Pence visits new border fence, blames open border advocates for caravan

Kate Morrissey
April 30, 2018 5:30 pm

VP Pence visits border to rally the troops

The day after a migrant caravan reached the U.S.-Mexico border in the hope of requesting asylum, Vice President Mike Pence visited a barrier construction project in Calexico, where he blamed activists for encouraging people facing hardship in Central America to make the journey north.

In a speech at the El Centro Border Patrol station, he told agents and other U.S. Department of Homeland Security staff that the administration would succeed in building a border wall, one of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises.

“When it comes to the border wall, we’re going to build it all,” Pence said.

He called the wall “a physical manifestation of the determination of the American people” and a symbol to the world that the U.S. will enforce its borders.

Echoing other administration officials, he urged Congress to end “loopholes” that he said entice people to come ask for asylum.

“This is the direct result of our weak immigration laws,” Pence said of the caravan. “These people are victims. They’re being exploited by open-border political activists.”

Asked about the vice president’s remarks, Alex Mensing, one of the organizers with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the group that coordinated the caravan, responded, “The members of the Refugee Caravan who are being illegally turned away at the San Ysidro port of entry fled their countries of origin due to violence and persecution.

“U.S. law directs immigration officials to refer any noncitizen who fears returning to their country for an interview with an asylum officer,” he said, “and it is very clear that the U.S. government is falsely citing capacity issues in order to deny asylum seekers their due process. Customs and Border Protection is the largest police force in the country, which detains and transports thousands of people every day, and the idea that they cannot process 150 refugees after more than 24 hours is ridiculous and shameful.”

Border officials have said that the port of entry is at capacity for processing and those who have not yet been processed will have to wait in Tijuana until space becomes available.

The Trump administration has pushed for legislation from Congress that would allow the federal government to keep children in immigration detention for longer periods of time and require them to file asylum applications within one year of entering the U.S., as is required of adults.

Pence also called for a law requiring asylum seekers to settle in the first “safe country” they come to, a change that the administration added to its agenda with the arrival of the caravan.

The U.S. has an agreement with Canada that between the two countries, whichever one asylum seekers reach first should be the one where they apply for protection. The U.S. has no such agreement with Mexico, and many migrants have reported facing dangers in Mexico, including being tracked north by gang members from their home countries.

One woman from El Salvador who requested asylum at the San Ysidro port of entry last year became pregnant after she was raped in Mexico. She and her brothers had originally tried for asylum in Mexico, but after her rapist threatened them, they came to the U.S.

Pence also renewed a call from the administration to end the diversity visa program and restrict the family-sponsored visa program.

“Under this president, this administration, we will not rest until Congress passes legislation that will modernize our immigration laws and remove the message and the incentives of people to the south to try to enter our country by any means,” Pence said.

He thanked governors from states along the southwest border for sending members of the National Guard to support Border Patrol’s work. He said nearly 1,000 troops have been deployed among Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. California will soon have National Guard troops stationed there as well, he said.

Pence landed in Air Force Two at Naval Air Facility El Centro to a scattering of applause from service members. His wife, Karen, accompanied him down the stairs to the tarmac. She kissed him goodbye as he shook hands with those gathered to watch his arrival.

The visit comes just under two weeks after Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen made a similar trip to the border town.

As with Nielsen, El Centro Border Patrol sector chief Gloria Chavez presented Pence with a piece of the old Vietnam War-era landing mat that lined the border before the construction that started in February to replace the barrier with 30-foot bollard-style fencing.

The construction gap, where the old barrier has come down so that the new one can go up, had moved east by more than a football field since Nielsen’s visit.

The same group of Mexican protesters that appeared during Nielsen’s visit stood on the Mexicali side as Pence’s motorcade stirred up clouds of dust with its arrival.

They yelled, “No al muro” — “No to the wall.”

Though the protest crossed into the U.S. when Nielsen visited the site, demonstrators stayed on the Mexican side while Pence inspected the fence as both mounted Border Patrol agents and agents with riot shields guarded the gap.

As his motorcade passed through Calexico and El Centro, many stopped to record the visit on their smartphones. Some gave thumbs up as the line of SUVs, vans and police escorts drove by. A few yelled angrily.

When Pence returned to the military base, he shook hands with members of the California Highway Patrol who had escorted him. Pence is scheduled to appear in Arizona Tuesday.

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