Border Patrol Union Supports Donald Trump and his Border Security Strategy

Border patrol union defies AFGE, endorses Trump

By Carten Cordell, Federal Times

An affiliate of the American Federation of Government Employees decided to break ranks with the union and endorsed Donald Trump for president.

The National Border Patrol Council, which represents approximately 18,000 border patrol agents, said that the issue of security led it to make its first presidential endorsement for the outspoken Republican on March 30.

“We think it is that important: if we do not secure our borders, American communities will continue to suffer at the hands of gangs, cartels and violent criminals preying on the innocent,” the group said on its website. “The lives and security of the American people are at stake, and the National Border Patrol Council will not sit on the sidelines.”

The move could be seen as bewildering to some, especially since AFGE endorsed Hillary Clinton in December 2015. The pick didn’t sit well with the NBPC at the time, as it said AFGE acted without its endorsement and didn’t address its concerns over border security.

“We recognize that our agenda is not always AFGE’s agenda and so do our supporters on Capitol Hill.  This is why, our strategy to work both sides of the aisle to advance legislation has benefited agents and their families as well as border security,” the group said in a Dec. 11, 2015 release.

In its release, the NBPC said Trump’s outsider, populist appeal has drawn attention to the challenges its members face in enforcing border security. It also took shots at President Barack Obama and Trump's primary rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

“America has already tried a young, articulate freshman senator who never created a job as an attorney and under whose watch criminal cartels have been given the freest border reign ever known.”

AFGE officials directed inquiries to the NBPC. Read the full statement below or on the NBPC site.

The National Border Patrol Council is the official organization representing our nation’s Border Patrol Agents. We represent 16,500 agents who selflessly serve this country in an environment where our own political leaders try to keep us from doing our jobs.

The NBPC has had a longstanding practice of not endorsing presidential candidates in the primaries. We will not, however, shy away from voicing our opinions as it pertains to border security and the men and women of the United States Border Patrol. As such, we are breaking with our past practice and giving our first-ever endorsement in a presidential primary. We think it is that important: if we do not secure our borders, American communities will continue to suffer at the hands of gangs, cartels and violent criminals preying on the innocent. The lives and security of the American people are at stake, and the National Border Patrol Council will not sit on the sidelines.

As an organization we expect our elected officials to aggressively pursue the interests of the country. America has already tried a young, articulate freshman senator who never created a job as an attorney and under whose watch criminal cartels have been given the freest border reign ever known.

Unlike his opponents, Donald Trump is not a career politician, he is an outsider who has created thousands of jobs, pledged to bring about aggressive pro-American change, and who is completely independent of special interests. We don't need a person who has the perfect Washington-approved tone, and certainly NOT another establishment politician in the W.H. Indeed, the fact that people are more upset about Mr. Trump’s tone than about the destruction wrought by open borders tells us everything we need to know about the corruption in Washington.

We need a person in the White House who doesn't fear the media, who doesn't embrace political correctness, who doesn't need the money, who is familiar with success, who won't bow to foreign dictators, who is pro-military and values law enforcement, and who is angry for America and NOT subservient to the interests of other nations. Donald Trump is such a man.

Mr. Trump is as bold and outspoken as other world leaders who put their country's interests ahead of all else. Americans deserve to benefit for once instead of always paying and apologizing. Our current political establishment has bled this country dry, sees their power evaporating, and isn't listening to voters who do all the heavy lifting. Trump is opposed by the established powers specifically because they know he is the only candidate who actually threatens the established powers that have betrayed this country.

You can judge a man by his opponents: all the people responsible for the problems plaguing America today are opposing Mr. Trump. It is those without political power – the workers, the law enforcement officers, the everyday families and community members – who are supporting Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump will take on special interests and embrace the ideas of rank-and-file Border Patrol agents rather than listening to the management yes-men who say whatever they are programmed to say. This is a refreshing change that we have not seen before – and may never see again.

