Michael Cutler on the Border Patrol agent arrested for alleged immigrant smuggling

By Andrew Cochran

Michael Cutler asked me to post his comments on the news that a Border Patrol agent, who is now suspected of being an illegal immigrant himself, has been arrested for allegedly smuggling other illegal immigrants into the United States:

Clearly there are three disturbing components to this article that need to be considered. First of all, it is always troubling when corruption rears its ugly head in any profession. The fact that a sworn federal law enforcement officer would "sell" his badge and thereby compromise our security is infuriating. Secondly, the article shows just how prevalent the issue of fraudulent identity documents is. The fact is that the altered birth certificate came from Ohio and not from a "border state." I put the term border state in parenthesis because the President made the point during the debates conducted during the last presidential campaign that because he was the governor of a border state, he understands the issue of immigration better than his opponent who did not come from a border state. During a recent appearance on Fox News I made the point that any state that possesses an international airport is a border state. Furthermore, once an illegal alien succeeds in entering the United States, either by running the border or by concealing his/her true intentions and enters through an airport, they often head for the interior of the United States. The fact that a birth certificate from Ohio was the document proffered by this agent in an apparent effort to conceal his true identity and true nationality offers additional evidence that illegal immigration is a national crisis and no state or part of the country is immune. Finally, it is absolutely outrageous that the agency that is charged with securing our borders and enforcing the laws that deal with the enforcement of the critical immigration laws would not only hire an employee without completing the vetting process, but would allow such an individual to stand watch on our nation's border before the vetting process is completed belies a level of incompetence that is not acceptable!

When I was hired by the former INS in 1971 this sort of delayed vetting process was the norm. We all wondered that we were permitted to go on duty while our background investigations were being conducted, but troubling as it was back then, in 1971 we were not embroiled in a war on terror and the drug problem was minuscule as compared with the situation we find ourselves today. Quite some time ago, a heard an expression that has stayed with me: "The INS has a 100 year old tradition- unaffected by progress!"

The times have changed and the way we deal with immigration needs to change. I have often made the point that if the prospect of employment draws the bulk of illegal aliens across our nation's borders, it is fraud that enables them to remain here and hide in plain sight. Fraud can be thought of as coming in two general forms. Immigration benefit fraud where an alien applies for a benefit such as residency and even United States citizenship by concealing a material fact that if known would have barred the applicant from receiving that benefit and document fraud. The Border Patrol agent discussed in the article appears to have engaged in document fraud. I can only wonder how many other government employees may be on the government's payroll in various sensitive jobs who have similarly engaged in fraud? The Border Patrol stands watch on our nation's borders. Their valiant employees are supposed to protect our nation against illegal aliens, drug dealers, gang members and terrorists. This sloppy method of doing business is not only demoralizing to the thousands of dedicated and hardworking members of the Border Patrol, it imperils our nation's security. We can only wonder who Border Patrol agent "Ortiz" and possibly other corrupt agents, have allowed into our country and what threat they pose to our nation.

The bottom line is that phony identity documents permeate our society. If we had an effective interior enforcement program to help combat this critical problem, we would all be safer.

I want to make one last point. We are hearing much about a guest worker program from Democrats and Repbulicans alike. We are constantly hearing from the proponents of such as program, such as the President, Vice-President and members of both Houses as well as various spokespersons for various open border advocacy groups that a guest worker program would finally enable us to know who is here. I have often stated that under the pressure of millions of illegal aliens swamping the beleaguered agency that would have to ultimately process these million of applications, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, it is likely that many "bad guys" would show up and provide false names and that the agency would improperly issue official identity documents to such individuals. It is entirely possible that among those who would be given new identities by our own government could be terrorists and criminals whose names appear on watch lists and "No-fly" lists. If our government was unable to screen out an illegal alien posing as a United States citizen and provide him with such a critical job, I have little confidence that any mass amnesty program would have any integrity at all.

I have made the point that the only thing worse than no security is false security. I believe that this article clearly underscores this critical point.

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