Duka Brothers' Asylum Application Backlogged

Newsweek reported yesterday on the Fort Dix terrorist wannabes.

The arrest last week of three New Jersey terror suspects who entered the United States illegally more than two decades ago is raising new questions about weaknesses in American immigration controls before and after 9/11. NEWSWEEK has learned that an application for asylum filed in 1989 by the family of three suspects in the New Jersey plot stalled inside the federal bureaucracy for 16 years due to a paperwork “backlog.”

The story of how immigration officials apparently fumbled or lost track of the immigration file on the Duka family of Cherry Hill, N.J., three of whose members are charged in the alleged Fort Dix plot, is certain to provide new fodder for critics of the U.S. immigration system.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a private group that lobbies for tougher U.S. immigration controls, complained that government oversights like the ones that evidently plagued the Duka case are “par for the course” in what he calls “our don’t ask, don’t tell immigration system. We make it as easy as possible for illegal aliens to live here. 'No' never means 'no'.” Krikorian said that immigration bureaucrats were less at fault for these kinds of delays than policy makers who fail to make sure that laws on the books are vigorously enforced.

This is exactly why I vigorously oppose the newest "compromise" immigration bill to pop out of the Senate the way the Alien popped out of the guy's chest and then devoured everyone it could find.

The bureaucracy that couldn't keep up with asylum applications to the point that it had a 16-year backlog is the very same bureaucracy that will deal with all the new applications from all the millions of illegals trying to get in line for legal status. Is there funding in the new bill to hire a few more paper pushers?

How about we hold off on the legalization process for now, take the money earmarked for that, and just build the fence? We can combine that with genuine employer enforcement and then wait a while to see how many of the illegals go back home. Once the border is secure and employers have good reasons to avoid hiring illegal workers, then the potential surge of legal immigration applications should be smaller than it would be now. That's when we can talk about what to do with the people who still want to become Americans.

The law they're getting ready to shove down our throats is a bad one. Those of us near the borders, especially the southern one, need to brace ourselves for the influx of illegals who will be crossing into the country now that this crummy piece of legislation has been announced.

Let the backlog begin!