MEXICO GIVES AFRICAN MIGRANTS 20-DAY PASS TO GET TO U.S. BORDER
MEXICO GIVES AFRICAN MIGRANTS 20-DAY PASS TO GET TO U.S. BORDER
Somalis, Ethiopians, 'everyone knows it's a free for all'
Published: 33 mins ago
Migrants from Africa, Haiti and the Middle East are swarming across the border in a mad dash that is being facilitated by Mexican officials, according to new reports.
The flow has been increasing ever since the election of Donald Trump on Nov. 8, border agents tell WND.
The U.S. has been taking in between 70,000 and 110,000 legal refugees per year from dozens of countries including up to 10,000 a year from Somalia and more than 12,000 a year from Syria.
But that’s not enough to satisfy the demand for migrants from these countries trying to reach U.S. soil. Thousands of others are coming across the border illegally and seeking asylum from countries other than Mexico and other than Central America.
Dozens are reportedly finding their way to the U.S.-Mexican border illegally every day.
Think Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Pakistan and Sudan.
According to an article in the Saudi Gazette, Mexico is giving a 20-day free pass to the U.S. border to illegal aliens from Africa and Haiti.
The Saudi Gazette reports:
“With few diplomatic ties with African nations, it is difficult for the Mexican authorities to deport illegal migrants from Africa home.
“As a result, many African migrants are given a temporary transit permit, giving them 20 days to leave Mexico. In practice this allows them to continue their journey towards the United States border without being detained by immigration officials.”
Migrants shift target destinations from Europe to U.S.
The surge of African asylum seekers at the U.S. border has its roots in the recent clamp down on refugees flooding into Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under intense political pressure and running for her political life ahead of German elections this year, has shut off the open-arms welcoming party for migrants from the Middle East and Africa.
Italy and Greece have also been working to stem the tide of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The Saudi Gazette interviewed a man named Hassan from Somalia, who is part of a growing surge of people from African nations seeking new routes to flee poverty, war and persecution.
Hassan’s journey
Hassan had paid a human smuggler $1,000 to guide him overland through Central America to reach Mexico in the hope of crossing into the United States.
According to the Saudi Gazette:
“Hassan reached Mexico in December, after a four-month journey that included a flight from Somalia to Brazil, and then across seven countries on bus, boat and foot. He has spent $10,000 so far, hiding dollar bills in his underwear and socks.”
The routes to Europe have become more difficult, said Claudette Walls, head of the field office for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Mexico’s city of Tapachula.
“What’s happening in the Mediterranean is that it’s becoming more and more hazardous and difficult to take that route,” Walls said.
An increasingly popular alternative route is through Latin America coming all the way up to Mexico and then on to the U.S. has become another route.
Many migrants from Africa fly to Ecuador and Brazil where few visa restrictions allow an easy point of entry into the Americas.
A trickle becomes a steady flow
African migrants first started arriving in Mexico in 2013, according to the Saudi Gazette. It was a trickle at first, around six a day, mainly through Tapachula along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala.
Hundreds now turn up every day. Last year between 150 to 700 African migrants arrived per day at Tapachula – with a total of 19,000 migrants arriving from Africa and Haiti in 2016 – according to Mexican government figures.
‘Catch and release’
A U.S. Border Patrol agent who works out of the El Centro sector of Southern California, told WND the “catch and release” policy implemented by President Obama has led to an “open season” on the U.S. border from all manner of foreign countries.
“We’ve become the dumping ground if they [Mexico] can facilitate it. I hadn’t heard those numbers before but it doesn’t surprise me. We’ve seen definitely quite a few Hatians in this [El Centro] area. We’ve had seven or eight Romanians show up last night. Everyone knows it’s a free for all right now, trying to get through before Trump gets in.”
He said the Africans were more likely coming up through Texas.
“It doesn’t surprise me but I have more direct knowledge of the Hatians coming up through California, getting processed and released,” he said. “They’ve all got their paperwork with their court dates.”
The agent said when these illegals are caught, they have their names and biological data put into the U.S. immigration system, they are given a notice to appear with a court date at some future point.
“These Romanians, four adults and three children, for instance were given a three-year pass. Basically they’re given a temporary stay here till 2019,” the agent explained. “I don’t know how they determine who gets to stay for what period of time. They just get lost in the system. They’ll get a court date and then find either a good immigration lawyer or a sympathetic judge and then a lot of these people will be able to extend these things for year after year after year, getting these cards re-issued and of course then that helps them establish a presence and they can say ‘I’ve been here 10 years and I’ve got a family and a job’ or whatever.”
According to congressional testimony last year by Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, 80 percent of asylum seekers who show up illegally at the southern border never get deported.
For an asylum seeker to be able to fork over $10,000 also presents disconcerting questions.
“Ten thousand bucks? Where are they getting 10,000 bucks?” asks Ann Corcoran, an immigration and refugee watchdog who blogs at Refugee Resettlement Watch. “Most Americans don’t have 10,000 bucks in their pockets or even their bank accounts. Where does some poor schmuck from Somalia get that kind of money to do this?”
http://www.wnd.com/2017/01/mexico-gi...yF07DRsA9DW.99
