Rapists, sex offenders among those illegally entering U.S.
By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor Rapists and sex offenders are among the most violent people illegally entering the U.S., according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They illegally enter to avoid punishment in their home country or illegally enter the U.S., commit violent offenses, and then attempt to flee back to their home country, agents say. In one recent case, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO)-Boston agents arrested a Brazilian man who illegally entered the U.S. and was wanted in Brazil for raping a 5-year-old. The 37-year-old Brazilian man was arrested Nov. 14 on Martha’s Vineyard near his residence in West Tisbury, Massachusetts. Prior to illegally entering the U.S. during a previous administration, the Brazilian national was convicted on multiple counts for raping a child. After his convictions and before he was sentenced to 14 years in prison, he fled Brazil and illegally entered the U.S. He “unlawfully entered the United States on an unknown date at an unknown location without being inspected or admitted by an immigration official,” ICE said. He represents one of millions of gotaways – foreign nationals who illegally enter the U.S. between ports of entry to intentionally evade capture by law enforcement. Law enforcement officials have no idea how many, who or where they are. They are among at least 1.7 million since January 2021, The Center Square previously reported. In May 2019, after failing to appear for his sentencing, the 2nd Criminal Court of Sorriso in Sorriso, Mato Grosso, Brazil, issued a warrant for his arrest. It would take another four and a half years – until Sept. 28, 2023 – for ICE to learn of his whereabouts in the U.S. And after ICE ERO-Boston agents became aware of his presence on Martha’s Vineyard, it would take another six weeks to apprehend him. He was apprehended during a vehicle stop and served with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge. He remains in ERO custody pending his removal proceedings. “This undocumented Brazilian national represented a significant threat to the inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard,” ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said. “He sexually assaulted a five-year-old child in his homeland and then ran from authorities when held accountable for his actions. ERO Boston will not allow such predators to threaten our residents. We will continue to apprehend and remove anyone who attempts to use our New England community as a refuge from justice.” In another recent case, border agents arrested two El Salvadorans wanted for rape in Maryland who were attempting to flee the U.S. by heading back to El Salvador. One was in the country illegally and had previous removal orders. The other had lawful permanent residence status. Both were processed for removal. Federal agents apprehended the suspected rapists and fugitives at Washington Dulles International Airport in late October. One 53-year-old Salvadoran man who was illegally in the U.S. was first arrested in Montgomery County, Maryland, with a warrant for felony second-degree rape and sexual abuse of a minor. He was previously ordered to be removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge in 2006. The second 53-year-old Salvadoran man who was arrested had a warrant out for his arrest in Prince George’s County, Maryland, for felony second-degree rape. Critics argue that their plan to flee to El Salvador indicates that any claims they made to justify staying in the U.S. were likely invalid because after they were caught committing a crime, they tried to go back to El Salvador. Their arrests came after ICE-ERO agents arrested two violent criminals wanted in El Salvador and Brazil: an MS-13 gang member on El Salvador’s Top 100 list and a Brazilian military officer involved in a 2015 massacre. They were apprehended in Alabama and New Hampshire, respectively. In fiscal year 2022, ICE ERO agents arrested 46,396 illegal foreign nationals with criminal histories, including 198,498 associated charges and convictions. The charges and convictions include 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sex and sexual assault offenses; 5,554 weapons offenses; 1,501 homicide-related offenses; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses. In fiscal year 2022, ICE ERO agents also conducted 72,177 removals to over 150 countries. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
U.S. southern border sees 2 million migrant encounters for first time in one fiscal year
More than two million migrant encounters have occurred along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 as of August. This is an all-time high and driven partly by an increased influx of people coming from what U.S. Customs and Border Patrol refer to as the failing communist regimes of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. They comprised 35% of the migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in August 2022. There was a 175% increase in people from these countries being spotted around the border over the past year. “Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a press release. “Our dedicated teams of skilled agents continue to work around the clock to secure our border and safely and humanely process and vet every individual encountered, but those fleeing repressive regimes pose significant challenges for processing and removal.” There were 203,598 migrant encounters at the southern border last month. Most were apprehensions (181,160) of migrants who entered the country illegally. A much smaller portion (22,427) were migrants and asylum-seekers processed at legal ports of entry. With one month left of the fiscal year, CBP agents along the southern border had encountered more than 2.1 million migrants. That beat the record set in the fiscal year 2021 (1.7 million migrant encounters). About one million of the migrants encountered at the border have been expelled to Mexico or another country subject to Title 42, which was used to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. Title 42 does not carry any criminal or immigration penalties, unlike other deportations. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Fiscal year through June: More than 2 million encounters at southern border
