Survey That Shows Aliens Enter U.S. For Amnesty Cut
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration apparently cut short and suppressed a 2004 survey that showed that many illegal aliens entering America said they were motivated by the prospect that President Bush would grant them amnesty, documents released to a conservative legal group show.
Officials also ordered U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees not to give the public information on “apprehension spikes” or on immigration trends during past amnesties, according to records the Washington-based Judicial Watch obtained from the Department of Homeland Security in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
On January 7, 2004, the same day Mr. Bush delivered a speech proposing a temporary worker program, the Border Patrol ordered agents to ask arrested aliens whether they were seeking “amnesty” or had heard press reports about it. An e-mail released by the agency said 1,711 surveys were completed along the Southwest border and 38% of respondents gave “positive” answers. The message carried the subject line “Casa Blanca additional info.”
While the White House has insisted that the proposed guest worker program was not an amnesty, according to the survey, many illegal aliens saw it as just that. The completed questionnaires include comments such as “I am coming for the Bush amnesty program.”
A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, William Knocke, said the survey was part of “standard operating procedure” to interview apprehended aliens. He said the direction not to release certain data reflected agency policy that such information be provided only from headquarters. “That’s pretty routine in the Border Patrol, and really within agencies within the federal government,” he said.
Mr. Knocke said the survey was devised by the Border Patrol and didn’t involve officials outside the agency. “In no way was there an administration directive to ask or not ask certain questions,” he said.
The president of Judicial Watch, Thomas Fitton, said it was clear that the survey was discontinued because it showed that Mr. Bush’s talk of a “temporary worker program” was increasing illegal immigration.
Rep. Thomas Tancredo, a Republican of Colorado, yesterday asked the Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, to investigate the matter.
