Border Patrol

Border Patrol Discovers 42 Smuggled Immigrants

 

CALEXICO, Calif. – El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro station arrested a man suspected of smuggling 42 illegal immigrants, which most were dangerously packed in a towed utility trailer Tuesday morning. . .

  Read more about Border Patrol Discovers 42 Smuggled Immigrants

Trump Closes U.S. Mexico Border to Combat Covid-19

Ingraham Angle Was Right on Illegal Health Fears

Congressman to Supreme Court: Unblock the Wall

IRLI Press Release

WASHINGTON � Among the many lawsuits anti-borders activists have launched to try to stop the Trump administration from building a wall on our southern border using military and emergency funds, one has hit pay dirt � at least for the tiime being. A federal district court judge in the Northern District of California has enjoined the administration’s transfer of military funds for that purpose. Late last week, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), on behalf of Congressman Andy Barr of Kentucky, filed an emergency brief in the Supreme Court in support of the government’s petition to stay � that is, suspend � that injunction.

The stakes are high. If the Supreme Court does not stay the injunction, the administration will not be able to transfer the funds this fiscal year, even if it eventually prevails on appeal. In IRLI’s brief, Rep. Barr argues forcefully that the plaintiff, the Sierra Club, lacks standing to challenge military spending decisions based on its aesthetic objections to the military construction projects set to be built.

“It is beyond ridiculous that a group like the Sierra Club was able to stop a military construction project because it doesn’t like the way it looks,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “That may make sense under environmental protection laws, but not under the military appropriations statutes they are suing under. It is particularly ironic that the Sierra Club is bringing this suit, because illegal aliens cause far more environmental destruction � including massive amounts of trash in our national parks � than any border wall couldd. We hope the Supreme Court sees basic reason, suspends this absurd injunction, and lets Trump get to work.”

The case is Trump v. Sierra Club, No. 19A60 (Supreme Court).

Share this release here.  


For additional information, contact: Brian Lonergan � 202-232-5590 � an>blonergan@irli.org Read more about Congressman to Supreme Court: Unblock the Wall

Congress ignores the calamity at the border

The U.S. is being invaded while Congress, with a few brave exceptions, argues about fraud in past political campaigns, does nothing to stop the thousands of uninspected migrants pouring into the country, and denies our Border Protection agents the resources needed to control this flood of people.

Congress has the power to stop massive illegal immigration. Oregon’s Congressional delegation isn’t helping.  Note that in its records of Congressional votes on immigration issues in the current session, NumbersUSA rates the entire Oregon Congressional delegation F-

Read excerpts below from a detailed account that gives figures on the scope of the current problem and spotlights Congressional failure to protect the sovereignty and safety of this country:

McAleenan Details the Scope of the Disaster at the Border

By Andrew R. Arthur, Center for Immigration Studies, June 1, 2019

Excerpts only.  Read the full article here.

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney held a phone briefing on Thursday with members of the press. It revealed, in shocking detail, the scope and the effects of the disaster that is unfolding along the U.S.-Mexico border. Among the points therein:

"Over the past 21 days, an average of over 4,500 people have crossed our border illegally or arrived at ports of entry without documents. In May of 2017, that number was less than 700 a day. The month of May is on pace to be the highest month in crossings in over 12 years and will significantly surpass the record 109,000 in April."

"U.S. immigration authorities now have over 80,000 people in custody, a record level that is beyond sustainable capacity with current resources. Over 7,500 single adults are in custody at the border and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding over 50,000."

"Over 2,350 unaccompanied children – the highest level ever – are currently in custody waiting for days for placements in border stations that cannot provide appropriate conditions for them because Health and Human Services is out of bed space and Congress has failed to act on the administration's emergency supplemental request for more than four weeks."

… More than 75,000 families have already transited through Mexico to the Southwest border this month alone.