Mr. Trump is correct when he says immigration wouldn’t be at the forefront of this presidential campaign if months ago he hadn’t made some bold and necessary statements. And when the withering media storm ensued he did not back down one iota. That tells you the measure of a man. When the so-called experts said he was too brash and outspoken, and that he would fade away, they were proven wrong. We are confident they will be proven wrong again in November when he becomes President of the United States.

There is no greater physical or economic threat to Americans today than our open border. And there is no greater political threat than the control of Washington by special interests. In view of these threats, the National Border Patrol Council endorses Donald J. Trump for President – and asks the American people to support Mr. Trump in his mission to finally secure the border of the United States of America, before it is too late.

Ben Ferro (Editor, insideins.com)

benferro@insideins.com

Shameful and illegal practice of releasing major criminals by Obama Administration

Free to Kill: 124 Criminal Aliens Released By Obama Policies Charged with Homicide Since 2010

By Jessica Vaughan, March 14, 2016 (from her blog at www.cis.org)

In response to congressional inquiries, ICE has released information on some of the criminal aliens who have been released by the agency since 2010. Specifically, ICE provided information on aliens who were charged with homicides after being released and aliens who were released multiple times by ICE.

The criminal aliens released by ICE in these years — who had already been convicted of thousands of crimes — are responsible for a significant crime spree in American communities, including 124 aliens charged with 135 new homicides. Inexplicably, ICE is choosing to release some criminal aliens multiple times.

Only a tiny percentage of the released criminals have been removed — most receive the most generous forms of due process available, and are allowed to remain at large, without supervision, while they await drawn-out immigration hearings. They are permitted to take advantage of this inefficient processing even though they are more likely to re-offend than they are to be granted legal status.

There is a human cost to the Obama administration's careless catch and release policies for criminal aliens, euphemistically known as "prioritization". These policies have led to 124 new homicides since 2010, and thousands of other crimes that harm citizens and degrade the quality of life in American communities.

124 Aliens Charged With Homicide After Release Since 2010

A total of 121 criminal aliens who were freed by ICE over the five-year period between 2010 and 2014 were subsequently charged with homicide-related crimes within that time frame. (Three more were charged in 2015; see below.) These 121 accused murderers were associated with 250 different communities in the United States, with the most clustered in California, New York and Texas.

These aliens had 464 criminal convictions prior to release by ICE, ranging from drug crimes to DUI and other driving offenses to larceny and theft.

Another three aliens who were released by ICE during that time were charged with homicides during the first 10 months of FY2015, bring the total number of criminals aliens released by ICE who subsequently were charged with homicide to 124.

This tally does not include aliens who were released by sanctuary jurisdictions, nor those aliens that were released by local law enforcement agencies after ICE declined to take them into custody due to Obama administration prioritization policies. This list includes only those aliens that ICE arrested and then released.

The names of the criminal aliens were redacted by the Judiciary Committee, but the list presumably includes murderers like Apolinar Altamirano, an illegal alien who was arrested by ICE in 2013 following his conviction on local charges involving a burglary and abduction, but who was released on a $10,000 bond and permitted to remain free and elect to have deportation proceedings that would take years to complete. In January 2015 Altamirano shot and killed 21-year-old Grant Ronnebeck while he was working at a convenience store where Altamirano had come to buy cigarettes.

Aliens Released By ICE on Multiple Occasions Since 2013 Commit Hundreds of New Crimes

ICE reported that there are 156 criminal aliens who were released at least twice by ICE since 2013. Between them, these criminals had 1,776 convictions before their first release in 2013, with burglary, larceny, and drug possession listed most frequently.

The vast majority (124) of these criminal aliens were released in California. In addition, 16 were released in Arizona, six in Texas, three in Florida, two in Georgia, and one each in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Washington, and Oregon.

These criminal aliens racked up a total of 243 additional convictions after being freed by ICE. The largest number (24) were for drunk or drugged driving, but they also included drug offenses, burglary, theft and larceny, and sex offenses.

