September 05, 2003

How To Report Aliens II: DHS continues the INSanity!

[VDARE.COM note: Juan’s article How To Report Illegal Aliens continues to be one of our most popular features – but report them to DHS, not to him or us!]

Welcome to the web site for the Department of Homeland Security. Here’s what you’ll find:

Illegal aliens can figure out how to file for employment authorization online.

You can read the biography of Secretario Ridge in Spanish.

But there is still no way for the law-abiding Americans to report illegal aliens and criminal alien residents online.

The dreaded INS may be gone, but the INSanity lives on. So how can you do your patriotic duty and report illegal aliens?

As I previously reported, the Federal Bureau of Investigation provides an online TIPS form to report all types of criminal activity. Though the FBI does not specifically solicit reports about illegal aliens and deportable criminal alien residents, it wouldn’t hurt to inform the G-Men about any violations of federal statutes.

Contrary to popular belief, immigration law violators are not only deportable, but they can also be prosecuted by United States Attorneys for federal immigration crimes.

So by all means, keep the FBI informed through the internet. Use the TIPS form.

In contrast, the DHS still hasn’t discovered online forms, or even e-mail, as a way for reporting illegal aliens. With Ridge at the helm of DHS, the components of the former I.N.S. are separated into three divisions:

“see no evil” (Bureau of Customs and Border Protection—BCBP),

“hear no evil” (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement—BICE)

“speak no evil” - the alien-friendly (Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services—BCIS) “customer service” division.

There is still no central telephone number to call to report aliens. However, there is a new BICE division number for reporting the 10 most-wanted criminal aliens. The phone number—(800) BE–ALERT or (800) 232-5378—doesn’t even reach nationwide! (However, the recorded voice has a Spanish accent.) Still, if you’re lucky enough to be in the calling area, why not report all illegal aliens and criminal alien residents to (800) BE-ALERT—not just the ten with their. pictures on the web.

For a local telephone number, find a field office in your area. All three web sites—BCBP, BICE and BCIS—point back to the same list of BCIS field offices of the former INS districts. The “districts and sub-office” pages for both the BICE and BCBP divisions link back to this same BCIS list.

Many of the field office don’t even list phone numbers. None list e-mail addresses.

But leave it to private initiative to solve the problem. Glenn Spencer’s American Patrol provides a list of phone numbers for former INS district offices that now have BICE investigations divisions.

American Patrol also recommends contacting the Internal Revenue Service criminal investigations division at (800) 829-0433 for tax fraud issues.

The U.S. Border Patrol has a nationwide listing of Sectors to call, most with contact numbers. But the most convenient Border Patrol page is a list of nine Sector numbers along the Mexican border.

Although the goal of the page is to “Report A Missing Person Suspected Of Falling Victim To Dangers Along The Border”—you can call these offices to report illegal aliens in the border area. The numbers still ring at Border Patrol.

If there is no Border Patrol office nearby, as I reported previously—when making a call to report an illegal alien, look up the nearest field office and ask for the (BICE) Investigations Division or the "Enforcement Office."

If you cannot speak with a Special Agent from the Investigations Division, ask to speak to a Deportation Officer from the Detention and Removal unit. Make a report over the phone or go in person.

For Social Security fraud, contact the Office of Inspector General hotline at (800) 269-0271.

Unfortunately, the folks at VDARE.com and DeportAliens.com do not have any magic powers when it comes to reporting illegal aliens. So if you want to work online, please send aliens’ names and addresses to the FBI online form instead—not to us.

But any suggestions on improving our advice on reporting illegal aliens and criminal alien residents will be much appreciated.

We are a long way from the Operation Wetback-type mass deportation of illegals that America now desperately needs. But reporting illegals is a first step.

Remember, by law any report you make to the government must be noted and filed. Which may not seem much. But to government bureaucrats, it means that, one day, they might be held responsible.

Juan Mann [send him email] is a lawyer and the proprietor of DeportAliens.com.