53percenter's Blog

United States Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have released around 168,000 illegal immigrants — mostly members of family groups — into United States border communities to await asylum hearings, The Washington Times reports.

Although the Trump administration had officially declared an end to the “catch and release” policies of the Obama administration, the record number of illegal immigrants arriving at the border in the first quarter of 2019 has forced desperate immigration officials to find ways to alleviate the strain on their resources.

“Family units are not appearing in great numbers,” acting ICE chief Nathalie Asher told Congress on Wednesday, challenging the country’s immigration systems. ICE and CBP cannot hold full families in custody for more than 21 days, per a 2005 court decision, and the Trump administration walked back a policy separating families last summer.

Asher and other immigration officials testified before Congress on Wednesday, begging legislators to free up more funds for immigration enforcement along the southern border. In conjunction with the hearing, border patrol also released the number of illegal immigrants intercepted during the month of April, which was, again, a record-breaking month.

According to a press release from CBP, 109,144 individuals were apprehended at the southern border in the month of April. Ten thousand additional illegal immigrants were arrested and detained at legal border crossings.

“The 58,474 individuals in family units set another record,” CBP noted, “but an increasing number of people are also coming as single adults, 31,606. The overwhelming number of single adults are from Mexico, while most of the family units and unaccompanied teens are from Central America.”

The most astounding statistic in the report, though, may be that the Department of Homeland Security estimates that “1% of the populations of Guatemala and Honduras have made the journey north to the U.S. and jumped the border in just the past seven months,” according to statement made earlier this week by acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan.

The Washington Times reports that, if the record-breaking trend continues (and it has shown no sign of slowing in the first two weeks of May), by the end of this year, 2% of the populations of Guatemala and Honduras may have immigrated to the United States.

Democrats questioning DHS and CBP officials refused to believe that the border crisis has anything to do with a sudden rise in “migrant caravans” made up of immigrants from Central America looking for jobs in the United States, armed with the knowledge that the U.S. cannot keep family units in custody and must eventually release them to family members already living in-country.

Instead, Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), blamed the crisis on President Donald Trump’s threat to close the border to both immigration and trade. Durbin claims Trump’s rhetoric created an artificial emergency for asylum seekers who just want to get into the U.S. before more aggressive action is taken.

Officials responded to Durbin by noting that they frequently interview migrants and asylum seekers, and almost all interviewees tell authorities that they are looking for jobs and understand that the U.S. cannot immediately deport family units or adults who bring children.

“From interviews that we have done with the families we are apprehending, they are hearing that message loud and clear. They are hearing that from the smugglers, they are hearing that from the media down in the Northern Triangle,” one official told the panel.

Democrats say they’ll try to address the crisis, but not by freeing up funds for immigration control. Rather, Durbin said, according to The Washington Times, that Democrats are considering a one-time bill authorizing aid to Guatemala and Honduras.

Former vice president and current Democrat candidate for president, Joe Biden, feels the United States has an “obligation” to give free health care to illegal aliens.

The leading Democrat candidate made his pronouncement at a campaign stop in Los Angeles, California, on Wednesday.

Replying to a reporter who asked if illegals who are “law abiding” deserve federal benefits, Biden eagerly agreed.

Joe Biden says the US should provide healthcare to people “regardless of whether they are documented or undocumented.” pic.twitter.com/19La4DEtXK

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) May 9, 2019

“I think that anyone who is in a situation where they’re in need of health care, regardless of whether they are documented or undocumented, we have an obligation to see that they are cared for,” Biden said. “That’s why I think we need more clinics around the country.”

The former vice president added that we need to “tone down the rhetoric” against illegals and that worries over illegal immigration are meant to “create fear and concern” about “that other, the immigrant.”

Biden has thus far been rather closed-mouth about health care. While he certainly supports Obamacare and an expansion of his former boss’s signature achievement, Biden has not spoken to what sort of plan he prefers as he gears up his campaign for the Democrat nomination for 2020.

Unlike other Democrat candidates, Biden has not endorsed Medicare-for-all but neither has he denounced the idea.

As to illegal aliens, Biden has previously exclaimed that they are “already Americans.”

In a 2014 speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. the then-vice president declared that the millions of illegals in the U.S. are already American citizens.

You know, the 11 million people living in the shadows, I believe they’re already American citizens. Teddy Roosevelt said it better, he said Americanism is not a question of birthplace or creed or a line of dissent. It’s a question of principles, idealism, and character. [Emphasis added]

These people are just waiting, waiting for a chance to be able to contribute fully. And by that standard, 11 million undocumented aliens are already American

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.