More than 4,000 foreign nationals appeared at the border this year with children that they fraudulently claimed were their own, a number that is increasing.

"At any given moment, up to 100,000 migrants are transiting Mexico on their way to the U.S. border."

These are massive numbers, and require context. The flow of aliens twelve years ago consisted primarily of single adult Mexican males, who could be processed by the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) quickly and returned to Mexico with little or no expense. The statistics above demonstrate that the current flow consists primarily of family units (FMUs), largely from Central America, who require significant humanitarian assistance and take almost ten times as long for USBP to process (for reasons I explained in a February 2019 post).  …

Ultimately, … the responsibility for stopping this disaster is with Congress, as McAleenan alluded to: "We've also asked Congress to close the gaps in our laws that incentivize this unlawful flow." Incentivize? "Precipitated" would be the more accurate term.

Congress has the power to provide the resources to handle the current flow, and to fix the loopholes that these aliens are exploiting to limit that flow in the future. Don't hold your breath waiting, however. Congressional Democrats appear to be quite comfortable with this wave and the tragedy that it brings with it, and congressional Republicans failed to act when it was apparent that this wave was building in the last Congress. …

Read the full article here. Read more about Congress ignores the calamity at the border

Trump administration prepares to release Central American migrants 'across the entire nation'

The Trump administration is preparing to send Central American migrants caught along the southern border to Border Patrol stations "across the entire nation," according to a senior Border Patrol official who confirmed the plans Friday.

With more than 4,500 people being caught each day crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, the agency has run out of room at its Border Patrol facilities in the four border states. The agency has started looking at its facilities around the country, which are mostly along the northern border with Canada and coastal states.

That means states from Oregon to North Dakota to Maine may begin receiving planeloads of migrant families in the weeks to come. On Tuesday, Customs and Border Protection sent its first plane full of migrants from Texas to San Diego.

The official confirmed reports on Thursday that the Florida counties of Broward and Palm Beach are under consideration given the size and capabilities of Border Patrol stations in the South Florida region. But he did not say if the decision is final or when the flights would start.

More: Record number of migrants puts 'severe pressure' on Border Patrol facilities

Asked whether any federal funds would be provided to help local communities deal with the relocation of migrants, the CBP official on Friday said he was not "aware" of any such plans.

The CBP official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to brief reporters on the agency's internal discussions, said politics is not playing a role in its search for places to process and release migrant families despite President Donald Trump's commentsthat he wants to send migrants to so-called "sanctuary cities" that do not fully cooperate with federal immigration officials.

"Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities," Trump tweeted last month.

Instead, the CBP official said they are searching only for Border Patrol facilities with the space and computer systems necessary to process large number of migrants each day. The official said the agency is not sending migrants to parts of the U.S. closest to their requested destinations, but making transportation decisions solely on each Border Patrol station's ability to receive large numbers of migrants.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said on Thursday that he was told by local Border Patrol officials to expect flights to start arriving in the area within two weeks, and that South Florida would receive about 1,000 migrants a month.

Officials in both counties complained that the transfers are coming with no apparent plan to house, feed, or care for the migrants after they're released from custody.

Migrants to Florida? Broward and Palm Beach officials worry about migrants dumped in their communities

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican and ardent supporter of Trump, said he didn't know much beyond news reports about plans to release migrants in his state. But he said that if true, it would be a big problem.

"We cannot accommodate in Florida the dumping of unlawful migrants into our state. I think it will tax our resources, our schools, the healthcare, law enforcement, state agencies," he said after a bill-signing ceremony Friday, according to the Miami Herald.

The CBP official could not estimate the average cost of each flight. But on Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which operates the flights, issued a public request for a contractor to handle up to 60,000 migrant transfers a year, with the vast majority of them (88%) being transfers by air.

Border Patrol has complained that its facilities have been overwhelmed by the record number of migrant families crossing the border, most of them requesting asylum to stay in the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is responsible for interior immigration enforcement and has more detention space available, has also said it's running out of space.

