ATTRITION THROUGH ENFORCEMENT - The Only Strategy That Can Solve the Illegal Immigration Crisis

WASHINGTON (May 2005) -- Last week, the McCain/Kennedy amnesty plan was unveiled, a bipartisan effort backed by a coalition of business, labor, and ethnic organizations. Like other immigration proposals, including President Bush’s, it is based on a false assumption: Since the federal government can’t quickly deport 10 million illegal aliens, the only alternative is legalization -- i.e., amnesty.

There is a third way, and the only approach that can actually work: Shrink the illegal population through consistent, across-the-board enforcement of the immigration law -- by reducing the settlement of new illegals, increasing deportations to the extent possible, and, most importantly, increasing the number of illegals currently here who give up and deport themselves. Such a strategy of attrition is implicit in the comments of many opponents of amnesty, but has never been formally articulated.

To outline how such an attrition strategy might work, the Center for Immigration Studies will convene an expert panel on Tuesday, May 24, at 9:30 a.m., in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. N.W., in Washington.

WHAT: Panel discussion on strategy to solve America’s illegal immigration crisis

WHEN: Tuesday, May 24, 2005, 9:30 a.m.

WHERE: National Press Club, Murrow Room

WHO: Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies
Gregory Bednarz, Deputy Assistant Commissioner, INS Investigations (retired)
Roy Beck, Executive Director, Numbers USA


Contact: John Keeley, (202) 466-8185, jmk@cis.org