Border agents have confirmed what many Americans have known for a long time: The Obama administration has “no intention” of deporting illegal aliens and enforcing this country’s immigration laws.
According to congressional testimony by Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a top official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has instructed Border Patrol agents to release illegal immigrants caught attempting to sneak into the country so as not to clutter the courts.
Judd said that the orders are the administration’s new “catch-and-release” policy,” which he observes “amounts to amnesty,” as the illegal immigrants are not even being issued a Notice to Appear (NTA), which is what begins deportation proceedings.
Judd told the House Judiciary Committee on Monday that this is the policy even in some criminal cases.
Judd also advised the committee that Border Patrol agents took their concerns over the policy to Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who told them that the Border Patrol has more important areas on which to focus. “Deputy Secretary Mayorkas told us that the Border Patrol needs to focus its resources towards the worst of the worst. He said that by prioritizing those we choose to deport, we will help alleviate the burden on an already overburdened court system,” Judd recalled.
“He further stated, ‘Why would we NTA those we have no intention of deporting?’ adding, ‘We should not place someone in deportation proceedings, when the courts already have a 3-6 year backlog,'” Judd continued.
Judd told the committee, “Since the day of this meeting [with Mayorkas], we have seen no improvements in our enforcement efforts and the morale of the Border Patrol agents is one of, if not the lowest, in the entire federal government.”
Judd added in his written testimony that agents have also been told not to interview illegal immigrant children who continue to cross the border. “This is verbal direction from direct supervisors and not a written policy. Agents are being told not to ask why minors are crossing,” he wrote.
Judd gave similar testimony on the Obama administration’s catch-and-release policy before Congress last month, when he spoke on the border surge of immigrant minors. “The willful failure to show up for court appearances by persons that were arrested and released by the Border Patrol has become an extreme embarrassment for the Department of Homeland Security. It has been so embarrassing that DHS and the U.S. attorney’s office has come up with a new policy,” he testified before the immigration subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.
Judd also addressed the Obama administration’s so-called deportation priorities — those who arrived after December 31, 2013 — stating that the administration’s policy does “not require the person to prove they have been here [since January of 2014] … it simply requires them to claim to have been here since January of 2014.”
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said Judd’s written testimony ultimately disproves any of President Obama’s claims that his administration is enforcing immigration laws. “Not only has President Obama sought to undermine our immigration laws at every opportunity possible, now his political appointees have implemented a ‘catch and release’ policy that contradicts the administration’s already weak enforcement priorities,” asserted Goodlatte. “Rather than take the steps necessary to end the border surge, the Obama Administration is encouraging more to come by forcing Border Patrol agents to release unlawful immigrants into the United States with no intention of ever removing them.”
Judd has been fiercely critical of this administration’s immigration policy, asserting, “We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether. Immigration laws today appear to be mere suggestions.”
According to immigration expert Jessica Vaughan, policy director for the Center for Immigration Studies, such lax immigration laws have resulted in increased crime in the United States as an influx of “foot soldiers from Central America” have entered the United States “to help colonize new criminal territory.”
Vaughan told the House Judiciary Committee’s Immigration and Border Security subcommittee last month, “The tide of new young people, many of whom have already been exposed or involved in street gangs at home, has provided a huge pool of new recruits for the gangs here. Gangs such as MS-13 and 18th Street are enjoying a brutal revival in certain parts of the country and are establishing themselves in new places.”