More than 2 million people have been encountered/apprehended at the U.S. southern border in fiscal 2022 through June, according to official data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It’s the greatest number recorded in a fiscal year in U.S. history. They total 2,002,604 from over 150 countries. In June, a record 207,416 people were apprehended, the highest number recorded in June in the history of the Department of Homeland Security. The total includes those apprehended and encountered by U.S. Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations staff. They exclude gotaways first reported by The Center Square, which includes at least another 50,009 people. The total for June, including gotaways, was 257,425, a record high for the month. “Gotaways” is the official term used by Border Patrol to describe foreign nationals who enter the U.S. illegally and don’t surrender at ports of entry but intentionally seek to evade capture from law enforcement. They are currently in the U.S., and no one in law enforcement knows who or where they are. The last time encounters were nearly this high was the last summer of the presidency of Bill Clinton. In June 2000, 117,469 people were encountered/apprehended at the southern border, excluding gotaways. In May, CBP reported the highest monthly total of apprehensions at the southern border in recorded U.S. history of 239,416, excluding another minimum 70,793 recorded gotaways. In April, CBP reported 235,478 total encounters/apprehensions; in March, 222,239; in February, 165,902; in January, 154,816. The totals all exclude gotaway data. CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said the June numbers represent a 14% decrease in encounters compared to May. “We are committed to implementing our strategy of reducing irregular migration, dissuading migrants from undertaking the dangerous journey, and increasing enforcement efforts against human smuggling organizations,” Magnus said. “We continue to rescue and provide medical assistance to those who are in distress.” And to those coming to the country illegally, he said, “My message to those considering taking this dangerous journey is simple: this is not an easy passage, the human smugglers only care about your money – not your life or the lives of your loved ones, and you will be placed in removal proceedings from the United States if you cross the border without legal authorization and are unable to establish a legal basis to remain.” The overwhelming majority of those apprehended in June – 68% – were single adults totaling 140,197. CBP says 44% of all adult encounters and 27% of family unit individuals were processed for expulsion under the public health authority, Title 42. Unaccompanied minors are not processed for expulsion. The number of unaccompanied children brought to the U.S. by alleged smugglers increased by 4%, totaling 15,271. In June, the average number of unaccompanied children in CBP custody was 752 a day compared to 692 a day in May. Despite a record number of people coming to the southern border, CBP says it “continues to enforce U.S. immigration law and apply consequences to those without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. “Current restrictions at the U.S. border have not changed; single adults and families encountered at the southwest border will continue to be expelled, where appropriate, under CDC’s Title 42 Order. Those who are not expelled will be processed under the long-standing Title 8 authority and placed into removal proceedings.” But this isn’t what’s happening, Republican governors and attorneys general nationwide argue. This week, 19 AGs filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a lawsuit filed by Texas and Louisiana. The lawsuit was filed in response to a directive issued by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that drastically altered deportation policy, which the states argue contradicts federal law established by Congress and allows more people to stay in the U.S. illegally, including violent criminals. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis implemented a range of policies to combat what he describes as the “Biden border crisis,” including suing over the Biden administration’s “catch and release” and other programs. Texas and Missouri have sued the administration over several border security issues, including halting border wall construction and reimplementing an Obama-era program allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country. Texas and Arizona also have implemented a range of border security measures costing their states’ taxpayers a combined multiple billions of dollars to thwart criminal activity stemming from the southern border. And Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says his state’s law enforcement officials have confiscated enough fentanyl to kill nearly every man, woman, and child in the U.S., which is brought into Texas illegally from Mexico. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Asylum seekers jam U.S. border crossings to evade Donald Trump policy
