Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Whether it be the Catch & Release Program or asylum policies that dont require people to stay in the first safe country in which they arrive were calling on Congress to work with us to bring about change" said Vice President Mike Pence (right) while visiting the southwest border earlier this week as illegal immigration numbers rose again in April continuing a surge that entirely erases President Trumps early gains.
Nearly 39000 illegal immigrants were apprehended by the Border Patrol last month according to preliminary numbers released Thursday a staggering 233 increase over the same month a year ago.
The numbers represent a stunning reversal from last year when President Trump oversaw the biggest drop in illegal immigration in history. The rate of illegal crossers had dropped to four-decade lows by April 2017.
The numbers representing the biggest year-over-year increase in records dating back to the beginning of the decade left officials in Washington struggling for answers.
Experts said the increase is being driven by lax U.S. policies which illegal immigrants have figured out how to exploit meaning that even if theyre caught theyre likely to be released and have a chance to disappear into the shadows.
We stop people we interdict them but we do not have the authority given the loopholes in many cases to detain and remove them. Thats what we face at the border" said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in testimony to Congress last week.Commonly known as Catch & Release" the policies continue to frustrate Border Patrol agents who are responsible for protecting the southern border. Trump Administration officials say theyve ended Administrative Catch & Release" which means they no longer have an official policy calling for some classes of illegal immigrants to be released automatically but the lack of detention bed space and demands set by federal courts still force Catch & Release" for many illegal immigrants.If you have an alarm in your home and you catch a burglar and you call the police and the police come and in fact it is an illegal entry into your home but the police tell you they have absolutely no ability to detain or remove those criminals and the criminals stay in your house you would not tell me that is home security. Were forced to release them back into the communities after theyve committed crimes said Nielsen pleading for Congress to write laws giving her department the ability to hold people crossing the border illegally.
The reason is obvious: If you can cross the border illegally without any consequence why not?" asked Brandon Judd president of the National Border Patrol Council.
As long as the catch-and-release policy-program exists large numbers of people are going to cross the border illegally" said Judd.
The National Border Patrol Council estimates that three-quarters of the migrants agents apprehend at the border are eventually released into the country under Catch & Release" policies. That means that of the nearly 39000 agents arrested last month perhaps 30000 will be set free.
In 2017 due to the rhetoric we had fewer apprehensions than any year in the past 45 years" Judd said.
It was simply because people believed that if they crossed the border illegally they would be held until their deportation hearing. But smugglers quickly realized everything was status quo and theyre once again recruiting people to enter our country illegally" he said.
