Misusing Immigration Policies in the Name of Homeland Security

Perhaps we should have expected a crackdown on non-citizens after 9/11. After all, the 19 hijackers were foreigners who somehow made it into the country to commit evil. Since they were adherents of Muslim extremism as advocated by Osama bin Laden, focusing the crackdown on Arab and Muslim noncitizens made sense—ethnic and religious profiling appeared to be in order. It seemed a natural response to implement new procedures and to reorganize administrative institutions, ensuring that all immigration visa processes and enforcement went through the lens of national security.

But did these responses really make sense? Had these changes been in force prior to 9/11, would the profiling and immigration-specific modifications have prevented the attacks? What do we have to show for the changes that have been made? What price have we paid?

The answers may be frustrating. In fact, we would not have caught the hijackers if the new systems were in place prior to 9/11. There is little to show for the profiling that has occurred, and the country has paid a tremendous price in terms of civil liberties and relations with noncitizen communities—particularly Arab, Muslim, and South Asian communities. Profiling may make us feel more secure, but we are not. Actually, it may be making matters worse. Any real advances in homeland security are due more to efforts in place before 9/11, coupled with greater cooperation between agencies and better policing practices, than with crackdowns on noncitizens.

Legislative and Executive Response to 9/11

Since 9/11, Congress and the president have screened immigration policy proposals and enforcement procedures through the lens of national security. For anti-immigrant forces in the United States, 9/11 provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the tragic events to draw linkages with virtually every aspect of their nativist agenda. However, this is a neo-nativist agenda born of old hate cloaked in suggestions of international intrigue.

The Bush White House helped set the foundation for the neo-nativist agenda in its legislative proposals that led to the USA PATRIOT Act, authorizing broad sweeps and scare tactics. The Bush White House demonstrated its philosophy in words such as these in its July 2002 National Strategy for Homeland Security:

Our great power leaves these enemies with few conventional options for doing us harm. One such option is to take advantage of our freedom and openness by secretly inserting terrorists into our country to attack our homeland. Homeland security seeks to deny this avenue of attack to our enemies and thus to provide a secure foundation for America's ongoing global engagement..

(White House 2002, emphasis added)

A restrictive organization like the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) takes these words and argues that in the Department of Homeland Security's

expansive portfolio, immigration is central. The reason is elementary: no matter the weapon or delivery system—hijacked airliners, shipping . containers, suitcase nukes, anthrax spores—operatives are required to carry out the attacks. Those operatives have to enter and work in the United States. . . . Thus keeping the terrorists out or apprehending them after they get in is indispensable to victory.

(Krikorian 2004)

Thus, CIS used the opportunity presented by 9/11 to argue against issuing driver's licenses to undocumented people and to advocate for sweeps and apprehensions. Apparently, the idea is to make it hard for potential terrorists (i.e., foreigners) to move around or make a living, so they will become discouraged and leave. And who can argue against keeping terrorists out or apprehending them after they arrive?

Congress and the Bush Administration heeded the appeals to implement harsh immigration policies. The events of 9/11 and the ensuing call to action from many quarters—including the anti-immigrant lobby—resulted in far-reaching legislative and enforcement actions. These enforcement actions had implications not only for suspected terrorists...