For months, asylum seekers have been prohibited from filing their claims at U.S. border crossings under a much-criticized Donald Trump administration policy. Now some are sprinting down vehicle lanes or renting cars to try to make it inside the U.S. The migrants’ efforts are causing traffic delays at Arizona crossings because U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials had to barricade lanes used by cars legally entering the U.S. from Mexico, officials said. Shoppers, teachers and visitors traveling to the U.S. through Nogales, Mexico, endured up to five-hour waits Monday and over the weekend, causing concerns among local officials whose tax base relies on Mexican shoppers, especially during the holiday season. In a statement, Customs and Border Protection said it’s committed to the safety of border crossers, adding that there’s been an increase of incursions through vehicle lanes “by asylum seekers attempting to evade established entry processes.” “These tactics interfere with CBP officers conducting their responsibilities and exacerbates wait times for daily commuters,” the agency said in a statement. “CBP will not allow ports to be overrun, or unauthorized entry.” The traffic jams could hurt sales at stores in Nogales, Arizona that depend on Mexican shoppers during the holiday season, said Mayor Arturo Garino. Garino, a part-time teacher, said some students and teachers who live in Mexico but attend and work at schools across the border in the U.S. have been leaving their homes as early as 5 a.m. to arrive on time. Garino said Mexican authorities were not doing enough to stem the problem. The Arizona Daily Star reported the Nogales, Sonora, police officers were checking cars headed north to the border on Monday afternoon. The metal barricades are large and are meant to seal off traffic lanes. About 3,000 migrants are living in Nogales, Mexico as they wait their turns to seek asylum, said Katie Sharar, communications director for the Kino Border Initiative, a religious-based group that provides meals to needy migrants on the Mexican side of the border. Under a policy by the Trump administration known widely as “metering,” the asylum-seekers must wait in an unofficial line in Mexico until U.S. authorities call them up in a process that usually lasts several months. Another policy, colloquially known as “Remain in Mexico,” requires asylum seekers to return to Mexico after they have made credible fear claims to justify their asylum requests and wait there while their immigration cases are pending. “I think there’s just a lot of desperation and uncertainty. They don’t know what’s happening to them, they don’t know how the policy changes are gonna affect them,” Sharar said. Sharar said she wasn’t familiar with the migrants who have run through vehicle lanes. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to email and phone messages regarding questions about the migrants who rushed the border, what countries they come from and whether they were detained or faced criminal charges. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, said his first concern is public safety and that he is confident that U.S. officials will resolve the border traffic problems. Associated Press writer Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report. Republished with the Permission of the Associated Press.
Border patrol’s growing presence at hospitals creates fear
An armed Border Patrol agent roamed the hallways of an emergency room in Miami on a recent day as nurses wheeled stretchers and medical carts through the hospital and families waited for physicians to treat their loved ones. The agent in the olive-green uniform freely stepped in and out of the room where a woman was taken by ambulance after throwing up and fainting while being detained on an immigration violation, according to advocates who witnessed the scene. The presence of immigration authorities is becoming increasingly common at health care facilities around the country, and hospitals are struggling with where to draw the line to protect patients’ rights amid rising immigration enforcement in the Trump administration. Some doctors say this increased presence could undermine public health in cities with large immigrant populations, frightening patients who need care and prompting them to avoid hospitals. Normally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents enter hospitals when detainees require emergency medical services or specialized care. In many cases, agents escort sick immigrants to the hospital after apprehending them at the border. In some instances, they have detained them after leaving a hospital. In 2017, Border Patrol agents followed a 10-year-old immigrant with cerebral palsy to a Texas hospital and took her into custody after the surgery. She had been brought to the U.S. from Mexico when she was a toddler. Doctors, lawyers and family members have complained about immigrants being shackled in hospitals and the intrusive presence of uniformed agents in exam rooms during treatment and discussions with physicians about medical care. The American Medical Association Journal of Ethics devoted its entire January issue to medical care for immigrants who are in the country illegally, including a discussion of whether medical facilities should declare themselves “sanctuary hospitals,” similar to sanctuary cities. “Our patients should not fear that entering a hospital will result in arrests or deportation. In medical facilities, patients and families should be focused on recovery and their health, not the ramifications of their immigration status,” the association said in a statement. But Dr. Elisabeth Poorman, a primary care physician at the University of Washington in Seattle, says facilities need to constantly train staff on how to interact with law enforcement and immigrant patients in these situations. “The ground is constantly shifting. I can tell the patient I am committed to your safety, but in the current administration we cannot tell everyone that they are 100% safe,” she