Border Patrol

Border Patrol in Rio Grande Valley releasing illegal crossers into US without court date

Article title: 
Border Patrol in Rio Grande Valley releasing illegal crossers into US without court date
Article subtitle: 
The unprecedented move places the responsibility of seeking an asylum hearing on the migrants
Article author: 
Griff Jenkins
Article publisher: 
Fox News
Article date: 
Sun, 03/21/2021
Article expiration date: 
Sun, 08/01/2021
Article importance: 
High
Article body: 

EXCLUSIVE: Fox News confirmed Sunday that Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector (RGV) have begun to process and release illegal border crossers who claim asylum without issuing a Notice to Appear (NTA) - allowing them to depart custody without scheduling a court date for a hearing. 

The unprecedented move places the responsibility of seeking an asylum hearing on the migrants through Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or legal assistance.

BORDER PATROL RELEASING ILLEGAL CROSSERS INTO US WITHOUT COURT DATE

Multiple Border Patrol agents confirmed the new process to Fox News, revealing that they have been directed to use prosecutorial discretion (PD) to forgo the hours-long process of paperwork required to issue an NTA amid the surge of migrants at the border.

Instead, migrants are registered into the system with biometrical data taken and largely released into the public - in one instance - at a bus station in McAllen, TX. The processing is being done mostly at a temporary outdoor processing site. Border Patrol agents emphasized that this does not apply to unaccompanied children.

BIDEN ADMIN ALLOWED MAJORITY OF MIGRANT FAMILIES WHO SURRENDERED AT BORDER INTO US 

A senior source with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told Fox News on Saturday that officials were considering the controversial move because the ongoing crisis on the border has "become so dire that BP [Border Patrol] has no choice but to release people nearly immediately after apprehension because there is no space to hold people even to do necessary NTA paperwork."

The process of issuing each migrant an NTA can take hours per individual or family.

The decision comes as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is working to open another facility for unaccompanied child migrants in Pecos, Texas, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) announced Saturday. 

The Temporary Influx Care Facility would house at least 500 unaccompanied minors to start, with the capacity to house 2,000 children. 

"While ORR has worked to build up its licensed bed capacity to almost 13,500 beds, additional capacity is urgently needed to manage both enhanced COVID-19 mitigation strategies and the increasing numbers of UC referrals from DHS," an ORR spokesperson said. 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that border crossings were on track to be the highest in 20 years. 

Convicted Murderer Arrested by Border Patrol in Yuma Sector

Article title: 
Convicted Murderer Arrested by Border Patrol in Yuma Sector
Article publisher: 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Article date: 
Fri, 02/21/2020
Article expiration date: 
Fri, 08/21/2020
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

YUMA, Ariz. –An aggravated felon from Mexico with convictions of first-degree murder and armed robbery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was arrested in Yuma Sector by U.S. Border Patrol Tuesday.

A Yuma Sector agent arrested two men who were determined to have illegally crossed into the United States near the U.S. and Mexico International Boundary in San Luis.

While searching one of the individuals, the agent discovered a bag containing 1.9 grams of methamphetamine in his pocket. Both subjects were transported to the Yuma Station for processing where they were treated for minor scrapes and cuts sustained while falling from the wall.  

Record checks conducted at the station revealed that one of the individuals was convicted of first-degree murder and armed robbery in Milwaukee in 2003.  The man was identified as 37-year-old Cruz Guillermo Barron-Nunez of Mexico. He had been convicted and sentenced to 19 years for first-degree murder and 11 years for armed robbery.

Bangladesh nationals continue to flood border

Article title: 
Bangladesh nationals continue to flood border
Article subtitle: 
Article author: 
Bob Price
Article publisher: 
Breitbart
Article date: 
Wed, 04/04/2018
Article expiration date: 
Sat, 09/01/2018
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

Border Patrol agents in the Laredo Sector of Texas continue to find more Bangladesh nationals being smuggled across the border from Mexico. Agents arrested 12 over the Easter weekend alone.

The Laredo Sector continues to lead the nation in the apprehension of Bangladeshis smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. Over the Easter weekend, agents arrested 12 in three separate incidents, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The crossings all took place in southern Laredo where border barriers are virtually non-existent.

