You read it first on VDARE.COM: look out illegal aliens and criminal alien residents – the G-Men are coming!

Thanks to a recent delegation of authority by Attorney General John Ashcroft to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, all Special Agents of the FBI now have the power to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.[VDARE.COM NOTE: Click here to see the memo.]

Putting the FBI on the case is an historic step in the right direction for immigration law enforcement. Beginning December 18, 2002, the FBI has the authority to locate, investigate and apprehend anyone in violation of federal immigration law - especially those in violation of the terrorism-targeted "special registration system" known as NSEERS [National Security Entry-Exit Registration System]. Previously, this authority was retained exclusively by the late, unlamented INS.

But the FBI needs your help. It's time to start reporting illegal aliens and criminal alien residents to the FBI over the internet - or the old-fashioned way, by calling or writing one of the FBI field offices.

The FBI recognizes that the internet can be used to report suspected criminal activity. In contrast, in its entire sorry history, the INS didn't put up a single e-mail address or web-based "tips" form. The FBI's already has done this at https://tips.fbi.gov.

The FBI not only has the power but also the duty to act as immigration officers. So send in your tips today!

The Attorney General's decision allowing the FBI to "exercise the powers and duties of immigration officers" is a significant development for the Department of Justice. By delegating immigration authority to its own elite investigative corps, the Attorney General has seen to it that the DOJ will still have a hand in the immigration law enforcement business.

With the former INS leaving the DOJ as of March 1 – and taking all of its immigration officers with it – the new Department of Homeland Security would have had a monopoly on enforcement. But not now.

Don't worry about turf battles. With over 8.4 million illegal aliens in the country, there's plenty of work to go around.

But with the FBI on the case, it would be possible to make short work of illegal alien day-laborers, visa overstayers, convicted criminal alien residents, bogus asylum applicants, phony foreign students, international alien smugglers, illegal alien gang-bangers, border-crossing coyotes, and other assorted foreign menaces on our shores.

Just think — if the FBI compiles a big enough illegal alien arrest record through citizen reports, maybe enforcing the immigration laws of the United States will become one of the FBI's new priorities.

A helpful suggestion: the new FBI immigration officers should use the federal government's greatest weapon to fight illegal immigration – the expedited removal power of Immigration Act Section 235(b).

They should also ask their boss, the Attorney General, to expand this enforcement tool to the fullest extent of the law.

The FBI could also use their immigration powers to ship as many illegal aliens as possible out of the country under administrative removals and "voluntary departure" orders while still in federal custody (that is, "under safeguards") as an alternative to sending them to the litigation briar patch of the DOJ's dysfunctional Immigration Court system in the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

The FBI's immigration authority is definitely good news for America. If the FBI devotes even a fraction of its resources to immigration enforcement inside our borders, it can succeed where the former INS failed.

Juan Mann, a lawyer, is the proprietor of DeportAliens.com