The Week in (Bad) Immigration News

While immigration enforcement advocates are familiar with bad news, this week was particularly tough.

First, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s latest report showed that agents apprehended more than 38,000 illegal aliens at the U.S.-Mexico border in April, the highest number caught since the June 2014 border surge of 27,000 aliens. The April total included 5,129 unaccompanied alien children and 5,516 family units.

Because of the Obama administration’s “catch and release” program, the aliens’ knowledge that they’re unlikely to be returned and the affirmative benefits they know they’ll receive are the major causes of the renewed surge.

In this 2015 photo, Syrians pass through Slovenia. In the U.S. President Obama presses on to fulfill his top priority: more immigration, including 10,000 Syrians and Iraqis in 2016.

Second, the State Department is approving refugees at breakneck speed in an all-out effort to ensure that President Obama will make good on his foolish promise to resettle 10,000 additional Syrian and Iraqis this year. On May 23, the U.S. admitted 225 Syrians, a single-day record, and then approved an additional 80 on May 24. Monday’s 225 approvals exceed the total intake for January and February 2016 combined.

Even though respected federal experts, including FBI director James Comey, insist that refugees cannot be properly vetted no matter the time frame allotted to do a process, administration representatives claim, unpersuasively, that their screening skills have advanced to a point where the accelerated admissions pace should not create concern.

Third, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that Texas’ new Prairieland Detention Center would comply with the most advanced care guidelines for transgender inmates that will provide them with a 36-bed unit, clothing options and specialized medical care. This is a costly undertaking for a nation that’s $19 trillion in debt.

Dr. Gina Laudon, a psychologist who often opines on immigration, noted in a Wednesday Fox News interview that since a relatively small percentage of illegal aliens are transgender, the Prairieland facility is providing “a solution in search of a problem.” A more permanent remedy, Dr. Laudon suggested, would be to enforce the federal immigration laws as they are written which would reduce the need to keep building more detention centers.

Americans should consider these three examples of the damage Obama can do in the remaining seven months of his second term. On refugee resettlement, CAPS proposes the solution of providing for them closer to their homes instead of in the U.S. Over a five-year period, resettling a Middle Eastern refugee costs $64,000 here in America vs. $5,400 in their home region. Please sign the CAPS petition here encouraging a common sense approach to the refugee crisis. The petition will be sent to the White House.

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