Michael Cutler -- Tunnels & Open Borders Used to Smuggle Narcotics

A news release appeared on the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website. This article could be called a "Good news: Bad news" article.

The good news is that our Border Patrol agents intercepted a significant load of illegal drugs, in this case, ecstasy, from entering the United States. The bad, indeed, disturbing news is that the news release does not make note of who the driver of the vehicle was! Nor is there any mention as to how many other people were in the vehicle with him. All that is noted at the end of the press release is:

Agents stopped the described vehicle leaving this area and with consent from the driver conducted a search of the vehicle and two conspicuous suit cases seen in the rear cargo area. A total of 120,000 tablets of Ecstasy valued at $1,440,000 were discovered inside the suitcases.
“This clearly shows our ability to rapidly respond to simultaneous threats occurring along our border,” commented Chief Bates of the Blaine Sector.

The DEA took custody of the suspects, vehicles and contraband.

As I recall, back in the days when I attended high school we were taught that a good report answered the questions: "Who, What, Where, When, Why and How."

Isn't it interesting that the first question, "Who" was never answered?

The United States Border Patrol used to be a division of the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service). You would think that any article written by the agency that superceded a component of the INS, CBP, would have considered the identity and nationality of the smugglers caught with such a significant quantity of drugs to be of sufficient importance to have, at least, made mention of this fact!

Ever since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the lackluster enforcement of the immigration laws became an even lower priority than it had previously been. This is more than ironic, it is absolutely unacceptable!

The 911 Commission came to the obvious conclusion that it was the laxity of border security to be found at ports of entry (in addition to the land borders that are supposed to separate the United States from Canada and Mexico) that enabled the terrorists to enter our country and carry out their deadly attacks. This was further exacerbated by a lack of integrity within the immigration benefits program by which aliens are accorded resident alien (lawful immigrant) status and even United States citizenship.

On May 5, 2005 I testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims at a hearing that was entitled:

NEW ''DUAL MISSIONS'' OF THE IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

You can read the transcript of that hearing here.

I have made the point, repeatedly, that other than both being border agencies, the former U.S. Customs Service and the former Immigration and Naturalization Service had nothing in common. That is why Customs used to be on the chain of command of the Treasury Department while INS had been a division of the Department of Justice.

I had, in fact, advocated (prior to the creation of the DHS) that all of the enforcement divisions of the INS should have been placed under a single command structure to create a seamless enforcement program. I came to refer to this approach as the "Immigration Enforcement Tripod."

Under this arrangement the enforcement of the immigration laws at ports of entry would be conducted by the immigration inspectors, the enforcement of the immigration laws between ports of entry and the critically important enforcement of the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States would have been conducted by the special agents of the INS.

Under the structure of the DHS, enforcement components of the immigration law enforcement program were merged with a number of other agencies and were also divided. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which deals with the enforcement of customs and immigration laws along with other law enforcement entities such as Secret Service, was separated from the border enforcement program that was moved to CBP.
I have noted on a number of occasions that our government had created a bureaucratic wall that divided the enforcement program that was supposed to create a barrier against those who would enter our country in violation of law and threaten our security and our safety.

As I stated in my testimony at the hearing I noted above:

"It is vital that there be real accountability and real leadership where immigration is concerned. While Customs and Immigration were both border enforcement agencies, the border is where their similarities begin and end. I would, therefore, strongly recommend that the law enforcement officers charged with enforcing the immigration laws have a dedicated chain of command with a budget and training program that focuses on immigration. Certainly they can and should work cooperatively with the former Customs enforcement agents, but they need a separate identity in order to make certain that the current ''Customization'' of immigration law enforcement stops immediately for the security of our Nation. The enforcement of our immigration statutes needs to be the priority, and not an afterthought."

I wish that the failure to mention the identity or at least the nationally or immigration status of those who were involved with the smuggling of more than 2 million dollars worth of ecstasy into our country was an oversight, but I am certain that it was of scant importance to the agencies that are supposed to be involved in the security of our nation's border!

This press release was written by CBP! It would have been hard to understand if a reporter from a newspaper wrote the article and committed this oversight, but it is absolutely unacceptable that CBP would consider that information to be of such insignificance that they did not mention it!

I hope that if the individuals who were arrested were aliens, that CBP at least lodged detainers so that their deportation will be sought when they have served their prison sentences, presuming that they are successfully prosecuted.

If those who were arrested by the Border Patrol are United States citizens, then that should have been stated in the article. The point is that I am concerned that this article makes it appear that no one at CBP cares!

Yesterday I watched a program on the History Channel that detailed the work being done to protect our nation from terrorist attacks. In one telling segment, a remotely controlled aircraft was shown to have the technology to find tunnels that were dug between the United States and Mexico. The technology appeared to be truly amazing, if it works as advertised.

Forgive my cynicism, I have seen far too many "dog and pony" shows that were more about creating illusions than they were about the reality of the situation.

The DHS spokesman who talked about the technology spoke about how the discover of those tunnels would help to prevent weapons of mass destruction and narcotics from making their way into the United States. Incredibly, the DHS representative failed to state what I would have imagined to be the obvious: securing the border would also help to keep the terrorists out of the United States, along with criminals, gang members and illegal aliens whose intentions were to violate our borders and our laws!

On another occasion, I stated that the "shotgun wedding" that paired immigration and customs created a marriage that would never be consummated!

Many of the managers at ICE and within the inspections program at CBP had come from legacy Customs and these people had little experience with, or interest in, enforcing the immigration laws.

Here is yet another place where the new administration can provide us with real "Change we can believe in:"

Make the enforcement of the immigration laws and the security of our nation's borders against the entry of illegal aliens a major priority!

If the goal is to create an economic stimulus to jump start our nation's economy, then it must be understood that the hiring of alien workers creates a two fold problem. It leads to the displacement of American workers who are, already losing their jobs, by the thousands, each and every day.

Additionally, when foreign workers get paid, they tend to send as much of their earnings as possible back to their families in their home countries. This runs contrary to the concept of the economic stimulus program that We the People have been told by the "leaders" of our nation is supposed to pump money into the economy of the United States!

This concept is not rocket science! This does not require an advance degree in accounting or economics to understand. This is common sense!

A couple of years ago, one of the cell phone companies ran a series of commercials in which a guy with a cell phone was seen walking all over the United States making a call on his cell phone and asked, "Can you hear me now?"

It is time that "We the People" called our elected representatives and asked them, "Can you hear us now?!"

Good citizenship does not end at the voting booth but it simply begins there. In order for our representative democracy to represent us, we need to communicate with our elected representatives to let them know in clear and unequivocal terms what we want.

I implore you to get involved!

Michael W. Cutler graduated from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 1971 with a B.A. in Communications Arts and Sciences. Mr. Cutler began working for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in October 1971 when he entered on duty as an Immigration Inspector assigned to John F. Kennedy International Airport. In August 1975 he became a Criminal Investigator (Special Agent) for the INS at NYC.

He rotated through virtually every squad in the Investigations Branch. From 1988 until 1991 he was assigned as the INS representative to the Unified Intelligence Division (UID) of the DEA in New York. In 1991 he was promoted to the position of Senior Special Agent and was assigned to the Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) which required that he work with members of other law enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Customs and local and state police as well as law enforcement organizations of other countries including Israel, Canada, Great Britain and Japan, to conduct investigations of aliens involved in major drug trafficking organizations. He retired from the INS in February 2002, after a career that spanned some 30 years.

Finally, Michael Cutler has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including Lou Dobbs, Fox News, MSNBC and many other television and radio news-oriented programs to discuss the enforcement of immigration laws.