“It goes to show that our agents are arresting people from all over the world on a daily basis. Their intentions for entering the country illegally can only be determined after they have been arrested,” Laredo Sector Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Gabriel Acosta said in a written statement.

Acosta said his agents have arrested a total of 156 Bangladeshis since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2018 (October 1, 2017). This represents an increase of 64 percent over the previous fiscal year.

Illegal immigration up 200 percent in March, after Senate legalization debate

Article title: 
Illegal immigration up 200 percent in March, after Senate legalization debate
Article subtitle: 
Article author: 
Stephen Dinan
Article publisher: 
The Washington Times
Article date: 
Wed, 04/04/2018
Article expiration date: 
Sat, 09/01/2018
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

Illegal immigration across the southwest border surged 200 percent in March compared to the same month last year, according to Homeland Security statistics released late Wednesday that back up White House’s claims that things are quickly deteriorating on the border.

The year-over-year surge is by far the largest in the records, which date back to 2011, and it could be a signal that the Senate’s debate on legalizing illegal immigrants earlier this year has sparked a new wave of migration.

The Border Patrol and officers at the ports of entry nabbed 50,308 people in March — up from less than 37,000 in February, and three times the 16,588 people apprehended in March 2017, when President Trump’s tough enforcement talk had sparked a major drop in illegal immigration attempts.

Border Patrol expects surge of migrant children just in time for GOP convention

Article title: 
Border Patrol expects surge of migrant children just in time for GOP convention
Article subtitle: 
Article author: 
Joel Gehrke
Article publisher: 
Washington Examiner
Article date: 
Wed, 03/23/2016
Article expiration date: 
Thu, 09/01/2016
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

Border Patrol officials are bracing for another influx of unaccompanied children coming through the border this summer, a crisis that could diminish border security and would certainly affect the 2016 presidential elections.

The number of children who arrive this summer "may exceed" the thousands who made the trip from Central America in 2014. "And it makes it more likely that security risks can take advantage of that situation and penetrate our border, simply riding the tide of the high volume of processing that has to occur," Jan Ting, a Temple University Law professor who testified Wednesday before a House hearing about immigration and border security policy, told Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga. "And looking at [fiscal] 2016, I think a lot of us think we're confronting that situation this year."

If that holds true, then border states face another summer humanitarian crisis. In 2014, the surge provoked a flurry of legislation in response to the problem. The experts proposed a variety of ways to mitigate the problem, but Congress will be out for an extended summer recess due to the presidential elections.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed Ting's projections. "As of January 31 this fiscal year, CBP has apprehended more than 20,000 [unaccompanied children], compared to approximately 10,000 apprehended during the same period last year," acting chief Ronald Vitiello said in his prepared remarks. "As we enter the traditional season of higher migration, we are closely monitoring this situation and working with our partners to ensure that resources and capabilities are in place to accommodate an increased number of [unaccompanied children], and to maintain safe, orderly processing of children that CBP encounters, without disrupting CBP's vital border security mission."

Border Patrol agents, facing scrutiny over shootings, have harsh words for their leaders

Article title: 
Border Patrol agents, facing scrutiny over shootings, have harsh words for their leaders
Article subtitle: 
Article author: 
Nigel Duara
Article publisher: 
Los Angeles Times
Article date: 
Wed, 06/17/2015
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

Among the most far-reaching and damning accusations from agents working entry points in Arizona, Texas and California was that the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol administration in Washington does not want agents to make drug busts and has taken away their ability to do so.

Shane Gallagher, an agent in the San Diego sector, said roving interdiction patrols — in which agents would stop suspicious vehicles north of the border — were extraordinarily successful at nabbing border crossers with drugs. But those patrols would then create uncomfortable questions for the ports through which the vehicles had just passed, he said.

“Now the port of entry has to explain who was in the primary lane, what actions were taken, if the vehicle was inspected, so you can see there’s a whole host of implications,” he said.

Though rank-and-file agents saw the value in drug interdictions, Gallagher said, agency leadership did not and drastically reduced the number of agents doing such work.

