jan 14 2013151 analysts from the center for immigration studies cis a think tank that advocates reduced immigration levels and stricter enforcement of current immigration laws said today that legalization programs for undocumented immigrants typically lead to fraud and increased illegal immigration representative lamar smith rtexas joined a panel of cis analysts in criticizing the obama administrations deferred action program daca which grants twoyear renewable deportation reprieves to some undocumented young people smith lumped it alongside other amnesty programs that he considered failures if history is any indication daca will be accompanied by significant levels of fraud smith said adding that the administration has ignored us immigration laws we all know that identity documents can be easily forged he said the four cis panelists in attendance echoed that sentiment and called for the enforcement of current immigration laws before the implementation of any new reforms amnesties are notorious for fraud said jon feere a legal policy analyst for the center according to united states citizenship and immigration services uscis the agency that oversees the deferred action program they keep an eye out for fraud uscis is committed to upholding the integrity of the immigration system and uses a systematic approach to combating fraud said uscis press secretary christopher bentley in a statement if individuals knowingly make a misrepresentation or knowingly fail to disclose factsthey will be treated as an immigration enforcement priority to the fullest extent permitted by law and be subject to criminal prosecution andor removal from the united states but the cis analysts said they think fraud is a part of any amnesty program and new reforms are worthless without adequate enforcement of existing policies the white house plans to push back against the idea that immigration reform amounts to amnesty according to a recent report in the new york times the white house will argue that its solution for illegal immigrants is not an amnesty as many critics insist because it would include fines the payment of back taxes and other hurdles for illegal immigrants who would obtain legal status despite the allegations of fraud in the deferred action program relatively few people have applied thus far of the more than 17 million people the pew hispanic center estimated would be eligible fewer than 400000 had applied by middecember david north a fellow at cis said that previous efforts at immigration reform such as the immigration reform and control act of 1986 irca were too complicated and that any reforms should be smaller and more narrowly targeted north added that there should be no programs specifically for farmworkers and called for an end to programs that allow people to bring family members into the country he said the agriculture industrys claims that american workers wont do the jobs currently filled by migrant farm workers could be solved by forcing the industry to pay workers more and facilitating transportation to farms as an example he said that buses could run from inner cities to fields to pick