Q: What steps have you taken to crack down on the smuggling of illegal immigrants into the U.S.?
A: While such criminal activity unfortunately has been a problem for years, the recent finding of 11 deceased victims aboard a rail car in Denison exposed the tragic risks wrought by human smuggling. For nearly four months, the locked, unventilated grain car sat in a storage yard in Oklahoma, sealing the fate of 7 men and 4 women who risked it all to come the United States. The trafficking of undocumented workers obviously is not just a border state issue. This year the Iowa-Nebraska INS office has made 1,033 alien smuggling arrests. I’ve called upon the U.S. Attorney General for additional assistance to find the smugglers who brought the 11 immigrants into the country. I asked the Department of Justice to establish a reward for identifying and finding those responsible for locking up the victims in a rail car in Mexico. I also want the federal Justice Department to offer a toll-free hotline dedicated to this case as well as others. Some people with information may be reluctant to call authorities. A hotline would give them the opportunity to leave anonymous information about the smugglers or provide tips on the identification of the bodies found in the rail car.
Q: What can be done to curb the dangerous practice?
A: As a nation built on immigration, the land of opportunity takes pride in the promise that draws people from all over the world. The desire to enter the United States to work for better paying jobs, personal freedoms and more opportunity sometimes makes newcomers take extraordinary risks. It’s clear a more sustained effort between the United States and Mexico is necessary to avert these tragedies. Part of the blame rests with our own broken legal immigration system. People who yearn to come to the United States to carve out better lives for themselves often must wait for years to enter the country legally. Meanwhile, hired smugglers take advantage of those who are willing to risk their lives in a perilous journey into the United States. To help in the apprehension of those responsible for smuggling the 11 victims recovered in Denison, I ’ve asked the Immigration and Naturalization Service to publicize to the immigrant community the existence of special S visas. These special visas can be made available to aliens who possess reliable information regarding criminal smuggling rings. The INS needs to make it easier for people to offer tips on these criminal organizations. I’ve urged the agency to create a national hotline to gather information on smuggling operations that would cut through the bureaucracy and make investigators more accessible. As a senior lawmaker on the Senate Judiciary Committee, I’ll continue my oversight of the Justice Department to see that the anti-smuggling laws are enforced and those who traffic human cargo are brought swiftly to justice.