ICE further disclosed that 47 of the recidivist aliens who were released at least twice had since been charged with an additional 106 crimes since their most recent release. So far, 20 have been convicted of crimes including burglary, dangerous drugs, DUI, fraud, and assault on a police officer.

Why Were They Released?

ICE has previously disclosed that 75 percent of the homicidal criminal aliens were released due to court orders, including the so-called Zadvydas cases, in which the alien's home country would not take them back. The rest were released by ICE's choice.

Of the 156 recidivists that ICE released at least twice, fewer than half (67) were released because their home country would not take them back, 16 were released on bond by an immigration judge, and 73 were released by ICE's choice. ICE says it tried to contest only one of the releases ordered by an immigration judge — meaning that ICE essentially consented to more than half of these releases.

Of the 156, a total of 88 were released under "supervision", 40 were released on bond, and 28 were released on an order of recognizance (without supervision).

In a separate communication, ICE provided a list of the countries that currently are uncooperative in accepting their deported citizens: Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Cape Verde, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

Criminal Aliens Released in 2014 Were Convicted of 2,560 New Crimes

In 2014, ICE released a total of 30,558 criminal aliens from its custody. These aliens had already been convicted of 92,347 crimes before they were released by ICE.

As of July 25, 2015, a total of 1,895 aliens have been charged with a crime after being freed by ICE. As of that date, 1,607 aliens had been convicted of a crime after being freed by ICE. The total number of new crimes for which these aliens were convicted after ICE released them was 2,560.

These 2,560 new crimes by aliens ICE released instead of deported in 2014 include: 298 dangerous drug offenses, 185 assaults, 40 weapons offenses, 28 sex offenses, 10 sex assaults, four kidnappings, two arsons, and one homicide. There were 1,044 traffic offenses included in the list.

Only 3 percent of the Criminal Aliens Released in 2014 Have Been Removed

As of July 25, 2015, only 974 (3 percent) of the 30,558 criminal aliens freed by ICE in 2014 have been removed. Presumably some of these aliens are again incarcerated or in ICE custody following conviction for the 2,560 new crimes after their release by ICE.

However, ICE reports that 28,017 still had a pending immigration case as of July 25, 2015, suggesting that many of these released criminal aliens will remain here for some time under Obama administration policies that allow them to elect for drawn-out immigration court proceedings rather than accelerated forms of due process and removal.

In addition, there were 1,567 of these released criminal aliens who have been allowed to stay in the United States.

ICE's full response to the Judiciary Committee's inquiries can be found here.

Improved Reporting on Immigration Status of Criminals Needed

The public should not have to rely on members of Congress to demand information from federal immigration agencies about criminal aliens. Immigration status should be reported on a routine basis by all law enforcement agencies, so that federal authorities can respond appropriately when an alien is arrested, and so that the public can determine the true public safety impact of immigration policy. Legislation has been introduced by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) that would remedy this problem.

Ben Ferro (Editor, insideins.com) 

benferro@insideins.com

Equipped with written Code Words in their pockets ………….

Immigrants from terror hubs claiming 'credible fear' to seek US asylum

By William La Jeunesse,  Published March 22, 2016,  FoxNews.com

Hundreds of illegal immigrants from terror hotspots are using what critics describe as loopholes in U.S. immigration policy to try to remain in the country indefinitely, according to data obtained by Congress.

Taking a page from the playbook used by Central American women and children to gain U.S. entry, hundreds of immigrants from Egypt, Somalia, Pakistan, Iran and Syria caught entering the U.S. last year made asylum claims to avoid deportation – and, in doing so, asserted they had a “credible fear of persecution.”

This phrase is important because it allows them to be released and work in the U.S. Prior to 2009, the U.S. held in custody many asylum seekers entering the U.S. illegally until their cases were resolved in court -- but an Obama administration policy change allowed those fearing persecution to be released.

