Marc Morano, CNSNews.com
Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2002

Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, believes the "country remains very vulnerable to terrorists because our immigration policies remain very lax."

"As long as we continue to have a situation that the [immigration] numbers we allow in are so enormous that the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) is completely overwhelmed ... it seems very likely that we will continue to be at very significant risk for more terrorist attacks," Camarota added.

The FBI is searching for five men of Arab descent after intelligence reports indicated they crossed illegally into the United States from Canada and may have connections to others already under surveillance in terrorism investigations, law enforcement officials said.

Camarota believes the total number of immigrants allowed into the United States needs to be reduced and increasing the funding for border patrols is necessary to combat terrorism.

"Our ability to police our borders to track people once they're in the country and to enforce our immigration laws has been allowed to atrophy and Democrats and Republicans bear equal responsibility in the situation," Camarota said.

Current federal immigration policies are not being enforced, according to Camarota.

"We allow 30 million people into the U.S. on a time-limited basis each year, but we don't keep track of time limits, so the time limit is basically meaningless," he explained.

While current immigration policies do not guarantee more attacks, Camarota said, the current climate makes it more inviting for any would-be terrorists to strike.

"Leaving your windows and door unlocked doesn't guarantee a car will be stolen, but it sure makes it a lot easier to steal if someone wants to," he explained.

An INS spokesman was unavailable for comment.

But, Mike Scardaville, the Homeland Security policy analyst from the Heritage Foundation, disagrees that the current immigration system needs radical reforms and praises the cooperation of the United States and Canada in reining in illegal immigration.

"Many changes need to be made, but it shows increased cooperation with Canada leads to benefits," Scardaville said in an interview with CNSNews.com .

"So, in some ways, some of the changes we made after 9/11 are actually helping," he added.

Camarota does not believes radical immigration reforms will occur anytime soon, pointing to recent polling data which indicates government officials are not in tune with the immigration policies the American people desire.

"There is not any issue on which American people and [their] leaders disagree more profoundly than immigration policy," Camarota said.

"The public is ready, there is just no leadership," he added.

Copyright CNSNews.com

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