Immigration Enforcement Failures Put Terrorists on the Border

By Joe Guzzardi
June 20, 2016
 
Illegal immigrants allegedly are kidnapping children at the shared U.S. border with Mexico, and using them as tools to gain entry into the United States as family units. Leon Fresco, deputy assistant attorney general, Office of Immigration Litigation at the U.S. Department of Justice, made the stunning claim in his testimony to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Enforcement advocates consider such immigration duplicity par for the course.
 
Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Dolly Gee issued an order that all children, including those who travel with families, be processed and released without undue delay, a decision that Fresco and others predicted would create a record-breaking surge of Central American migrants. In Central America, migrants believe that if they can get into the U.S., they’ll be granted asylum or released into the general public, and not sought for deportation. Judge Gee’s ruling reinforced that impression, and led to huge increases in illegal border crossings.
 
With three months still remaining in this fiscal year, illegal immigrant families that crossed the border have already exceeded the 2015 total, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics released this month. And, there are no signs of relief in sight. Historically, the summer months are the prime season for illegal entry attempts. In May, nearly 6,800 migrants traveling as families were caught on the southwestern border, a 20 percent increase over April, putting the fiscal year total at 45,000. Only about 3 percent are ever returned home.
 
As troubling as releasing uninspected illegal immigrants into society-at-large is, another more worrisome report surfaced this month.
 
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) obtained internal DHS documents which showed that a Brazilian-based smuggling network helped an Afghan national with Taliban sympathies enter the U.S through Mexico. When the Afghan was apprehended near Nogales, Arizona, DHS checked its terrorist databases which showed no entries – no “derogatory information,” in border officials’ parlance. But a subsequent investigation found that the Afghan was involved in a plot to carry out an attack in the U.S. and/or Canada with the assistance of his Taliban associates. The whereabouts of four Pakistani nationals that were also part of the smuggled Nogales group is unknown.
 
Orlando, San Bernardino, Fort Hood and Chattanooga have put the nation on edge. Americans support common sense, sustainable immigration. But the Obama administration has promoted dangerous, destructive policies that few can comprehend. Three main immigration questions concern Americans. First, does a sovereign nation have the right to control its borders and to determine who comes to live and work in the U.S? Second, should American immigration laws protect the best interests of its citizens? Third, do citizens have a right to demand that immigration laws passed by their representatives be enforced?
 
The answers to the three questions are yes, and reaching those goals could be easily achieved. But the White House and Congress have at every turn blocked Americans’ will on immigration. November looms large. The presidential and congressional elections will provide the winners with a chance to serve the electorates’ wishes, and truly protect the nation.
 

###
Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @ joeguzzardi19.