The finding that asylum seekers from turbulent Middle Eastern and African countries are now using this phrase to gain entry and remain on U.S. soil has raised security concerns on Capitol Hill.

"These numbers illustrate vulnerabilities throughout our immigration system," Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., said Tuesday. "Dangerous criminals and potential terrorists are gaming the system without consequence. The Obama administration is compromising our national security and safety for its political agenda."

DeSantis, chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security, is set to hold a hearing Wednesday on the potential threat posed by these individuals in light of the Paris and Brussels attacks. His subcommittee obtained the findings on the methods being using to remain in the U.S. Witnesses set to appear at the hearing Wednesday are Ronald Vitiello, acting chief of the U.S. Border Patrol; and Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council.

Stats obtained by the subcommittee from October 2014 to September 2015 show that the bulk of the “credible fear” claims still are coming from Central American and Mexican immigrants. But 80 were from Syrian nationals, 191 were from Pakistani nationals, and 776 were from Somalian nationals.

"They are coming through the backdoor," Judd said. "Do I believe they have a credible fear? In a small percentage, maybe. But the vast majority we arrest are telling our agents that they are coming because they know they will be released. That's why they are coming."

Judd said illegal immigrants have found a second loophole as well. By claiming they arrived in the U.S. before 2014, immigrants are able to avoid detention and deportation.

Here's why:

In January 2014, President Obama announced his “priorities” program, which ordered agents to worry chiefly about criminals, national security risks and illegal immigrants who came into the U.S. after that date. Judd claims supervisors at the Mexican and Canadian borders have told agents not to bother turning other immigrants over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement since "they won't be deported anyway."

"President Obama said we need to take these people out of the shadows. The fact is we took them out, and now we are releasing them right back into the shadows. What was the point?” he said. “The court system is so backlogged, we're told they are never going to see a judge anyway. So just let them go."

In the past, illegal immigrants from outside Mexico were subject to expedited removal. The process allowed agents to deport non-citizens without going through a formal and lengthy removal proceeding before an immigration judge.

Now, however, Judd said anyone who claims they've been living in the U.S. continuously from prior to 2014 is not even being turned over to ICE and given a “Notice to Appear” in court. Fox News confirmed the practice with sources in two border sectors.

"At least a NTA required them to show up in court. What we have now is amnesty through policy," Judd said. "We are flat-out letting them go."

Requests for comment from the Department of Homeland Security were not returned.

Ben Ferro (Editor, insideins.com)

benferro@insideins.com

The Right Idea

Arizona House OKs Bill That Stiffens Penalties For Undocumented Immigrants

Published March 18, 2016, Fox News Latino

An Arizona House panel voted on Thursday to deny parole, probation or any type of early release to criminals who were in the United States illegally when they committed a crime.

In a 5-3 vote the panel approved SB 1377, which makes a judge impose at least the “presumptive” sentence for a crime and denies the person any chance to argue for a more lenient sentence. The bill adds on to a current Arizona state law that permits judges to consider various factors – including immigration status – in determining how long of a sentence to impose.

The measure was passed following an emotional testimony by Steve Ronnebeck, whose son Grant was shot to death by an undocumented immigrant while working the graveyard shift at a convenience store. The man who shot his son had been convicted of burglary in 2012 and was placed on probation.

Ronnebeck said the man who shot his son had been out on a $10,000 immigration bond for more than 470 days.

Despite arguments from several Democrats that the bill improperly targeted undocumented immigrants, they were overruled by Republican legislators who called it a “reasonable policy” to consider immigration status when deciding on parole.

“People who are here illegally are already breaking the law,” Republican Rep. Eddie Farnsworth said, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

The approval by the House of SB 1377 comes less than a month after Arizona’s Senate sent it to them.

Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, sponsored a bill that would essentially make it impossible for immigrants in the country illegally to receive any leniency in the courts when they commit serious crimes. The proposal originally would have repealed a law letting state corrections officials release prisoners to federal authorities after serving half their sentences, but an amendment left that law in place.

