Permiso

While the recent Minuteman project focused attention on illegal Mexican immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border in Arizona, there is a vast increase in the number of non-Mexican illegal immigrants crossing the border at McAllen, Texas. The San Diego Union-Tribune notes :

Of the 8,908 notices to appear that the immigration court in nearby Harlingen issued last year to non-Mexicans, 8,767 failed to show up for their hearings, according to statistics compiled by the Justice Department's Executive Office of Immigration Review. That is a no-show rate of 98 percent.

Central and South Americans refer to this notice as a "permiso" or permission slip. In practice, this is literally permission to get lost - since the vast majority of these illegals have no criminal record, and due to a lack of detention facilities, the INS is forced to let them go. Even after 9-11, our nation's borders are still inadequately protected, and with loopholes like this one, the problem will only get worse.