said. Earlier this year, the agency that oversees Border Patrol said its agents averaged 69 trips to the hospital each day across the country. In the first half of the year, the federal government said Border Patrol agents had spent about 153,000 hours monitoring detained people at hospitals, as more families and children were crossing the border from Mexico. That’s the equivalent of about 20,000 8-hour shifts spent at hospitals. Hospitals, schools and places of worship are considered “sensitive locations” by a government policy and are generally free from immigration enforcement. But the rule is discretionary and ambiguous when an enforcement action begins before a trip to a hospital or when an immigrant is already in custody. Thomas Kennedy, policy director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, says his organization received a call on Sunday alerting them of the detention and hospitalization of a woman in the suburb of Aventura. The woman’s identity was not disclosed by the group, saying the family asked for privacy. The woman and her ex-husband were driving with their two children, who are U.S. citizens, after a day at Haulover Beach on Sunday when a Border Patrol car flashed its lights to pull them over. Border Patrol conducts operations within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of a U.S. land or coastal border, and Florida lies entirely within this zone. Kennedy said the agents told her she had to go with them, and shortly after, she threw up and fainted. The agents then called for an ambulance. Keith Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, said the woman was detained for being “illegally present” in the United States, and clarified Border Patrol does not conduct any enforcement operations in hospitals in Florida. “However, agents will transport persons in custody and remain with them until medically treated and cleared,” he said in an email. Smith added agents were following national standards when escorting the woman to the hospital. In what Kennedy says is a recorded exchange between him and the Border Patrol agent with their faces off camera, Kennedy is heard asking the agent to show a warrant. The agent’s response: I don’t need one. “It is a little unorthodox to have a Border Patrol officer outside of her room and going in and out while she is receiving medical treatment,” Kennedy said. “This type of stuff creates fear. It prevents undocumented immigrants from seeking care.” Kennedy said he confronted the staff at Aventura Hospital and Medical Care, but employees told him they didn’t want to get involved and were simply providing care. The hospital, which is part of the Nashville-based health care giant HCA, Inc., did not respond to questions regarding cooperation with immigration authorities. The immigration agency said its agents must document the hospitalization providing a discharge summary, treatment plans and prescribed medications from any medical evaluation. Health care lawyers and medical associations say providers generally should not allow law enforcement unrestricted access to treatment areas, to comply with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA. The law protects against improper disclosure of confidential information that may result from offering such access. A spokesman for NYC Health and Hospitals, which operates the public hospitals and clinics, said that when patients show up in custody of immigration enforcement, officers would be posted outside the treatment room, the same way it happens with police officers. But hospitals have yet to come up with a universal set of policies on how medical staff and physicians interact with immigration authorities. Dr. Poorman said she
Donald Trump’s goosey claims on trade, jobs
President Donald Trump is using some goosey numbers to rationalize his aggressive rhetoric on trade, disregarding strong points in U.S. competitiveness to paint a dark portrait of a world taking advantage of his country. Conversely, he’s glossing over aspects of the economy that don’t support his faulty contention that it’s the best it’s ever been. The complexities of health care for veterans are also set aside as he hails a new era in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ system. A look at some of his statements over the past week and the reality behind them: TRUMP: “Why isn’t the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S. Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies. Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!” — tweet Thursday. TRUMP: “Farmers have not been doing well for 15 years. Mexico, Canada, China and others have treated them unfairly. By the time I finish trade talks, that will change. Big trade barriers against U.S. farmers, and other businesses, will finally be broken. Massive trade deficits no longer!′ — tweet Monday. THE FACTS: Whatever his beef with farm trade with specific countries, he’s wrong in suggesting U.S. agriculture runs a trade deficit. The U.S. exports more food products than it imports, running a $17.4 billion surplus last year. It’s long been a bright spot in the trade picture and it’s why many U.S. farmers are worried about losing markets as Trump retreats from, renegotiates or disparages trade deals. U.S. farmers do brisk business with the three countries he complains about in the tweet, two of them under the umbrella of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump is threatening to leave if it’s not recast to give the U.S. greater advantage. The U.S. exported $20.5 billion in agricultural products last year to Canada, the largest market for U.S. farmers. That made for a modest deficit of $1.8 billion. The U.S. exported $18.6 billion in farm goods to Mexico, running a deficit of $6 billion. The U.S. has a lopsided advantage with China on farm goods, in contrast to manufactured products. It sold $21 billion in agricultural products to China in 2016, for a surplus of $16.7 billion. The Agriculture Department says exports of food products have grown “steadily over the last two decades.” Trump’s unrelievedly negative view of the EU may be grounded in a substantial trade deficit with the continent, but his administration’s trade office takes a longer and more benevolent view of the relationship. “Two-way U.S.