Smith said the bill came in response to a case from last year in which an immigrant who entered the country illegally and was out on bail for a separate crime shot and killed a 21-year-old convenience store employee over a pack of cigarettes.

"It's a good first step in the right direction of protecting families like his," Smith said, referring to the victim's father, who was in attendance for the vote.

Ben Ferro (Editor, Insideins.com) 

benferro@insideins.com

Too Little Too Late!?

There are over one million illegal aliens with final orders of deportation wandering freely in the US. Apprehending and deporting 121 of them is hardly something to brag about. This smacks of Homeland Security throwing a crumb to their critics who are starting to hold their feet to the fire.

Ben Ferro, Editor

benferro@insideins.com

Obama Administration Ramping Up Deportation Raids In Effort To Curb Border Crossings

Fox News Latino, March 18, 2016

As part of a follow-through on a nearly 2-year-old warning, the Obama administration is stepping up its efforts to find and deport undocumented immigrants who were part of the surge of unaccompanied children and families crossing the border illegally in the summer of 2014.

The politically fraught endeavor comes at a time when immigration has become a central issue for Republican presidential candidates.

Homeland Security officials have kept a wary eye on the border since more than 68,000 unaccompanied children and roughly as many people traveling as families were caught crossing the border illegally in 2014. The effort to step up enforcement against families and young immigrants started in the midst of a new flood of such immigrants.

Previous efforts to curb illegal crossings seemed to work initially, as the number of children and families crossing illegally dropped about 40 percent between 2014 and 2015. But that number started to rise again late last summer. At the same time, the immigration court system faced a backlog of more than 474,000 cases of unaccompanied child immigrants.

Now the Obama administration is touting its efforts to find and deport families as well as those unaccompanied children who are now adults who have been ordered home. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has highlighted his department's deportation efforts.

One of those unaccompanied children-turned-adults targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is 19-year-old Wildin David Guillén Acosta. He said he came to the United States from Honduras by bus, car and on foot after a gang member threatened to kill him.

"I wouldn't go out at night. He'd call me and say, 'I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill you,' " Acosta said in Spanish. "I told my mother and she told me to come to the United States."

Acosta, speaking from an immigration jail in rural Georgia, said he was afraid to go home.

"I'm scared. I don't want to go back. There's a lot of violence, a lot of death," Acosta said. "They'll kill you for a telephone. How is this possible?"

His mother, Dilsia Acosta, said her son came to the U.S. in June 2014 at the peak of a wave of immigrant children. His father, Hector Guillen, came to the United States illegally in 2005 and his mother followed in 2013. Wildin Acosta was arrested in January after a judge ruled that he should be deported.

Wildin Acosta, who had been going to school and working since arriving in North Carolina, said now he hopes to win asylum. But the odds are against him because he has a pending deportation order.

Immigration advocates have rallied around Wildin Acosta and others and are pressing the administration to reverse course.

But U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement isn't backing down.

Since October, more than 800 immigrants who arrived as unaccompanied children have been sent home, according to ICE statistics. Other formerly unaccompanied child immigrants with pending deportation orders have been detained in preparation for deportation.

ICE's head of enforcement operations, Tom Homan, told Congress in February that his agents are aggressively pursuing unaccompanied former-child immigrants and families.

"We have sent out thousands of leads on (unaccompanied children) who have final orders issued by the immigration courts, some in absentia, some in person, and we are out looking for those leads," Homan told lawmakers. "I have 129 (fugitive operations) teams out there every day."

About 10,000 unaccompanied children have been ordered out of the country since July 2014, but roughly 87 percent of those orders were issued in absentia, according to Justice Department figures.

In early January, DHS started targeting families who had lost their bid to stay in the United States, and ICE announced the arrests of 121 people — more than half of whom have been sent home so far.

