chance to accommodate their families. In the event that this is the only crime that they are committing, I can live with that. In any case, the people that are not endeavoring to become legitimate citizens, without the assistance of fake documentation, are the origin of the issue that should be tended to. The American family is insufficient by way of half of all marriages divorcing or poor fathers leaving their kids to single parent families. All families, American or Latin, ought to have each chance to develop and flourish in this nation as long it is done lawfully. The extradition of the fundamental provider is horrendous for families particularly if the family is as of now beneath neediness and utilizing social administrations to survive. We need to help the families with projects to learn fundamental abilities, child rearing aptitudes, documentation help toward getting to be legitimate. This has the chance to be a win-win for society. We need to give the undocumented immigrants capacities to wind up a legal taxpaying resident and maintain less utilization of social administrations. This is not something that can happen overnight and may not be something that they will acknowledge since they should take in another dialect and lifestyle. All things considered, we burn through billions of dollars consistently endeavoring to capture, keep, and oust these people when we can show them to be decent, profitable individuals.

Connections are established when officers invest energy in neighborhoods by being obvious to the community. Police departments request a contribution of information as to how we are performing from these groups and in return, this creates lasting relationships. At the point when the department is compelled to change their concentration from community policing to immigration crime control, something is lost in the exchange. The security of our country ought to be at the front line of why law enforcement puts on the badge every day. Would it be advisable for us to lose the significant community support that we have received so ICE can come into our communities and tear it down again? How would it look to the immigrant community when we are getting a van to haul away legitimate, hard working immigrants who need to leave their spouses and children behind in light of the fact that they came here searching for a better life? Keep in mind; these undocumented immigrants live in our communities once in a while they even help us with our investigations. This is the quandary that we confront on the local level that the federal government does not see. President Trump expressed that he would coordinate an expansive plan of the National Guard to help local and state agencies with extraction endeavors. This would be a powerful activity as long as the expenses are kept up on the federal government level since local and state agencies have stretched out all assets just to survive.

Local
and state law enforcement organizations must remove the conviction that the
staggering immigration movement issues are the issue of the federal government
and not that of the local and state agencies. The socioeconomics of our communities
are changing at a record pace and local agencies must adjust and overcome. Or,
on the other hand, in any event, create hiring polices to that will help with
attempting to manage the local issue and stop trying to fix the national issue.
The federal government won’t be riding in on a white steed with funding to help
agencies with these populace issues. It is, and will keep on being, their own
particular duty.

REFERENCES

 [1] American Immigration Council: Fiscally
irresponsible, Immigration enforcement without reform wastes taxpayer dollars
(2011) http://www.imigrationpolicy.org/print/just-facts/ficsally-irresponsible-immigration-enforcement-without-reform-wastes-taxpayer-dollars

[2] Inside ICE.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (2004).

[3] Daniel Booth, Federalism on ICE: State and local enforcement of federal immigration law. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 29(3), 1063-1083, (2006)

[4] Arizona v. United
States, 567 U.S. ___
(2012)

[5] Colorado’s
jails full of illegal aliens. New
American, 27(13), 7. (2011)

[6] John Antal,
Border battles: The future of border security technology along the US-Mexico
border. Military technology, 34(11),
53-62 (2010)

[7] James R. Edwards,
Enforcing immigration laws would save taxpayers millions. Human Events, 6(31), 1-9 (2010)

[8] Deport
California’s illegal-alien convicts, The
Washington Times (2011) http://washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/24/deport-californias-illegal-alien-convicts/

[9] Steven A. Camarota,
Welfare use by immigrant households with children: A look at cash, Medicaid,
housing, and food programs. (2011)

[10] Fact sheet:
Document and benefit fraud task forces. (2010) http://www.ice.gov/news/library/factsheets/doc-bene-fraud.htm.

[11] U.S.-born
kids may be split from illegal parents. (2006) 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12921113/ns/is_news-life/t/us-born-kids-may-be-split-illegal-parents/

[12] Edwards, supra note 7

[13] U.S. Government Accountability Office. Immigration enforcement: DHS has incorporated immigration enforcement objectives and is addressing future planning requirements. (2004)

[14] Deport California’s Illegal-alien convicts,
supra note 8

[15] Debra A.Hoffmaster,
& Police Executive Research Forum, Police and immigration: How chiefs
are leading their communities through the challenges. (2010)

[16] Id