U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., has fought to bring the illegal-immigration issue to light for the past couple of years, but recently stepped up her efforts to secure America’s borders by drafting four bills designed to close critical areas of omission created by government agencies. She plans to bring them before the next congressional session.
There are those who are citizens of the United States, and those who are not, and everyone in this country illegally must leave, immediately, according to Myrick, who continues to fight for the eviction of illegal immigrants from North Carolina and the rest of the country.
“It’s just crazy,” she said. “Nobody’s been forcing the issue, but we’re forcing the issues. We’re not going to give in, I’ll tell you that. We’ll just keep on pushing it. We won’t give up.”
The first bill addresses illegal immigrants who use false Social Security numbers to gain employment. The numbers often belong to hard-working, honest Americans, she said.
“It’s a huge problem, and a form of identity theft,” Myrick said. “Four to seven million Social Security cards are being used by illegal aliens. Instead of stopping it, the Social Security Administration sets up two accounts — one for the person that owns the card, and one for the illegal alien. That way, Social Security gets to keep the money and they never have to pay it out.”
If passed by Congress, Myrick said, the bill will require the Social Security Administration to report duplicate Social Security numbers to the Homeland Security Administration.
The second bill would also require the SSA to notify American citizens when their numbers are being used by someone else.
“Illegal aliens are using the Social Security numbers of Americans and they are doing it without the knowledge of those Americans,” she said. “Once the number is given, it’s a person’s private property and nobody has the right to it. It’s happening all over the country and it’s absurd. Illegal aliens who use a Social Security number to get a job are committing a felony, and this felony is not a victimless crime. It affects citizens and their livelihood. It’s wrong and I’m going to do everything I can to fight to stop it.”
Two other bills Myrick will submit are aimed directly at North Carolina and a few other states making it easy for illegal immigrants to earn a living.
The first stipulates that any contractor who knowingly employs illegal aliens to work on any federal, state, or local projects will have the contracts canceled and make the employer ineligible for federal contracts for two years.
“I hope this is going to really encourage North Carolina to stop sending tax dollars into the pockets of illegal aliens, or, the state will lose all federal funding for that particular project,” the congresswoman said. “This is a misuse of tax dollars. North Carolina hires contractors that hire illegal immigrants to work on their projects. We need to put pressure on North Carolina. No one’s put pressure on them. We’ve got to get all the states to realize that they need better control over their contractors and know what they are doing.”
Another bill would outlaw the use of a taxpayer number to be used as a valid form of identification to obtain a driver’s license, a practice that is allowed in North Carolina.
“I hope this lights a fire under the leadership in North Carolina,” Myrick said. “They need to address the problem when they come back into session.”
Katie Norman, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, said Dole is not familiar with the details of Myrick’s legislation. However, Norman said Dole agrees the Senate’s top priority must be passing legislation to secure U.S. borders.
“Such legislation should include provisions to increase the number of border agents, make better use of technology to monitor the border,” Norman said, “And, have sufficient facilities to detain all those who are caught illegally entering our country.
William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration in Raleigh, said although he supports Myrick’s efforts, no new legislation is needed to take care of the illegal-alien problem. He said 72 percent of residents in North Carolina and 80 percent of Americans nationwide support deportment and if officials in Washington D.C. would follow existing laws, then those people that don’t belong here would be forced out.
“No more playing games,” he said. “No more trickery. Put down the pen and step away slowly. There’s no need for new legislation. Let’s stop pretending. The problem runs deeper than illegal immigration. This is a constitutional crisis. The process itself is in jeopardy. It’s flat out the national principal of the thing.”
Recent protests by illegal immigrants woke up the conscientiousness of Americans and the majority of citizens are “mad as hell,” Gheen said. It’s become a true populous movement crossing over all party lines and even includes a vast number of legal immigrants, he said.
Gheen urges members of Congress to start listening to their constituents. He said they should start their morning every day demanding that President Bush follow the laws, to enforce existing legislation.
“They should tell Bush he is violating his oath of office,” he said. “But, they’re scared. They’re not listening.” Because the laws aren’t enforced, Gheen said, illegal immigrants are systematically building a new nation.
“The illegal immigrants have a new country in mind,” he said. “They don’t respect our laws and culture. If they are in control we can only imagine what the new state of North America will be.”
Karen Welsh is a contributing editor of Carolina Journal.