Johnson said the arrests should come as no surprise since he announced in late 2014 that new border crossers were an enforcement priority.

"We do not have, and cannot have, an open border so we have to have enforcement at the border," Johnson told The Associated Press. "Are enforcement actions against families pleasant? No, of course not. In a very personal way, I recognize that."

Nonetheless, he added, "We have to enforce the law."

The arrests have angered immigration advocates and Democrats who argue it is dangerous to send families and young immigrants back to dangerous and impoverished Central American countries.

And the efforts come at a complicated time for Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who are both vying for the Hispanic vote.

Clinton and Sanders have both denounced the January arrests of families and promised to be more lenient in enforcing immigration laws than President Barack Obama.

Kevin Appleby, director of international migration policy for the Center for Migration Studies, said the administration is "caught in a difficult spot."

"Before they start deporting unaccompanied children wholesale they have to fix ... the legal system so these children have a fair opportunity" to fight to stay in the country, Appleby said.

Johnson said it's a matter of adhering to the agency's priorities.

"We can't have a policy that if you come here and you do not qualify for asylum or other relief, and you've been ordered removed by an immigration court" you can stay anyway, Johnson said.

Based on reporting by the Associated Press

Immigration Reform??

The media must now ask the candidates, What is a "kid"? Is a 17 year old that entered the U.S last week a "kid"? Also, what is the definition of a "Criminal"?  Is Identity theft a crime? Are false statements on income tax forms a "crime"? (the editor)

Clinton, Sanders join in vow not to deport illegal kids, non-criminals at latest Dem debate

FoxNews.com

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders staked their ground Wednesday night in Florida as both vowing not to deport children and illegal immigrants with a clean criminal record.

Their comments set up a showdown with Republican candidates Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who both have vowed to clamp down on illegal immigrants in the country.

Trump and Cruz, along with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will get their opportunity to address the thorny topic Thursday when they debate in the Sunshine State.

Clinton and Sanders squared off in their eighth debate Wednesday night held at Miami Dade College in Florida. The Univision/CNN debate is the final one scheduled this month between the candidates in the running for the 2016 Democratic nomination. 

During the debate, both Clinton and Sanders vowed to push for immigration reform if elected president.

“The essence of what we are trying to do is to unite families, not to divide families,” Sanders said.

Clinton says she will extend President Obama’s executive orders shielding some illegal immigrants from deportation.

Clinton called the New York businessman “un-American” and said he traffics in “prejudice and paranoia.”

 “You don’t make America great again by getting rid of everything that made America great,” Clinton said, referencing Trump’s campaign slogan.

Sanders said voters would “never elect” a candidate like Trump.

Clinton also slammed Trump’s plan to build a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“As I understand, he’s talking about a tall wall. A beautiful, tall wall,” Clinton said, adding that Trump’s plan to keep out immigrants and his claim he’ll get Mexico to pay for it is “a fantasy.”

Clinton then turned her sights on Sanders, accusing him of supporting legislation that would have led to indefinite detention of people facing deportation, and for standing with Minutemen vigilantes.

Sanders refuted the notion, which he called "ridiculous" and "absurd," and accused Clinton of picking small pieces out of big legislative packages to distort his voting record.

"No, I do not support vigilantes and that is a horrific statement and an unfair statement to make," he said, adding: "I will match my record against yours any day of the week."

Clinton also dodged early debate questions about ongoing investigations into her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. When debate moderator Jorge Ramos of Univision asked her if she would drop out of the race if indicted over the handling of her email while secretary of state she replied,"Oh for goodness sake, that is not going to happen. I'm not even answering that question."

The FBI is investigation the possibility of mishandling of sensitive information that passed through Clinton's private email server.

Sanders, as he has in the past, declined to bite on the issue, saying, "The process will take its course." He said he'd rather talk about the issues of wealth and income inequality.

Clinton also defended her role in the deadly 2012 attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya.