-EU trade has been roughly balanced over time,” says the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, “and the very high levels of foreign investment accounted for by each in the other’s markets means that the transatlantic economy is arguably the most integrated on Earth.” ___ TRUMP: “The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion.” — tweet Thursday. THE FACTS: He’s wrong about the trade deficit with the EU. As he usually does, Trump ignored trade in services in his calculation. The U.S. is more competitive in services than in goods overall, and services are a big part of the trade equation. The U.S. saw a $153 billion trade deficit in goods with the EU last year, but a surplus in services brought the actual trade deficit with the union down to $101 billion. ___ TRUMP: “Best Economy & Jobs EVER, and much more.” — tweet Monday referring to achievement in his first 500 days in office. THE FACTS: May’s unemployment rate of 3.8 percent is not the best ever. And the economy has seen many periods of stronger growth. The lowest unemployment rate since World War II was reached in 1953, when it averaged 2.9 percent, almost a full point lower than today. The job market is certainly strong, with unemployment at an 18-year low, and if it drops another tenth of a point, it’ll be the lowest since 1969. Yet the jobless rate was at or below 4 percent for four straight years back then, from 1966 through 1969, and wages were rising more quickly. The cost of items such as college and health care was much lower then. Overall the economy has yet to show it can sustain growth in excess of 3 percent, as Trump has promised. In the 1990s boom, still the longest on record, the U.S. economy expanded at an average annual pace of 4.3 percent for five years, from 1996 through 2000. In the 1980s, growth averaged 4.6 percent annually from 1983 through 1987. While the economy has picked up from 2016, its best showing since Trump took office was 3.2 percent in last year’s third quarter. ___ TRUMP: “Separating families at the Border is the fault of bad legislation passed by the Democrats. Border Security laws should be changed but the Dems can’t get their act together! Started the Wall.” — tweet Tuesday. THE FACTS: No law mandates that parents must be separated from their children at the border, and it’s not a policy Democrats have pushed or can change alone as the minority in Congress. Children are probably being separated from the parents at the border at an accelerated rate because of a new “zero tolerance policy” being put in place by Trump’s own administration. Announced April 6 by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the policy directs authorities to prosecute all instances of illegal border crossings, even against people with few or no previous offenses. Administration officials are quick to note that Sessions’ policy makes no mention of separating families. That is correct. But under U.S. protocol, if parents are jailed, their children are separated from them because the children aren’t charged with a crime. So while separating families might not be official U.S. policy, it is a direct consequence of Sessions’ zero-tolerance approach. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 650 children were separated from parents at the border during a two-week period in May. ___
Alabama to send National Guard troops to protect Mexican border
At the request of the Trump administration, Governor Kay Ivey and Alabama Adjutant General, Major General Sheryl Gordon, have approved the dispatch of Alabama National Guard troops to the nation’s Southwest border with Mexico. President Donald Trump sent a memo in April, authorizing the use of National Guard troops at the border, saying “the lawlessness that continues at our southern border is fundamentally incompatible with the safety, security, and sovereignty of the American people,” adding that his administration had “no choice but to act.” The Yellowhammer State has approved the deployment of one helicopter and five personnel members on Friday. The soldiers will be supporting the Texas National Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Alabama is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our nation. We have the greatest group of service men and women in the country,” Ivey said. “The Alabama National Guard stands ready to answer the call and we are proud to assist in the Southwest border mission.” The UH-72A Lakota helicopter will be dispatched from Birmingham on Tuesday. Joining the helicopter will be a flight crew and aircraft maintainers from the A Company, 1-114th Aviation Battalion, also out of Birmingham. “The Alabama National Guard is always ready to assist our friends and partners on the border and continue the ongoing mission for homeland security,” Gordon said. “We’re proud our soldiers are mentally and physically equipped to handle the challenges of the task.” The soldiers mission will operate be to provide additional support for observation and tracking of illegal activity around the U.S. border with Mexico. The soldiers will not be conducting law enforcement operations, but will be directed by the Texas National Guard. Alabama is the latest state to send equipment and soldiers to assist Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The last time the Alabama Guard sent Lakotas and crew members to the border was in 2016.
