4/4/2019 -
Jackie Gingrich Cushman Townhall.com
Something must be done. A policy crisis has turned into a
security crisis, and now a humanitarian crisis. In February, there were over 76,000
apprehensions at our southern border. This is nearly double the average monthly
number (41,735) during the last five years. Additionally, the percentage of
people apprehended with their families has dramatically increased. In 2006,
only 10% of those apprehended were members of family units and unaccompanied
minors; now, we are at 60%.
Our policy of releasing families into the United States has
dramatically increased the number of family units and unaccompanied minors
coming into our country illegally.
"This migrant situation is called a 'crisis,' but that
word is overused," CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo told viewers on Monday. "It
doesn't do the situation justice."
According to the Department of Homeland Security, there were
about 32,000 family units and unaccompanied alien children apprehended in
December of last year. This is over 2 1/2 times the average for fiscal year
2017.
Why are these numbers rapidly increasing?
Because the current policy does not work. Families
apprehended can be held for no more than 20 days. According to Border Patrol
Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Raul Ortiz, whom Cuomo interviewed, this limitation
is incentivizing more migrants to cross our borders illegally. "We
apprehend, we process, and we turn them over to the other agencies that are out
there," said Ortiz. Cuomo responded: "So, it's a domino effect. You
can only keep them 20 days ... You got to let them go. That gets perceived as
weakness. Now you're doing catch and release again." This drives up the
number of migrants who, once they cross the border, look to surrender to a
Customs and Border Patrol agent.
Additionally, while we want to help asylum seekers, migrants
have learned to work the system, according to Secretary of Homeland Security
Kirstjen Nielsen. "Many of the people coming are economic migrants,"
she told Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Tuesday. "They are not truly seeking
asylum. We want to help those who are, but many of them have been given magic
words to come in."
The current process allows those who come across to be released
until they are processed either through an immigration court or by a review for
potential asylum.
According to acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Director Ronald Vitiello, we have released 125,000 family units into the United
States since December. Once they are released, they are supposed to show up in
court to be properly processed. According to Vitiello, most don't show up for
their court appearance.
What we are seeing is not just a security crisis for our
country but also a crisis for those crossing illegally. The journey is
dangerous. According to DHS, one-third of the women who make the trip are
sexually assaulted along the way.
And children are also subject to abuse. Nielsen said that
DHS has broken up rings of smugglers who recycle children. Smugglers use them
to pose as part of a family whose heads of household are seeking asylum. Once
the group is released into the United States, the smugglers arrange for the
children to be returned to Mexico to cross again -- as part of another family
unit.
The practice results in more than people getting across the
border illegally. Almost 90% of the heroin that comes into our country does so
through the southern border. And fentanyl smuggling has doubled in the past
year, with Customs and Border Protection agents seizing 254 pounds in a single
case in January, enough to kill more than 115 million Americans, investigators
told The Arizona Republic. These drugs are killing our people.
President Donald Trump has been talking about securing the
southern border since the 2016 election, but legislators have yet to take
action. First, they have to acknowledge the crisis.
In January, when Trump attempted to negotiate a solution to
the crisis at the southern border with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Democrats brushed aside
any talk of a crisis. Instead, Schumer chastised Trump, accusing him of talking
up the border issue in an attempt "to manufacture a crisis, stoke fear and
divert attention from the turmoil in his administration."
I hope the Democrats will agree that this is a real crisis
and take real steps to fix it. We can't fix the humanitarian problem -- or the
security problem -- without changing our operational policy.
No comments:
Post a Comment