“There was a lot of pressure for us to get out of the [drug] interdiction game,” Gallagher said.

 

Border agency accused of political maneuvering after pulling report

Article title: 
Border agency accused of political maneuvering after pulling report
Article subtitle: 
More than half of illegal crossers caught were not Mexicans
Article author: 
Andrew Becker
Article publisher: 
Center for Investigative Reporting
Article date: 
Thu, 11/06/2014
Article importance: 
High
Article body: 

Most of the people the U.S. Border Patrol stopped from sneaking into the country last year were from countries other than Mexico, according to agency statistics, a startling shift that might have provided fodder for politicians leading up to Tuesday’s election.

But they didn’t get much of a chance. The Border Patrol’s annual statistics were posted on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website for about five hours on Oct. 10, then taken down. Now some are questioning whether the decision to pull back the data was another example of the Obama administration playing politics with public information.

Even before Tuesday, the Obama administration said it was waiting until after the midterm elections to deal with immigration reform so that any losses would not be blamed on the Democrats’ proposal. For some, removing the apprehension statistics – which both parties could use to criticize U.S. immigration laws – was another flatly political move.

“It worries me that they may have been taken down for purely political reasons,” said U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. “If the information is ready it should be made available. The idea that it was and then yanked down for political reasons is outrageous.”

Border Agent Spokesman: Flood of Immigrants Will End Up Staying

Article title: 
Border Agent Spokesman: Flood of Immigrants Will End Up Staying
Article author: 
Melissa Clyne and Bill Hoffmann
Article publisher: 
Newsmax
Article date: 
Tue, 07/08/2014
Article importance: 
High
Article body: 

The thousands of people flooding the U.S. border will eventually be granted amnesty to stay, says Gabe Pacheco, spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council in San Diego.

Appearing on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV on Tuesday, Pacheco said the children, mostly from Central America, will be absorbed into the population and it will morph into a form of "de facto amnesty" that leads to chain migration.

"Even if they come to amnesty or asylum, they've crossed the border illegally already," Pacheco said. 

"They've broken the law. Yes, there's going to come some time and point where the administration is going to have to say, yes, we're going to have to give these people amnesty out of necessity. And then you'll have the families come up with those children who are already here and have established residency."

Because the Border Patrol in Texas is so overwhelmed, every 72 hours the government sends groups of 140 people, mostly women and children, to San Diego, Pacheco said, adding that there is no end in sight.

"We don't know when it's going to stop; that's just part of the process right now," he said.

The job of looking after all of the illegal children is so vast that drug cartels and others are getting into the United States because there is no one at the border to stop them, he added.

 

U.S. border agents told to be less aggressive against stone-throwers

Article title: 
U.S. border agents told to be less aggressive against stone-throwers
Article author: 
Reuters
Article publisher: 
Reuters
Article date: 
Fri, 03/07/2014
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

(Reuters) - The U.S. Border Patrol told its agents on Friday that when they confront suspected illegal immigrants crossing the frontier who throw rocks at them, they should try to take cover or move away rather than immediately open fire.

Michael J. Fischer, head of the Border Patrol, said in a conference call with reporters that immigrant smugglers were increasingly using rock-throwing as a way to drive away patrols.
 
Since 2010, agency personnel have opened fire 43 times, killing 10 people, in response to 1,713 rock-throwing attacks against them, Fischer said in the preface to a directive he issued to agents.
 
He said three officers had been killed in more than 6,000 assaults on agents since 2007.
 

 

Mexican cartels corrupting more US border officials?

Article title: 
Mexican cartels corrupting more US border officials?
Article author: 
Mark Potter
Article publisher: 
MSNBC
Article date: 
Thu, 04/07/2011
Article importance: 
Medium
Article body: 

In El Paso, Texas, a major embarrassment for American law enforcement: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer Margarita Crispin is sentenced to 20 years in prison for selling out to Mexican drug traffickers.

"It was amazing to us to find out that Margarita Crispin received $5 million for her services to allow loads of marijuana to come through her checkpoint along the border," assistant director of the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI, told NBC News.

 

 

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