U.S. starts processing asylum seekers slammed by Donald Trump
U.S. border inspectors allowed some of the Central American asylum-seekers to enter the country for processing, ending a brief impasse over lack of space. But the migrants who crossed Mexico in a caravan may face a long legal path. Caravan organizers said eight members of the group criticized by President Donald Trump that traveled from southern Mexico to the border city of Tijuana were allowed in to be interviewed by asylum officers, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not provide a number. About 140 others were still waiting in Mexico to turn themselves in at San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing, the nation’s busiest, said Alex Mensing, project organizer for Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which is leading the caravan. “The spirits are high, there was good news for everybody,” Mensing said on the Mexican side of the crossing, moments after learning that some were allowed in. U.S. attorneys who volunteered advice in Tijuana last week warned the Central Americans that parents may be separated from their children and be detained for many months while their asylum cases are pending. Asylum-seekers are typically held up to three days at the border and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If they pass initial screenings by asylum officers, they may be detained or released with ankle monitors while their cases wind through immigration court, which can take years. Nearly 80 percent of asylum-seekers passed the initial screening from October through December, but few are likely to win asylum. The denial rate for El Salvadorans seeking asylum was 79 percent from 2012 to 2017, according to asylum outcome information from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse. Hondurans were close behind with a 78 percent denial rate, followed Guatemalans at 75 percent. Trump administration officials have railed against what they call “legal loopholes” and “catch-and-release” policies that allow people seeking asylum to be freed while their cases are adjudicated. The president tweeted Monday that the caravan “shows how weak & ineffective U.S. immigration laws are.” Attorney General Jeff Sessions has pledged to send more immigration judges to the border if needed and threatened criminal prosecution. On Monday, the Justice Department said it filed illegal entry charges against 11 people identified as caravan members. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it processed hundreds of asylum-seekers in the previous week, many of them Mexican, which contributed to a bottleneck that led inspectors to turn away caravan members since they arrived late Sunday afternoon. Asylum-seekers did not appear to be thrown off the by the delay. Elin Orrellana, a 23-year-old pregnant woman from El Salvador, said she is fleeing the violent MS-13 street gang, a favorite target of both Sessions and Trump because of their brutal killings in communities in the United States. She said her older sister had been killed by the gang in El Salvador, so she is attempting to join other family members in the Kansas City area. “Fighting on is worth it,” she said. Customs and Border Protection has room for about 300 people at the San Diego border crossing. “As in the past when we’ve had to limit the number of people we can bring in for processing at a given time, we expect that this will be a temporary situation,” the agency said. During a surge of Haitian arrivals at the San Diego crossing in 2016, Customs and Border Protection required people to wait more than five weeks in Mexico. Since then, smaller upticks of Mexican asylum-seekers have caused delays of several hours. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump hails border wall start, but it’s not quite true
President Donald Trump hailed the start of his long-sought southern border wall this past week, proudly tweeting photos of the “WALL!” Actually, no new work got underway. The photos showed the continuation of an old project to replace two miles of existing barrier. And on Saturday, he ripped Amazon with a shaky claim that its contract with the post office is a “scam.” Trump and his officials departed from reality on a variety of subjects in recent days: the census, Amazon’s practices and the makeup of the Supreme Court among them. Here’s a look at some statements and their veracity: TRUMP: “Great briefing this afternoon on the start of our Southern Border WALL!” — tweet Wednesday, showing photos of workers building a fence. TRUMP: “We’re going to be starting work, literally, on Monday, on not only some new wall — not enough, but we’re working that very quickly — but also fixing existing walls and existing acceptable fences.” — Trump, speaking the previous week after signing a bill financing the government. THE FACTS: Trump’s wrong. No new work began on Monday or any other time this past week. And the photos Trump tweeted were misleading. They showed work that’s been going on for more than a month on a small border wall replacement project in Calexico, California, that has nothing to do with the federal budget he signed into law last week. The Calexico project that began Feb. 21 to replace a little more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of border wall was financed during the 2017 budget year. A barrier built in the 1990s mainly from recycled metal scraps is being torn down and replaced with bollard-style barriers that are 30 feet (9.1 meters) high. Ronald D. Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, defended the president’s statements, saying Friday “there’s construction” underway. TRUMP: “If the P.O. ‘increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.’ This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!” — tweet Saturday. TRUMP: “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” — tweet Thursday. THE FACTS: Trump is misrepresenting Amazon’s record on taxes, the U.S. Postal Service’s financial situation and the contract that has the post office deliver some Amazon orders. Federal regulators have found that contract to be profitable for the Postal Service. People who buy products sold by Amazon pay sales tax in all states that have a sales tax. Not all third-party vendors using Amazon collect it, however. As for the post office, package delivery has been a bright spot for a service that’s lost money for 11 straight years. The losses are mostly due to pension and health care costs — not the business deal for the Postal Service to deliver packages for Amazon. Boosted by e-commerce, the Postal Service has enjoyed double-digit increases in revenue from delivering packages, but that hasn’t been enough to offset declines in first-class letters and marketing mail, which together make up more than two-thirds of postal revenue. While the Postal Service’s losses can’t be attributed to its package business, Trump’s claim that it could get more bang for its buck may not be entirely far-fetched. A 2017 analysis by Citigroup concluded that the Postal Service was charging below-market rates as a whole for parcels. The post office does not use taxpayer money for its operations. Trump is upset about Amazon because its owner, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post, one of the targets of his “fake news” tweets. TRUMP: “Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!” — tweets Sunday and Monday. THE FACTS: Trump is floating the idea of using “M″ — the Pentagon’s military budget — to pay for his wall with Mexico. Such a move would almost certainly require approval from Congress and there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical about the notion of diverting military money for this purpose. Only Congress has the power under the Constitution to determine federal appropriations, leaving the Trump administration little authority to shift money without lawmakers’ approval. Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood referred all questions on the wall to the White House. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to reveal specifics, but said Trump would work with the White House counsel to make sure any action taken was within his executive authority. DAVID SHULKIN, citing reasons Trump fired him as veterans affairs secretary: “I have been falsely accused of things by people who wanted me out of the way. But despite these politically based attacks on me and my family’s character, I am proud of my record and know that I acted with the utmost integrity.” — op-ed Thursday in The New York Times. THE FACTS: His statement that he and his family were subjected to politically based attacks is disingenuous, though politics contributed to his dismissal. White House support for Shulkin eroded after a blistering report in February by VA’s internal watchdog, a non-partisan office. The inspector general’s office concluded that he had violated ethics rules by accepting free Wimbledon tennis tickets. The inspector general also said Shulkin’s chief of staff had doctored emails to justify bringing the secretary’s wife to Europe with him at taxpayer expense. It is true, though, that Shulkin had encountered resistance from about a half-dozen political appointees at the VA and White House who rebelled against him. In an extraordinary telephone call, John Ullyot, a top communications aide, and VA spokesman Curt Cashour asked the Republican staff director of the House Veterans Affairs Committee to push for Shulkin’s
Alabama Senators Jeff Sessions, Richard Shelby slam Obama proposal to house illegal minors in Baldwin County
A flood of 38,566 illegal alien juveniles who have entered into the United States from Mexico have been apprehended through May — a 69 percent increase from 2015, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The stat was quoted Wednesday by Alabama’s U.S. Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby in a joint letter to three senior federal officials, stating “only a small fraction have been removed from the United States.” The letter, sent to Secretary Jeh Johnson of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Sylvia Burwell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch of the U.S. Justice Department, states the Senators’ opposition to the Obama administration’s proposal to use two outlying airfields at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Baldwin County as a potential location to house purportedly unaccompanied illegal alien juveniles. It also expresses their concerns about the administration’s handling of the increasing number of illegal juveniles crossing our southern border. “Transporting some of these juveniles more than 900 miles away from our southern border to the state of Alabama, instead of expeditiously and humanely sending them back to their homes, will only make the situation worse,” the letter reads. “It rewards illegal conduct, and arguably renders the United States complicit in criminal conspiracies to violate our immigration laws.” To make matters worse, they said roughly 91 percent of the illegal youths are released to their family members, many of whom are also in the United States illegally. “According to the Government Accountability Office, between January 7, 2014, and April 17, 2015, ORR released illegal alien juveniles from its custody to a parent in 60 percent of all cases, an aunt or uncle in 13 percent, a sibling in 12 percent, an ‘other relative’ in 3 percent, a first cousin in 2 percent, and a grandparent in 1 percent of all cases. Thus, in roughly 91 percent of all cases, these juveniles are eventually released to the custody of a family member located in the United States,” said the letter. They continued, “However, this administration has failed to take any enforcement action against these family members — most of whom had some role to play in the juveniles’ illegal entry into the United States. And many of those family members are present in the United States unlawfully.” Both senators have been longtime critics of President Barack Obama‘s immigration policies “Strong leadership and a commitment to the faithful execution of the laws on the books would convey a clear message to the world that if you come to the United States illegally, you will be removed. Rather than improve the current situation, administration policies have only made the situation worse,” they added. Read the full text of their letter below: Dear Secretary Johnson, Secretary Burwell, and Attorney General Lynch: We write to express our opposition to the evaluation by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of two outlying airfields at Naval Air Station Whiting Field as a potential location to house purportedly unaccompanied illegal alien juveniles, and to express our concerns about this Administration’s handling of the increasing number crossing our southern border. Just two years ago, President Obama sent a letter to Congress outlining his plans to handle the surge at our southern border. Two years later, it is clear that President Obama’s plans for handling the situation have failed. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 38,566 illegal alien juveniles have been apprehended through May – a 69 percent increase over last year, and a number surpassed only by the record number apprehended in FY 2014. Since the beginning of FY 2014, 147,077 have been apprehended, yet only a small fraction have been removed from the United States. Transporting some of these juveniles more than 900 miles away from our southern border to the State of Alabama, instead of expeditiously and humanely sending them back to their homes, will only make the situation worse. It rewards illegal conduct, and arguably renders the United States complicit in criminal conspiracies to violate our immigration laws. According to the Government Accountability Office, between January 7, 2014, and April 17, 2015, ORR released illegal alien juveniles from its custody to a parent in 60 percent of all cases, an aunt or uncle in 13 percent, a sibling in 12 percent, an “other relative” in 3 percent, a first cousin in 2 percent, and a grandparent in 1 percent of all cases. Thus, in roughly 91 percent of all cases, these juveniles are eventually released to the custody of a family member located in the United States. However, this Administration has failed to take any enforcement action against these family members – most of whom had some role to play in the juveniles’ illegal entry into the United States. And many of those family members are present in the United States unlawfully. The Administration continues to prevent the use of any of a number of commonsense tools to protect the integrity of our immigration system and the sovereignty of this nation. Moreover, the need for additional housing facilities is far from clear. Indeed, there seems to be some confusion on the part of the Administration as to whom the special processing procedures in the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) apply. Indeed, under a plain reading of the Act, many of the illegal alien juveniles apprehended could be expeditiously and humanely sent back to their homes – because they do not meet the definition of an “unaccompanied alien child.” Pursuant to the TVPRA, an “unaccompanied alien child” who is apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security must be transferred to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is then responsible for their care and custody. However, the TVPRA defines an “unaccompanied alien child” by cross-referencing section 462(g) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. § 279(g)), which defines an “unaccompanied alien child” as an individual who has no lawful immigration status in the United States, who is under 18, and with respect to whom “there is no parent or legal guardian in the