She said Wednesday that her shifting explanations for the crisis in the early hours were because of changing dynamics and new information.

Clinton also said the investigation has been politicized by Republicans seeking to score points against her campaign.

"This was fog of war," she said, saying that she regrets the lives lost in the crisis.

She added: "I wish there could be an easy answer at the time but we learned a lot."

Sanders came into Wednesday night’s debate after a surprise primary win in Michigan Tuesday, where he had been trailing by more than 20 points in the polls.

Clinton vowed to keep fighting Wednesday, saying, “It was a very close race. I’ve won some and I’ve lost some.”

Sanders campaign officials made the case Tuesday night that the Vermont senator’s attacks on Clinton’s support for free trade deals had an impact in the Michigan race, and likely will be effective in upcoming contests in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri.

The Sanders camp maintains Clinton’s advantage in the South will go away after next Tuesday, as rural voters in other states take a closer look at their candidate.

Clinton, though she maintains a healthy lead overall, needs Florida’s 99 delegates up for grabs March 15 to help clinch the nomination.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ben Ferro, Editor (www.insideins.com)

benferro@insideins.com

If You Actually Want To Enforce Immigration Laws, You’re In The Wrong Profession!

Top border chief to agents who object to Obama amnesty: ‘Look for another job’

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The man who oversees the U.S. Border Patrol said Tuesday that if agents have a problem with President Obama’s deportation amnesty, they should quit.

The strong remarks by Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske came as tensions between Congress and the White House grew even higher, with House GOP leaders announcing they’ll hold an unprecedented vote to have their chamber join in the lawsuit trying to halt the amnesty.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said he and his troops are determined to send a message that Mr. Obama’s moves have broken faith with the Constitution’s division of power between the legislature and the executive branch.”

This executive amnesty is a direct attack on the Congress’s Article I powers under the Constitution,” Mr. Ryan said. “The president is not permitted to write law. Only Congress is. The House will make that very clear.”

Mr. Obama announced his new policy in November 2014, granting what he called “deferred action” to as many as 5 million illegal immigrants he said have deep ties to the U.S. Those illegal immigrants were to be given a three-year stay of deportation, work permits and access to Social Security numbers, tax credits and some other government benefits.

The president also announced a new set of “priorities” for border and interior agents to follow, saying they should only target recent illegal immigrants and those with serious criminal records for arrest and deportation.

The deferred action part of his plans has been halted by lower courts, and he has appealed to the Supreme Court. Mr. Ryan said the House will weigh in with an amicus brief arguing Mr. Obama broke the Constitution’s strictures by trying to rewrite immigration law on his own.

Meanwhile, the new enforcement priorities Mr. Obama announced are not part of the court case, but have proved controversial with the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who are tasked with enforcing the law.

In testimony to Congress last month, Brandon Judd, chief of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor union that represents line agents, said they’ve been told to reinstate the maligned catch-and-release policy of a decade ago.

Mr. Judd said illegal immigrants without serious criminal convictions have learned that by claiming they came before 2014 — without even needing to show proof — they can be released immediately, and they disappear into the shadows. Mr. Kerlikowske on Tuesday objected to that description. He said every illegal immigrant over the age of 14 who is encountered by agents is supposed to be fingerprinted, interviewed and put through the usual process, including being turned over to ICE for decisions on deportation.”

I would not stand by if the Border Patrol was releasing people without going through all of the formalities,” Mr. Kerlikowske testified to the House Committee on Appropriations.

Mr. Kerlikowske also questioned Mr. Judd’s veracity, saying the NBPC was “probably not the most knowledgeable organization about what’s actually going on.” And the commissioner said Mr. Judd and fellow agents who object to Mr. Obama’s policies should usher themselves out of their jobs.”

Well, if you really don’t want to follow the directions of your superiors, including the president of the United States and the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, then you really do need to look for another job,” he said.

Shawn Moran, vice president of the NBPC, took “great offense” to the commissioner’s remarks.”

