Venezuelans, Cubans in new border crossing surge, ‘completely out of control’
OPINION: WASHINGTON SECRETS
Venezuelans, Cubans in new border crossing surge, ‘completely out of control’
by Paul Bedard
| April 18, 2019 09:02 AM
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Economic illegal immigrants from Cuba and Venezuela are starting to rush across the U.S.-Mexico border, raising new concerns that the annual early summer surge of migrants will break records.
“This is completely out of control,” said Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson.
Fresh from a tour of the border near El Paso, Texas, the Wisconsin Republican revealed that the regular collection of Mexicans and Central Americans caught by the U.S. Border Patrol now includes Cubans and Venezuelans.
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Among the nearly 100 he saw caught over just two hours at one border crossing were several from Venezuela and 13 from Cuba, 12 men and one woman.
Both countries are in the midst of an economic crisis, likely driving them to the United States for work, he said.
“I’m extremely worried,” said the senator. “That’s exponential growth and it’s only going to continue to grow exponentially,” he said in an interview.
What’s more, he added, illegal immigrants with illnesses and diseases are also surging across the border.
“There is a pretty long list of communicable diseases that they’ve encountered,” said the senator. He said that Border Patrol has “holding cells” for illegals with mumps, “drug resistant strains of tuberculosis,” and those with lice, chicken pox, and scabies.
He also said that “it’s plausible” that the recent measles outbreak started with an illegal immigrant.
Johnson has recently held hearings addressing the border crisis and believes that it can be solved by raising the hurdle for illegal immigrants to gain entry into the country by claiming that they face “credible fear” back home.
Just 10% of asylum claims are eventually granted, so Johnson said that border agents need the information to determine immediately if there is “credible fear” threats from where the migrants come from.
If not, he said that the migrants should be sent home as the U.S. did to some illegal populations in 2005, a move that virtually ended illegal immigration from those countries.
“You start sending people back who paid $6,000, $8,000, $10,000 to come here ... and you would see a rapid decline,” he said.
What’s more, it would happen fast and not require much spending.
He said a better removal system would be more efficient than a wall.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/venezuelans-cubans-in-new-border-crossing-surge-completely-out-of-control
