Criminalizing the TNTs

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THE ESTIMATED 500,000 Filipino TNTs ("tago ng tago" -- hiding from immigration authorities), together with the rest of the 11-14 million other undocumented aliens in the United States may become criminals if a bill, which passed the US House on December 15, is passed by the US Senate and is signed into law by US President George W. Bush.

The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act, otherwise known as the Sensenbrenner Bill (HR 4437), which passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives by a vote of 232-189, would make being out of status a federal crime.

Under current law, living in the US without legal status (either by unlawful entry or by overstaying one's visa) is a violation of civil immigration law, not criminal law. The Sensenbrenner Bill would make criminals even of foreign students who drop a class or H-1 workers who lose their jobs and are unable to find new employers in time. It would
even make criminals of those who shield or offer support to illegal immigrants, including employees of social service agencies and church groups, who could face up to five years in prison.

The relatives and friends of the 11-14 million undocumented aliens may be charged with criminal offenses for providing shelter or food or any kind of humanitarian assistance to the "criminal" aliens.

The bill would also require the mandatory detention, until removal from the country, of non-Mexican immigrants who enter the United States illegally, and would toughen penalties for employers who hire undocumented aliens. Employers would be required to submit Social Security numbers and other information to a national data base to verify the legal status of workers.

The United Farm Workers Union attacked the Sensenbrenner Bill for "subverting America's most deeply held values,
including a day in court, checks and balances, and freedom from unjust and arbitrary detention. Instead of fixing our
broken immigration system, this bill will make matters worse by turning millions of decent, hard-working people into criminals, driving them further underground and pushing more workers into the black market of smugglers and criminals."

The bill does not contain any provision that would allow undocumented aliens the opportunity to legalize their status, rejecting President Bush's guest worker program that was backed by the US Chamber of Commerce.

The main sponsor of the most extreme anti-immigrant bill to ever pass the lower house is House Judiciary Committee chair Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Republican of Wisconsin, who said his bill would "re-establish respect for our laws."

Sensenbrenner, one of the House managers of the Clinton impeachment panel, is the author of legislation that would deny citizenship to children born in the US to parents who are out of status.

The Wisconsin Republican also ensured that no undocumented alien would ever be issued a driver's license by attaching his "Real ID Act" as a rider to a military spending bill, without a single hearing ever being held on the bill in the Congress. This Act would punish states that pass legislation giving driver's licenses to undocumented aliens by
prohibiting anyone with driver's licenses from those states from boarding airplanes.

The Sensenbrenner Bill would also withhold federal reimbursement for the incarceration of illegal immigrants from "sanctuary cities" like San Francisco which do not require local police to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities. San Francisco authorities are concerned that the bill will make illegal immigrants fearful of reporting crimes and be prey to criminals.

Why would undocumented aliens report a rape, a theft or an assault if it would result in their deportation?

California's agri-business interests are also worried about this bill that would erect a fence all along the US border with Mexico. Rep. George Radanovich (R-Fresno), warned that if all the government does is close the border and penalize employers, he said, "then those agriculture jobs are going to be outsourced. They're going to leave the country. California agriculture is the biggest economy in the state, over $35 billion, and we can't afford to lose it."

Why does Sensenbrenner hate undocumented aliens so much?

Dr. Seuss may have stumbled on the answer in his famous poem "How the Grinch Stole Christmas":

"Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small."

All the anguish, pain and suffering that would be inflicted on tens of millions of aliens and their relatives and friends with the passage of this bill shows that Republican lawmakers like Sensenbrenner don't have small hearts. They have none.

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