As The Daily Wire’s Frank Camp previously reported, the Florida state legislature recently passed high-profile legislation prescribing a process by which more teachers will be able to lawfully carry firearms in school, if they so choose:

The Florida legislation lays out a set of rules by which public school boards, teachers, charter schools, and law enforcement authorities must abide before any such program can take shape.

The following are some of the requirements stated in the legislation:

• A school board must vote “by a majority to implement a guardian program,” giving them ultimate authority in the matter.
• Once a school board has voted in the affirmative, the county sheriff must set up its own guardian program, or allow the school board to “contract with another sheriff’s office that has established a guardian program.” …
• Guardians have no law enforcement authority aside from stopping or hindering a school shooting.
• Guardians must have a valid concealed carry license, and complete 144 hours of training, including a psychological evaluation and diversity training.
• Guardians “must submit to and pass an initial drug test and subsequent random drug tests,” and “successfully complete ongoing training, weapon inspection, and firearm qualification on at least an annual basis.”

Now, as Fox News reports, conservative rising star Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law yesterday:

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Wednesday that’ll let more Florida teachers carry guns in school, the latest response to last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

DeSantis signed the bill in private and issued no statement. The Republican-led Florida House of Representatives voted to send the bill to the governor last week, while the GOP-controlled state Senate passed the measure the week before.

The new law expands an existing school “guardian” program and allows any teacher to volunteer to carry a weapon if his or her school district approves. Would-be volunteers must undergo at least 144 hours of police-style training, psychiatric evaluation and drug screening. Under a previous law, passed immediately after the February 2018 Parkland shooting, only teachers who had another role at school, such as sports coach, were eligible to carry weapons on campus.

The bill faced stiff opposition from Democrats and teacher unions, as Fox News notes. But as NBC News reported in January, a safety commission established in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting affirmatively recommended arming teachers as one policy prescription to deter future school shootings:

The commission investigating a shooting massacre at a Florida high school unanimously approved its initial findings and recommendations Wednesday, including a controversial proposal that teachers who volunteer and undergo training be allowed to carry guns.

The 15-member Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission’s 446-page report details what members believe happened before, during and after the Feb. 14 shooting attack that left 14 students and three staff members dead and 17 wounded.

Many teachers in Florida seem willing and eager to arm themselves. Last week, Reuters reported that, “in anticipation of passage, school employees in 40 of Florida’s 67 counties already enrolled in or planned to take the 144-hour course.”

As The Daily Wire reported, the most recent tragic school shooting in America occurred this past Tuesday in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.

The illegal alien accused of killing 22-year-old Pierce Corcoran in Knoxville, Tennessee, has been indicted on criminally negligent homicide charges but will likely never face trial because he has already been deported from the United States.

A Knox County Grand Jury indicted 44-year-old illegal alien Francisco Eduardo Franco-Cambrany on criminally negligent homicide charges in the killing of Corcoran, who died as a result of a crash caused by the illegal alien just days before New Year’s Eve.

Despite the indictments, Franco-Cambrany is likely never to face a criminal trial in Tennessee because federal immigration officials have already deported him to his native Guatemala.

Last month, Angel Mom Wendy Corcoran told Breitbart News that her son’s killer being deported was bittersweet because it mostly solidified that they would never see justice for their son, brother, and loved one.

“Now he’s returned home to his family, and it’s kind of a hard thing because our son is forever separated from us,” Wendy told Breitbart News. “It’s opened our eyes.”

In response to the indictment, Pierce’s brother — who runs a Twitter account dedicated to Pierce’s memory — wrote that there will not be justice for his family.

“This is what you call too little too late,” Pierce’s brother wrote. “Thanks for nothing, [American judicial system] you don’t work for your own people.”

Since Pierce’s killing, in April, a 55-year-old illegal alien is wanted for the hit-and-run death of 52-year-old Debbie Burgess in Knoxville, as Breitbart News reported. Likewise, an illegal alien fugitive has been added to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency’s “Most Wanted” list for killing 37-year-old mother Shirra Branum in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.

During a Thursday “Fox & Friends” discussion about the situation at the United States’ southern border, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) admitted there was a “crisis” going on.

“It is a crisis, and I think there’s a few things that need to happen,” Gabbard stated.

She continued, “One is there’s still lack of resources being sent there to deal with the large numbers of people who are seeking asylum or trying to come across our borders. That extreme shortage of resources continues to be a problem. I think we’ve also got to recognize that, as you say, for people to come into our country legally, our legal immigration is vastly outdated and broken.”
Gabbard added that there are aspects of the “broken” immigration system that “end up hurting our economy and those that are contributing.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent