Claudia, Assistant Editor

Napolitano said she wants to improve data-sharing among local, state and federal facilities. So far, there are jails in 26 counties across the country with computer systems that can talk instantly with immigration systems. Really, 26 counties nationwide? That’s pretty unimpressive given my (admittedly unofficial) count of 3,095 counties among the 50 states, including 254 in Texas alone.

I might be reading this wrong, but I think the point is precisely that it's pretty unimpressive and therefore improvement is in order. I don't think mentioning the 26 counties is bragging. The article should have put an "only" before the number, to be more clear. It's fairly remarkable that close to the end of the first decade of the 21st century, so many records aren't digitalized. Especially police and medical records need to be digitalized. Expelling criminal illegals is a no-brainer, intentions-wise. They cost the country money, cause the country active harm and aren't even supposed to be in the country in the first place. Howver I wonder how easy it is. In Spain for instance we have serious problems with home countries. Simply put, the countries refuse to recognize their citizens as theirs and don't allow planes to land. Does the US have workable agreements with Mexico and others for deportation?

Halibut The questions I would ask Napolitano are 1) How about we stop them at the border BEFORE they get here? and 2) How about we deport the illegals BEFORE they can commit the crimes? It is far easier, faster and cheaper to deport an illegal alien BEFORE the crime is committed as opposed to after.

c3 I voted for her as my Governor (though she was a mixed blessing regarding immigration issues) but isn't this kind of a "duh" pronouncement?

Claudia, Assistant Editor Reading this made me wonder about legal immigrant criminals. Yes deporting criminals who are also illegal aliens should be a top priority, but are there mechanisms to revoke the legality of a non-citizen who commits a crime? I say this because in Spain it's practically impossible, almost unthinkable, to revoke legal immigrant status (despite support amongst the citizenry). One would think that if you are a foreigner, even if a legal one, and you commit a serious crime (not minor drug offenses or driving under the influence, more assault, murder and such) you should be tried, sentenced, carry out your jail time and then get a nice kick in the rear back to where you came from on the way out. The US appears to be more reasonable than Europe in this regard, does anyone know what the policy is and if it's enforced?

Caring Human I totally Agree that Criminals should be removed and Borders secured, yet not all undocumented are Illegal, Actually whats the difference between One and the other ? ITS A A PICE OF PAPER ?!! SO NO HUMAN IS ABOVE ANOTHER BECAUSE THEY HAVE A PICE OF PAPER. GET EDUCATED. Illegal immigrants paying more taxes than you think! Eight million illegals pay Social Security, Medicare and income taxes. Denying public services to people who pay their taxes is an affront to America’s bedrock belief in fairness. But many “pull-up-the-drawbridge” politicians want to do just that when it comes to illegal immigrants. The fact that illegal immigrants pay taxes at all will come as news to many Americans. A stunning twothirds of illegal immigrants pay Medicare, Social Security and personal income taxes. Yet, nativists like Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., have popularized the notion that illegal aliens are a colossal drain on the nation’s hospitals, schools and welfare programs — consuming services that they don’t pay for. In reality, the 1996 welfare reform bill disqualified illegal immigrants from nearly all meanstested government programs including food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and Medicare-funded hospitalization. The only services that illegals can still get are emergency medical care and K-12 education. Nevertheless, Tancredo and his ilk pushed a bill through the House criminalizing all aid to illegal aliens — even private acts of charity by priests, nurses and social workers. Potentially, any soup kitchen that offers so much as a free lunch to an illegal could face up to five years in prison and seizure of assets. The Senate bill that recently collapsed would have tempered these draconian measures against private aid. But no one — Democrat or Republican — seems to oppose the idea of withholding public services. Earlier this year, Congress passed a law that requires everyone who gets Medicaid — the government-funded health care program for the poor — to offer proof of U.S. citizenship so we can avoid “theft of these benefits by illegal aliens,” as Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., puts it. But, immigrants aren’t flocking to the United States to mooch off the government. According to a study by the Urban Institute, the 1996 welfare reform effort dramatically reduced the use of welfare by undocumented immigrant households, exactly as intended. And another vital thing happened in 1996: the Internal Revenue Service began issuing identification numbers to enable illegal immigrants who don’t have Social Security numbers to file taxes. One might have imagined that those fearing deportation or confronting the prospect of paying for their safety net through their own meager wages would take a pass on the IRS’ scheme. Not so. Close to 8 million of the 12 million or so illegal aliens in the country today file personal income taxes using these numbers, contributing billions to federal coffers. No doubt they hope that this will one day help them acquire legal status — a plaintive expression of their desire to play by the rules and come out of the shadows. What’s more, aliens who are not self-employed have Social Security and Medicare taxes automatically withheld from their paychecks. Since undocumented workers have only fake numbers, they’ll never be able to collect the benefits these taxes are meant to pay for. Last year, the revenues from these fake numbers — that the Social Security administration stashes in the “earnings suspense file” — added up to 10 percent of the Social Security surplus. The file is growing, on average, by more than $50 billion a year. Beyond federal taxes, all illegals automatically pay state sales taxes that contribute toward the upkeep of public facilities such as roads that they use, and property taxes through their rent that contribute toward the schooling of their children. The non-partisan National Research Council found that when the taxes paid by the children of low-skilled immigrant families — most of whom are illegal — are factored in, they contribute on average $80,000 more to federal coffers than they consume. Yes, many illegal migrants impose a strain on border communities on whose doorstep they first arrive, broke and unemployed. To solve this problem equitably, these communities ought to receive the surplus taxes that federal government collects from immigrants. But the real reason border communities are strained is the lack of a guest worker program. Such a program would match willing workers with willing employers in advance so that they wouldn’t be stuck for long periods where they disembark while searching for jobs. The cost of undocumented aliens is an issue that immigrant bashers have created to whip up indignation against people they don’t want here in the first place. With the Senate having just returned from yet another vacation and promising to revisit the stalled immigration bill, politicians ought to set the record straight: Illegals are not milking the government. If anything, it is the other way around.

Don McAninch In this time of unemployment and overpopulation, it is vital to start eliminating immigration. Both legal and illegal immigration should be reduced to zero.

Don McAninch Why spend a trillion dollars to create three million jobs when we could simply deport three million illegal workers?

Dean Williams What is not said is that many, if not nearly all, of those "criminal aliens" are convicted of minor crimes. Many have just written a small amount bad check, shoplifted a bow tie, had a tift with their wife or husband resulting in a simple battery, or had a small time drug sale or possession, all of which end up being labled a "aggravated felony" just to make the right wing congressmen justify heir efforts to stop as much immigration as possible. It is in fact a "no brainer" that the vast majority of these people do not represent a on going threat to America any more than those vast numbers of Americans do who commit the same offenses. Why not a simple rule - Serious State Felony conviction and you are out. A misdemeanor should not cause a 10 year legal permanent resident with a US Spouse and three US born children to be removed!!!

marc Dean, if simple is your bag, why not enforce immigration rules the people have already approved? If you're here illegally, you're out. That's why we have the law, remember?

anon Dean... I am one of those. 16 years in the country, clean record. Always employed. And facing possible deportation for throwing a cell phone at a g.f. who got caught cheating. People have no clue how messed up and corrupt immigration is. It is obv. the money and efforts are not going into removing dangerous criminals, but the easy cases so they can show productive numbers,.