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State and local
Friday, February 1, 1991 The Battalion
Rise in illegal immigration
False IDs aid job hunt
AUSTIN (AP) — Illegal immigration across the
Southwestern border appears to be rising again follow
ing three consecutive years of decline, officials said.
“The word is going back (to Latin America) that if
you can obtain, at a minimum cost, a driver’s license
and fraudulent Social Security card, that’s all you need
to meet the burden of proof to work in the United
States,” said Duke Austin, a spokesman for the Immi
gration and Naturalization Service.
Under the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control
Act, employers face civil and criminal sanctions for hir
ing undocumented workers.
But an employer is not required to validate an em
ployee’s documents, making it possible for illegal aliens
to get work with a fraudulent Social Security card and a
driver’s license obtained with that Social Security card,
Austin said. Austin said black market Social Security
cards can be bought for $25 to $40.
“If it looks valid, an employer has met his burden,”
Austin said.
“The word is out that document fraud is the key to
getting ajob in America ... massive quantities of fraudu
lent documents are undermining the effectiveness of
sanctions,” said Dan Stein, executive director of the
Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, a member of the
House immigration subcommittee, said estimates indi
cate that as many as half the illegal aliens in the United
States are using fraudulent documents.
“It’s an issue today; it will be a crisis tomorrow if we
don’t address it,” Smith said Thursday. “To stop this
flouting of the law, we need a tamper-proof card of
some sort — not a national ID card — but simply mak
ing the documents in use tamper-proof.”
According to INS figures, apprehensions of people
trying to cross the Southern border illegally rose from
854,128 in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 1989, to
over 1 million for the fiscal year that ended this past
Sept. 30.
Apprehensions are considered the best measure of il
legal immigration. Apprehensions peaked in 1986 at
1.6 million, then fell steadily in fiscal 1987, 1988 and
1989.
Austin said apprehensions also were up 5.4 percent
for the past quarter — October through December —
compared with the same period a year ago.
“I think the initial impact of IRCA is wearing off,”
Smith said. “It points out the need to more strictly en
force employer sanctions, particularly the need to elimi
nate fraudulent documents.”
Smith said more law enforcement also is needed on
the Mexican border. Although Congress authorized a
50 percent increase in Border Patrol agents in IRCA,
the failure to fund those positions has meant the force
has only grown from about 3,600 agents in 1986 to
around 3,800 to 3,900 agents today. The INS, however,
is funded to add another 200 agents.
Cecilia Munoz, senior immigration policy analyst at
the National Council of La Raza, said tensions along the
border appear to be increasing along with illegal immi
gration.
“Each year we get more and more documented cases
of people getting shot, people getting beaten and
deaths at the border at the hands of border enforce
ment officials,” Munoz said. “That situation is absolu
tely urgent.”
Stein said he believes Congress should establish some
kind of uniform work verification system.
Good doggie
Mathew Janne puts his bear aside to pet Reveille during Tuesday’s basketball game.
Lt. Gov. predicts state tax increase
AUSTIN (AP) — Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock pre
dicted a “rather large” tax increase will be re
quired to meet the state’s needs over the next two
years, while Gov. Ann Richards refused to specu
late on the matter Thursday.
“I have no idea, and I’m not going to pre-guess
it,” Richards said when asked if the state can get
by without a tax increase.
House Speaker Gib Lewis called discussion of
a tax increase premature.
Bullock said, “I don’t see any way around it ...
The possibility of not having a tax bill is very,
very remote if Texas is going to move ahead in
the future.”
That’s despite a bill passed by the Legislature
and signed by Richards Thursday to carve
$139.5 million from state spending and to audit
state agencies to see if more money can be saved.
It was the first bill passed this session, and the
first signed by the new governor.
The state faces a projected budget shortfall of
$4.6 billion through fiscal year 1993.
There is an estimated deficit this fiscal year of
about $265 million, mostly in welfare services,
that the budget-cutting bill will help cover.
The rest of the immediate deficit could be
made up through funds expected to be left in
state coffers when the current fiscal year ends
Aug. 31, lawmakers said.
The bill includes a 1 percent budget cut for
state agencies, with some exceptions, and the
transfer of unspent funds from several accounts.
It replaces a previous proposal to freeze state
spending.
Richards said the bill should assure Texans
that “we have done everything that we know to
do to make sure that the taxpayers are getting
their money’s worth.”
Before a tax increase is considered, Richards
said she would like to see the audits proceed, a
state lottery pass and a committee set up to rec
ommend tax changes, particularly in the state
franchise tax.
A Texas Supreme Court order to provide
more equitable funding to poor school districts
makes the question of a tax increase “dicier and
more difficult,” she said.
Bullock also cited the court order, along with
state welfare needs that could demand another
$1 billion and an estimate that 10,000 more
prison beds are required.
Inactives prepare for war
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The The nationwide activation of
first of hundreds of inactive reserv- thousands in the Individual Ready
ists reporting to Army and Air Force Reserves is the first major call-up of
E osts in San Antonio left civilian life that reserve category in the Army
ehind Thursday to prepare for and Air Force since the Berlin crisis
wartime military service. in 1961.
In Advance
Parent’s Weekend schedule applications accepted
Texas A&M’s Student Government and Parent’s Weekend commit
tee now are accepting schedule form applications for Parent’s Weekend
schedule.
Applications are due by 5 p.m. Feb. 22 in 221 Pavilion. For more
information, contact Ana at 845-3051.
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bur*ger (bor-ing) n. 1. Junk food, syn: pizza.
FREEB/RD'S
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