Thread: Surge of migrant families at border will continue in 2019, says former DHS official

Surge of migrant families at border will continue in 2019, says former DHS official

by Anna Giaritelli
December 28, 2018 01:07 PM

A recently retired senior Department of Homeland Security official who predicted earlier this year the number of families migrating to the U.S. from Central America was about to spike said Friday that number is going to continue to grow.
And President's Trump's efforts won't completely deter the migrants, former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan told Fox News Friday.

"If we can't detain families long enough to see a judge, if we have to release them before they see a judge, you will see a rash of family units come to this country," Homan said.

"Guess what? I was right, even though I was called a fear-mongerer. Now, more families are coming because they know they can't be detained. ICE has run out of family beds. Families are being released from the border right now, enticing more people to come here illegally," Homan said.

Border Patrol agents working along the U.S.-Mexico boundary have historically seen groups of five to 10 migrants at a time arriving between official ports of entry.

Since September, smugglers responsible for moving people from Central America to the U.S. have begun holding migrants on the south side of the border then moving large groups of 100 to 300 people at a time over the border where there is no barrier.

More than 51,000 people were caught illegally entering the United States from Mexico in November, the highest number recorded since Trump took office almost two years ago.

Half of those — 25,172 — were families. That figure is nearly four times more than the 7,000 families apprehended just one year earlier.

DHS reported last month more than 98 of the nearly 95,000 Central American families apprehended in fiscal 2017 remain in the country.

“Smugglers and traffickers know our loopholes well. The lack of legal tools creates pull factors that invite families to cross the border, because they know upon apprehension we will be required by courts to release them into the interior of our country," DHS spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a statement.

The continued surge also poses a problem for Border Patrol stations, which lack the capacity to hold more than a few dozen illegal immigrants at once while they are processed.
Massive groups continue to cross the border into remote parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

In an incident earlier this month, three agents found a group of 163 people wandering southern New Mexico. One of the children in that group died hours after being taken into federal custody.

Homan, who retired in June, wants changes to judicial rulings, which currently state families cannot be held more than 20 days. He blamed the government's inability to hold people until their asylum cases are decided for the current surge of migrants headed for the U.S.

The Flores settlement agreement and Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act mandate that both families and unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico and Canada cannot be turned away or arrested if they illegally enter the country and must be permitted to apply for asylum.

The majority of families and children apprehended are released from federal custody and told to show up for immigration hearings on their asylum requests, but the majority do not show and disappear into the country. About 4 in 5 of those asylum cases are denied because they do not meet asylum standards.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...r-dhs-official

Trump...shut the whole border down and make the "surge" stop.

Put Mexico and Central America on the Travel Ban. It is a National Security and HEALTH risk due to the sickness and diseases they are bringing with them....infecting each other AND American citizens.

Organized, pre-meditated, invasion of our country funded by criminal enterprises!

It sure will continue, unless Trump can figure something out on his own that doesn't involve Congress or the Courts. I think Trump will do that, but what, when and where, I do not know. But I think it will be good, whatever it is.

We should NOT be forced to pay for their medical exams.

Kirstjen down there today to now implement a policy to provide exams to all of them!

This is outrages! Send Federal Judges to that border on 3 shifts, 24/7, to deny their cases instead and deport them.

More than 51,000 people were caught illegally entering the United States from Mexico in November, the highest number recorded since Trump took office almost two years ago.

No doubt this also means more are getting in undetected.

Oh absolutely. It's always been more get in than are arrested. Border Patrol has always said that. Has the increase in Border Patrol over the past 15 years, increased the number of arrests reducing the number of those who get in undetected? You would think so, but maybe not. There can always be ..... anomalies. And when Cartels, Churches and DemoQuacks are united, there's probably a lot of ..... anomalies.

Originally Posted by Beezer

We should NOT be forced to pay for their medical exams.

Kirstjen down there today to now implement a policy to provide exams to all of them!

This is outrages! Send Federal Judges to that border on 3 shifts, 24/7, to deny their cases instead and deport them.

I still say what the DOJ needs to do is crackdown on all 'lobbying' by or on behalf of illegal aliens. I think they have the power to do that. Under our lobbying laws (which primarily Democrat enacted) lobbying either BY or on BEHALF of foreign persons or groups can only happen via registered lobbyists. Undoubtedly nearly every other country in the world has some law like this---or else some other power would dominate them if there was anything there worth getting.

Illegals without admission would have to be considered "foreign principals"---I don;t see how they could get around this designation. But it is up to the DOJ to enforce the foreign lobbying laws.