This morning on Fox and Friends I watched a segment with Texas Governor, Rick Perry. He drew attention to the spike in Central American, Syrian and other Middle Eastern illegal immigrants seeking asylum . The Washington Times quoted as saying:
That the Obama administration has dropped the ball on border security and must improve diplomatic relations with Central American nations to stem the surge of illegal immigrants trying to cross the nation’s southern border.
This president is totally and absolutely either inept, or making some decisions that are not in the interest of American citizens, particularly from the public safety standpoint.
The federal government must step up because Texas does not have the money or manpower to protect its 1,200 mile southern border.
Then Perry went on to express an abiding concern about illegal immigrants harboring possible terrorist threats:
There are a record number of illegal immigrants that are being apprehended at the border that come from countries that are home to groups that pose a threat to the United States.
These people are coming from states like Syria that have substantial connections back to terrorist regimes and terrorist operations. It is a huge problem and a great concern.
Last week Fox Latino there was a report on radioactive materials in Mexico stolen by armed gun men at the National Construction Lab. They seized Cesium 37 and americium-beryllium that could be used for creation of a terrorist device. Last December some thieves in Mexico stole a vehicle with deadly Cobalt 60 virtually assuring their demise from radiation sickness. Then we recall the 2011 episode involving a Mexican drug cartel, Iran’s Qud Force working with an Iranian American plotting to kill the Saudi Ambassador to Washington. The Iranian American was convicted in June 2013 to 25 years for his role in the assassination plot.
Governor Perry’s comments come in the face of a veritable onslaught of unaccompanied alien minors and women and small children from Central America swarming our borders. There are daily reports news stories about youngsters being warehoused, and given medical treatment. They are given bus tickets to stay with alleged relatives on the promise to show up for a Immigration court to hear their petition for asylum. They are threatened with physical harm by the rampant drug related murders in Central American countries like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
The Wall Street Journal investigated the concerns expressed by Texas Governor Perry in an article yesterday, “Migrant Surge Jams Border”.
Frustration is mounting along the Texas border as federal officials struggle to check a surge of Central Americans illegally crossing into the state—an influx critics say is being aggravated because the Obama administration is allowing more migrants, primarily women traveling with children, to be released into the U.S. pending deportation proceedings.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hasn’t disclosed statistics on how many immigrants it has released. But the agency has confirmed that due to a shortage of detention space in Texas, it has shipped hundreds of immigrants recently apprehended in Texas to Arizona for processing, and subsequently dropped some off at bus stations there, allowing them to travel to locations around the country until they can be deported.
Texas US Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar was cited in the WSJ report pointed to the 11,000 illegals who were effectively let go in the Rio Grande Valley and other border locations. The numbers are staggering. The DHS has stepped up deportations from 235,093 last fiscal year, up from 151,893 four years earlier.
The major concern are those unaccompanied alien minors as the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement calls them. The number doubled over the previous fiscal year to more than 47,017 and federal officials expect that to double to in excess of 90,000. Last Tuesday, the Senate Appropriation Committee authorized $2 Billion to address the problem, a billion more than the Obama Administration requested. The Federal government has an obligation to handle unaccompanied minors separately.
The reality is the current surge is literally swamping the Immigration Courts system used to handle asylum and deportation matters. Currently the backlog exceeds 350,000 pending cases.
Watch this CNN news video on the crisis in unaccompanied minors illegal immigrants on the Southern border:
The Refugee Act of 1980 was enacted to comply with international standards for handling humanitarian refugees which meant complying with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees program. The Act has resulting in over 3 million refugees being settled in the US, granting them temporary cash benefits, Medicaid eligibility and a Green Card leading to US citizenship in five years. The refugee resettlement program has been fraught with fraud especially among Somali and other African refugees. It has allowed asylum for Iraqi terrorists in Kentucky and on April 15, 2013, the refugee Tsarneav Brothers from Dagestan committed the Boston Marathon Massacre. Then there are Somali émigrés who returned to their country to fight and die for Al Shebaab, an Al Qaeda affiliate. The current crisis in the Middle East looms large on the refugee program with the prospect of more than 20,000 Syrian refugee eligible for settlement here.
The Refugee Act is overdue for an overhaul that a number of critics have suggested requires Congressionally sponsored Government Accountability Office audits and special investigative hearings. The estimated administrative cost of the Refugee Resettlement program exceeds $2 billion annually, not counting the recent Senate Appropriations aimed at dealing with the influx unaccompanied alien minors. Add to that state welfare and Medicaid costs and some immigration experts maintain that the annual costs could well exceed $10 to 12 billion annually.
The late Sen. Ted Kennedy was a sponsor of the 1980 Refugee Act. The co-sponsor of that was then Sen. Joe Biden. Vice President Biden was on a trip this week to Central American countries endeavoring to stem the tide. As the WSJ article noted one Administration official said “that they were looking at ways to “enhance” their support to these Central American countries. Further they are urging parents to ‘think twice’ about sending children on such a dangerous journey that doesn’t result in long-term residency in the U.S.”
So who is fomenting the current humanitarian crisis on our southern border? Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch suggested in a recent article that may be the same religious groups that were behind the so-called Sanctuary Movement of the 1980’s in the Southwestern US that sent illegals across the country, “Invasion on the border: religious groups telling them to come!”
Corcoran cites a Border Patrol officer reflecting the comments of unaccompanied alien minors as to who told them to come here:
Cueto (Art Del Cueto, president of the National Border Patrol Council Local 2544 in Tucson) says when he asked a group of children about their motivation, they spoke of the “announcer on the radio” who encouraged them to head for the United States. Cueto says Central American radio, television, other media, and religious groups have all encouraged people to move north to the United States.
Who are those religious groups suggesting that these Central American children come here? The beneficiaries of the recent Senate emergency appropriation to take care of these children, Voluntary Agencies authorized by the federal Refugee Resettlement programs. They are:
This surge is indicative of the Cloward Piven strategy espoused by two Columbia University social work theorists in the 1960’s. Their thesis was swamping the system would result in a crisis and force transformation to benefit the least able among us. Thus, the voluntary agencies in the Refugee Resettlement community are simply following the Parable of Matthew 14:19 : Let the little children come unto me. Jim Holt of the Gateway Pundit blog tells the whole story with this headline, “Obama’s Cloward Piven Strategy floods Southern US with Illegal Immigrant Children.
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EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The New English Review.
