Meese Links Illegal Aliens, Drugs : Calls On Congress to Approve Immigration Reform Bill

WASHINGTON —  Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said today that drug smuggling is intertwined with the flow of illegal aliens across the nation’s Southwest border and urged Congress to pass an immigration reform bill to help solve both problems.

Illegal aliens constituted nearly one-third of the people caught carrying drugs by the Border Patrol in the six months ending March 31, Alan C. Nelson, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, said at a news conference with Meese.

“The reality is that illegal immigration is contributing to the drug problem,” the attorney general said.

Meese said that drug smugglers “get lost in the crowd” of aliens crossing the border and that in some cases the traffickers are pressing aliens to carry drugs. In the last 11 months, the INS has apprehended nearly 1.5 million people illegally crossing the southern border, a 39% increase over the same period a year ago.

Increase in Value

The value of narcotics seizures by the Border Patrol, primarily along the border with Mexico, is up 15 fold since 1981 to $150 million a year, according to INS figures. The Border Patrol made slightly more than 1,000 narcotics seizures from last October through July, more than 100 more than the figure for the previous 12 months.

Meese criticized the House for not quickly considering an immigration reform bill. The measure, approved by the House Judiciary Committee three months ago, has not been sent to the full House.

The attorney general released copies of a letter to House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) saying, “This is . . . probably the last time for some years to come that the Congress is likely to consider immigration reform; too much effort has been expended without result.”

“The beefed-up Border Patrol called for in the immigration legislation will enhance . . . drug interdiction while also deterring illegal alien entry,” Nelson said.

The measure approved in June by the Judiciary Committee includes provisions to fine employers who employ illegal aliens, a move designed to discourage a new wave of illegal immigration.