U.S. Declares War on Illegal Immigration

By Melissa Charbonneau

CBN News

October 5, 2007

CBNNews.com - The Bush administration has launched a new war against illegal immigration with an unprecedented round of federal raids and arrests.

The campaign to round up illegal aliens has seen a tenfold increase in deportations, sparking heated protests from California to Texas.

"We are just scared of going out. Just because you look Hispanic they pull you over," student Crystal Chacon said.

Father Pedro Patillo said, "They are not criminal, they are working people - labor people - who are working to support their family."

Is this crackdown right on time or way overdue? Click play to hear Gordon Robertson's comments.

Since the Democratic-led Congress failed to pass immigration reform, Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff says his mandate has been "enforce the law."

But resistance is rising at home and abroad.

"You know the Mexican Consulate did unfortunately issue a warning for illegal immigrants to stay out of Irving or risk deportation. We are not engaging in racial profiling of any kind," Texas Mayor Herbert Gears said.

In southern California last week, authorities rounded up and arrested 1,300 illegal immigrants. Most had criminal records, had defied deportation orders, re-entered the U.S. illegally, or were members of gangs.

Immigration officials say this year alone they've arrested 30,000 illegal immigrants who refused to leave the country- that's up from less than 2,000 arrests in 2003.

With hundreds more criminal cases pending against illegal immigrants, the backlog in the number of fugitive aliens is starting to ease.

But according to a leaked memo to The White House by Chertoff, the administration's goal to overhaul immigration law won't likely be met before President Bush leaves office.

Ironically, just as the federal government cracks down on illegal immigrants, some cities and states want to give them drivers licenses and identification cards with New York Governor Eliot Spitzer saying that it's important to bring a significant population "out of the shadows."

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