Kudos to Yid with Lid for this major find. I skimmed his first few lines, but I want to understand this myself, so I went first to the source he linked.
Hang on to your hats now, as together we try to understand this (while typing). You may have heard about the OIG of the DHS (Office of Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security) issuing a slew of recommendations on the "decisionmaking process on whether to detain aliens in an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) facility or "place them in supervised release."
ICE officers are required to conduct a search of the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) database for terrorist ties "immediately upon taking custody of any alien." Makes sense, right? In addition, the ICE uses a Third Agency Check (TAC) to screen aliens from specially designated countries (SDCs).
As explained on Page 5 of the report:
ICE does not have an effective policy in place to ensure that all detained aliens from SDCs undergo a TAC screening. ICE did not screen the remaining 60 (52%) aliens in our sample because ICE did not detain the aliens in custody (51), because the Department of Justice granted the aliens relief from removal proceedings (7), or because ICE apprehended them before the date the policy went into effect (2). ICE risks releasing an alien with ties to terrorist organizations if officers do not perform a TAC on all detained and nondetained aliens from SDCs.
By Page 12, the OIG of the DHS gets around to issuing Recommendations for the ICE ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) Director.
Recommendation #2: Revise ICE’s current policy to require officers to conduct TAC screenings for all aliens from SDCs, not just those held in ICE detention facilities.
ICE concurred with all the Recommendations except that one.
Management Response on Recommendation #2
ICE did not concur with this recommendation, indicating that the agency does not have sufficient resources to screen all aliens from SDCs.
OIG Analysis: ICE’s current TAC policy is ineffective because ICE does not perform a TAC for 99% of the population of aliens from SDCs. Conducting TACs is additional measure that can assist ICE in identifying individuals who may pose a threat to the United States. According to ICE, TACs have resulted in high profile prosecutions of suspected terrorists. We consider this recommendation unresolved and open.
So for those few who are still with me, here is the punchline. ISRAEL is on the list of these SDCs, or specially designated countries. They are:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Territories of Gaza West Bank, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
As noted by CNS News by way of The Yid, the list of SDCs mirrors one of "Muslim -majority countries," except for Eritrea (36.5-50% Muslim), Kazakhstan (47%), Israel (16.9%), the Philippines (5%) and Thailand (4.6%).
From Yid with Lid:
OK lets get this straight. Based on new Department of Homeland Security procedures, illegal immigrants who are caught breaking the law will not be deported, but the Inspector General is [now] recommending that every Israeli that visits the US should be subject to special screening procedures.
Wait! It gets crazier:Even though the administration includes Israel among “specially designated countries” that it believes "have shown a tendency to promote, produce, or protect terrorist organizations or their members,” ICE Spokeswoman Gillian Christensen told CNSNews.com that the U.S. also considers Israel, as well as some other countries on the “specially designated countries” list, as partners in the struggle against terrorism.OH Israelis will now be subject to extra screening because the country arrests terrorists.
“The U.S. does not and never has considered Israel to have links to terrorism, but rather they are a partner in our efforts to combat global terrorism,” Christensen said in a written statement. “Countries may have been included on the list because of the backgrounds of arrestees, not because of the country’s government itself.”
Yes, it is absolutely outrageous that Israel is "specially designated" in this way, which is the point of the Jeff Dunetz's post -- but it's ALSO an outrage that meanwhile, Democrats are promoting programs to bring people into the U.S. from many of these very same countries (except Israel).
John Kerry, for instance, proposed a three-year pilot progam of "fellowships" of 3-4 months for participants between 21 and 40 years of age... just last summer!
...with Assad in Syria, April 2010.
As he promised to do back in June, Sen. John Kerry(D-MA), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), introduced legislation yesterday to create a professional exchange program between the U.S. and Muslim-majority countries.
According to an SFRC press release, the International Professional Exchange Act of 2010 (S. 3688) will “establish a two-way professional exchange programbetween the United States and select Muslim-majority countries to promote career development and cross-cultural understanding for young to mid-career professionals.”
Kerry's bill did not pass into law during the 111th Congress, but one has to realize where we would be, "... but for the grace of G-d." And who knows, maybe it's lurking somewhere in Obama's 'stimulus' -- yet to be discovered.
Posted by: Timberland UK Online | Friday, 02 December 2011 at 02:50 PM