When it comes to catch and release, Border Patrol agents are the only ones following the law. The commissioner can dress it up any way he likes, but even though we are documenting people, they are being released into American society, never to be seen again,” Mr. Moran said.

He said the NBPC is directly in touch with line agents in the field, and said Mr. Kerlikowske gets his information filtered by layers of “yes men” at headquarters. Mr. Moran said agents do follow orders, even when they disagree with them, but have the right to speak out against them as well, and said the series of policies is taking a toll on the agency.

“This is part of the administration’s strategy to demoralize and disrupt agents and completely dismantle immigration enforcement,” he said. “They’re going to make the job so unbearable because they know they have a very motivated workforce, a very patriotic workforce that wants to uphold the laws, yet we have the president of the United States and the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection directly going against the rule of law.”

Mr. Kerlikowske even appeared to acknowledge problems with the demoralized workforce. Just minutes before he told agents to quit, he had told the committee that he’s having trouble filling the number of slots Congress has funded.

“We are not able to hire as fast as attrition,” he said, calling it “very concerning.”

Ben Ferro (Editor)

benferro@insideins.com

The Situation Just Keeps Getting Worse

Flow of Illegal Immigrant Children Into U.S. Expected to Rise in 2016

Record-breaking numbers of children sneaking across border

BY: Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon

The flow of illegal immigrant children into the United States is expected to rise to record-breaking numbers in 2016 as deportations decrease, according to leading members of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee.

At least 20,455 unaccompanied minors have been caught during fiscal year 2016 along the U.S.-Mexico border as of last month, according to committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who warned that if this trend continues, the number of illegal minors could eclipse a massive 2014 surge that strained the resources of the Department of Homeland Security and prompted investigations into the Obama administration’s handling of the issue.

While illegal border crossings surge, the number of children actually being deported from the United States is declining, senators said during a Tuesday hearing with senior Obama administration officials.

The hearing comes just a day after oversight officials disclosed that the Obama administration has lost track of scores of immigrant children, many of whom are being released from custody to individuals across the United States who have not gone through thorough background checks.

“If these trends continue, we can expect to see an even greater number of minors crossing the border this year than in 2014,” Grassley said. “No one is following up on these individuals when they skip their immigration hearings, unless they are receiving post-release services. They are also not enforcement priorities for this administration. This means a lot of these minors are nowhere to be found.”

Thomas Homan, a top official in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations, confirmed that trials for these illegal immigrants could take “months or years” to complete.

“It is no wonder children are being mistreated or simply falling off of the grid once turned over to sponsors,” Grassley said. “Your agency wants to wipe its hands clean after a child is placed with a sponsor.”

As border crossings rise to unprecedented levels, the Obama administration has deported just 4,680 of more than 127,000 minors who were apprehended on the border during the past two-and-a-half years.

Obama administration officials confirmed that third-party contractors perform most background checks and interviews with these minors, often with little government oversight.

“We’re having an increase … this year, twice as many unaccompanied minors are entering the country as last year because there’s no effective response to this,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) said. “The president’s answer is to assume basically that every child is a victim of an asylum type danger and entitled to enter the U.S.”

Sessions grilled Homan about the deportation process, asking if a greater number of removals from the United States could impact the border issue.

“They’re difficult to find,” Homan responded, admitting that a greater number of deportations would likely deter immigrants from illegally entering the United States.

“They should be, if caught, they should be treated fairly and sent home,” Sessions said. “That’s what needs to be done. That’s what the law says. That’s what the American people want. But we have an administration that’s undermining every day the ability of that system to work.”

“It cannot be that every young person that appears from Central America is entitled to asylum or entry into the United States, contrary to our laws,” he said. “It just cannot be.”

Homan also admitted that once a child is released from custody it can be difficult to compel them to appear before immigration judges for deportation proceedings.

Ben Ferro (Editor, InsideINS.com)

benferro@insideins.com