Time for serious action at America’s borders

Time for serious action
at America’s borders

Federal agents from the Immigration and Natural-ization Service working with the Howell Police Depart-ment and Narcotics Strike Force officers from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office scored a hit in Howell on Nov. 8.

As New Jersey continues to see what many people believe is an influx of illegal immigration from Mexico and Latin America, agents arrested five people at a Kent Road home and charged them with running a fake ID scheme.

Specifically, police charged Florentino Ruiz-Campos, 24, Juan Cantos-Campia, 26, Jorge Martinez-Rivera, 21, Ernesto Dominguez-Hortelano, 31, and Norberto Aguilar, 29, with unlawful possession of simulated government identification documents with the intent to distribute them and possession of devices and/or materials to make simulated government identification documents.

Officers found sheets of blank resident alien cards and Social Security cards, as well as photography and laminating equipment and $1,300 in cash.

The charges lodged against the five people stem from legislation approved in October. Penalties can include up to five years in jail and/or a fine of up to $15,000.

According to the prosecutor’s office, a subsequent investigation revealed that all five people who were arrested lacked authentic identification allowing them to be in the United States.

This action — which came not in a big city, but right here in our own suburban back yard — clearly illustrates the lengths to which people are going to enter the United States illegally and to remain here by any means available to them.

According to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Don Peppler, a joint investigation disclosed that there was a ring of Mexican nationals producing and selling fake Social Security cards and resident alien cards at and from the Kent Road home.

Authorities also believe that not only were the fake ID cards being manufactured and sold from the home, but also that individuals had been trained there for expansion of the operation.

We are thankful for the continuing effort put in by law enforcement agents at all levels, starting with our local police depart-ments. Their work, unfortunately, is far from finished. Vigilance and action in this area are not something we can afford to do away with.

News of arrests such as the ones made in Howell on Nov. 8 should serve as another wake-up call to our federal representatives that significant action must be taken now to protect America’s borders in order to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.

Only when it is made clear that the open door to the United States has been closed will the flow of illegals stop.