That led Border Patrol agents in March to begin releasing migrants directly into local communities, at bus stations, community shelters, churches and other places along the border. That's been happening in Tucson since March.

CBP tried shuttling migrants between Border Patrol stations along the southern border, sending busloads of migrants from the flooded Rio Grande Valley sector in eastern Texas to other Border Patrol facilities in central and western Texas.

Now, the agency is looking all around the country to find more facilities that can help process the migrants. The migrants would be processed, given a date to appear in immigration court and then released into the community. Read more about Trump administration prepares to release Central American migrants 'across the entire nation'

Pres. Trump tells it like it is

In an interview last Sunday, April 28, President Trump describes the crisis at the border in plain terms.  His colorful language is well-suited to getting the meanings across without cover of diplomacy.

From a Fox News report:

Excerpts:

President Trump told “Sunday Morning Future”’ that illegal immigrants are pouring into the country at unprecedented rates “because our economy is so good’’ and ‘‘everyone wants a piece of it’" -- and, he asserted, Democrats have now provided major incentives for illegal immigrants to bring children with them as a legal shield.

‘’You have to have Perry Mason involved” in order to fight some immigration challenges and enforce border security, Trump said, alluding to the backlog of immigration cases and a recent Ninth Circuit ruling requiring that asylum applicants be allowed to go before a federal judge.

"We’re moving people out so fast," he added. "The problem is we have to register them, we have to bring them to court.  Another country just says sorry, you can’t come into our country and they walk them out.  In our country you have to bring them to court, you have to have Perry Mason involved, I mean, you know, it’s all legal.  You have lawyers standing at the border, our people, lawyers, wise guys standing at the border, signing people up."

Trump continued: "Every time they catch a cold they try and blame Border Patrol.  It’s a disgrace what’s going on, and it could be solved in 15 minutes if the Democrats would give us the votes, it would be over."

"What we need is new laws that don’t allow this so when somebody comes in we say sorry, you got to go out.  . ... We have a court system with 900,000 cases behind it. They have a court that needs to hear 900,000 cases," Trump said, referring to overloaded immigration and asylum courts. "It's a system Congress can fix -- and they don't get off their ass."

Trump called the situation at the border like "Disneyland" now that purported family units cannot be separated for sustained periods. Under the administration's "no-tolerance policy," adults who crossed the border with children were charged with illegal entry into the U.S. -- and, shortly afterwards, had to be separated from minors in their group under the Flores decree.

"We -- we go out and we stop the separation," Trump said. "The problem is you have 10 times more people coming up with their families.  It’s like Disneyland now.  You know, before you’d get separated so people would say let’s not go up.  Now you don’t get separated and, you know, while that sounds nice and all, what happens is you have -- literally you have 10 times more families coming up because they’re not going to be separated from their children."

Read the complete news report here.

----------

You can send comments to the President here.

To your U.S. Representative here.

And to your U.S. Senators here. Read more about Pres. Trump tells it like it is

Border Patrol union chief tells how to break log-jam of asylum seekers

Brandon Judd, president of National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents the agents and support staff of the U.S. Border Patrol, presents a great idea for changes that would simplify and restore control of the border.  He recommends that DHS cross-designate and train Border Patrol agents at the senior patrol agent level as asylum officers with limited authority to conduct “credible fear” interviews.

As he explains: “Asylum and deportation proceedings are civil administration actions, not criminal. Therefore, DHS has the right to establish fear thresholds. Unlike in a criminal proceeding, where the government must prove its case, the burden of proof falls on the illegal border-crosser to provide proof establishing a credible fear.

