JINSA Report #562 "Other than Mexican" and "Special Interest OTM Apprehensions"

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April 6, 2006

JINSA Report #562

"Other than Mexican" and "Special Interest OTM Apprehensions"

The Senate is likely to vote on an immigration reform bill tomorrow.
Particularly in the south, but increasingly in the north, we must
reinstitute American laws and American control of America's borders. And
crucial to the debate and the security of our country are the phrases
"OTM" and "Special Interest OTM Apprehensions."

Google the phrase, "Other Than Mexican," and you get 55 MILLION hits.
"OTM" is a catch phrase for an immigration problem that, while tracked
diligently by the U.S. Government and others, remains almost entirely
without a solution and thus contributes to American vulnerability to
terrorism.

First, the process. Mexicans trying to enter the U.S. illegally are
often simply processed at the border and sent back. But Mexico won't
allow us to send citizens from other countries back through Mexico, and
under U.S. law, they're entitled to a formal deportation hearing. The
immigration service lacks beds to hold them, so the vast majority of
OTMs are released from custody and asked to voluntarily return for their
court date.

Second, the numbers. The Washington Times reported last year, "Of the
estimated 465,000 fugitive absconders (people caught then released on
their own recognizance into the U.S. but failed to return for their
deportation hearing; different from people who enter illegally and are
never caught) currently living in the United States, 71,000 are thought
to be 'other than Mexican' – among whom terrorists lurk… federal agents
in Texas have detected a threefold increase in non-Mexican numbers this
year. The U.S. Border Patrol had detained 98,000 non-Mexican nationals
across the country by early June, but about 70 percent of them were
released immediately owing to lack of detention facilities."

Most of the OTMs are OL – Other Latin – but "Special Interest OTM
Apprehensions" are defined as emanating from countries that would seek
to do harm to American interests; terrorist supporting (and exporting)
countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen, Syria and so on. This
week, FBI Director Robert Muller announced that the Iranian-backed
Hezballah had succeeded in smuggling operatives across the Mexican
border into the U.S. Mr. Muller claimed the FBI had dismantled the
smuggling ring, identified the people who had been smuggled in and
"addressed" them. Or at least "addressed" those we knew about. Or
something.

A word about immigrants: we like them – our families were immigrants –
and immigration ensures our future. We vastly prefer the immigration
demonstrations rolling across the U.S. right now to the angry French
riots. Ours are generally because people believe their economic future
is better here and feature lots of high school students taking an
impromptu "Spring break." Theirs are generally because the future looks
bleak and "twenty-something" students demand a secure economic future
they are unlikely to get.

But our generally positive feelings about immigrants cannot be a
substitute for a bottom-line – it is the obligation of the American
government to control who enters our country and under what circumstances.

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3376

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