BY HARRY RING
LOS ANGELES - In a series of moves, the White House and
Congress are pumping up their drive against immigrants.
Targeting a six-state area of the Southeast, immigration
cops staged a media-oriented project aimed at pitting U.S.
workers against immigrant workers.
In a three-month operation, demagogically dubbed Operation South P.A.W. (Protecting American Workers), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents raided work sites and arrested or deported 4,044 allegedly undocumented workers. Officials said about 2,000 of the victimized immigrants were replaced by "legal" workers as a result of their efforts.
In the sweeps, immigration cops hit assembly plants, food processors, construction sites, and restaurants. INS district director Thomas Fischer said that in Atlanta they found undocumented workers drawing $15 an hour as skilled carpenters at construction sites.
"Now," Fischer piously declared, "there is an African- American who didn't have a job working on that construction site, making more than $30,000 a year."
The drive to save "American" jobs was assailed by Gail Hoffman, director of the Atlanta-based immigrant aid organization, Bridging the Gap. She declared it served to "demonize" immigrants.
Meanwhile, at the California-Mexico border, the Clinton administration completed the first year of its "Operation Gatekeeper." The operation is based on a steel wall, 10 feet high. Its three sections total 24 miles. Robert Bach, the top policy and planning official for the INS, said the results represent "wonderful progress."
He said the wall has reduced the entry of undocumented immigrants in the San Diego area, but conceded there has been a substantial increase in crossings at nearby areas. The wall itself is not foolproof. Some people who want to get through have tunneled underneath it. Others build ramps on the Mexican side to jump over.
Struggling to reinforce the wall, border cops have tried extending its sheeting as much as 10 feet underground.
"Gatekeeper" is part of a $540 million anti-immigrant crackdown announced in early 1994 by Attorney General Janet Reno. Since then the number of Border Patrol cops has nearly doubled to more than 4,500. The goal is to swell the number to 7,000 in the coming three years.
At the same time, members of Congress are crafting bills to curb the entry of legal immigrants. One measure would chop such entries by a third. Currently, about 800,000 people from around the world are allowed in each year. This number would be reduced to a maximum of 535,000.
Another measure would make it even more difficult for political refugees to gain asylum. A cap of 50,000 a year would be established, half the average number accepted annually over the past five years.
Additionally, the financial requirements for a U.S. citizen to sponsor an immigrant would be increased substantially.
The family reunification provisos of the law would be drawn tighter. Currently, a U.S. citizen or legal resident can bring in parents, brothers, sisters, and children. A pending measure would disqualify siblings and children over 21.
And, once more, there is a move to establish a reactionary national identification system. A federal file of social security and alien registration numbers would be created and employers would be required to verify the legal status of job applicants.