“If the ‘credible fear’ process begins upon arrest by Border Patrol agents, instead of at a later interview before an asylum officer, the process will be much more efficient. If an asylum-trained senior patrol agent determines that the alien has not established a credible fear, an order of expedited removal can be issued, and the illegal border-crosser can be removed immediately. The illegal border-crosser does have appeal rights, but by regulation an immigration judge must hear the case within 10 days of the person asking for reconsideration. Again, because this is not a criminal proceeding, the burden of proof remains on the illegal border-crosser, not the U.S. government.

“If no credible fear is established, the process would take no more than 10 days instead of the 2 to 5 years it now takes to deport an illegal border-crosser who claims asylum. This simple adjustment would end catch-and-release. …”

Read the full article here.  It was published as an analysis/opinion in The Washington Times, Sunday, March 31, 2019.  

Another good discussion goes into more detail: “Top border agent: We don’t need Congress to stop mass migration,” by Daniel Horowitz in The Conservative Review, April 3, 2019.  See it here.

According to an April 4 blog from NumbersUSA, the DHS has recently begun some use of the approach described by Brandon Judd.

You can contact The White House and urge Pres. Trump to have DHS deputize sufficient numbers of its senior Border Patrol officers to act as asylum adjudicators, and stop use of the ineffective catch-and-release procedures.  Email:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ Read more about Border Patrol union chief tells how to break log-jam of asylum seekers

Illegal Aliens Go for a Windfall

WASHINGTON  Two families of illegal aliens from Central America are suing Trump administration officials in a Massachusetts federal district court over their treatment after they crossed the border illegally. The families claim that the month-long separation of the parents from their children when the parents were in jail for a criminal offense violated their constitutional rights. They seek monetary damages from the defendants, who are being sued as individuals, not in their official capacities. The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) this week filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the Trump officials.

The government’s brief on its motion to dismiss does an excellent job of showing that the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendants (none of whom has substantial personal contacts with Massachusetts), and that a damages action of this kind is unwarranted here. IRLI adds to these persuasive arguments a further point: plaintiffs had never even entered the country in a legal sense when their separations occurred, and thus they had no rights under our Constitution to be deprived of.

In immigration law, “entry” is a term of art, generally defined as presence in this country and freedom from official restraint. For example, a traveler at an American airport waiting to go through customs has not “entered” the United States. And a basic principle of constitutional law is that it is the American people" not aliens who have never entered the country in a legal sense, and have no substantial connection to it "who have rights under our Constituution.

Here, the alien families sought out border patrol agents as soon as they crossed the border, intending to claim asylum. When the parents were taken into custody for the crime of unlawful entry, pursuant to the administration’s zero tolerance policy, their children, who could not accompany them into jail, were placed with caregivers for about a month, after which the families were reunited. Thus, according to the leading legal definition of “entry,” the families had never effected entry into the U.S. - and thus had not come under the protection of ouur Constitution.

“This audacious lawsuit richly deserves to be dismissed,” commented Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “These parents could have avoided detention and separation from their children altogether by voluntarily leaving the country. But that didn’t suit their purposes. Then, after the separation they caused was over, they turned around and sued government officials over it, hoping for a windfall for themselves and their attorneys.”

The case is K.O. v. Sessions, No. 4:18-cv-40149 (D. Mass.).

Share this release here.  


For additional information, contact: Brian Lonergan � 202-232-5590 � blonergan@irli.org Read more about Illegal Aliens Go for a Windfall

USBP Agents Arrest Previously Removed Rapist

TUCSON, Ariz. – Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents apprehended a previously deported Mexican national with a violent criminal history after he entered the U.S. illegally Thursday morning east of Nogales.

During processing, agents conducting a records check on 38-year-old Juan Maldonado-Martinez discovered his Oregon convictions for rape in the third degree in 2003 and forgery in the first degree in 2004.

Maldonado will remain in federal custody to face felony immigration prosecution.

All persons apprehended by the Border Patrol undergo criminal history checks using biometrics to ensure illegal aliens with criminal histories are positively identified. Read more about USBP Agents Arrest Previously Removed Rapist

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Border Patrol