border control

A working group formed by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is putting the final touches on a response to the ongoing border crisis that would include deploying the National Guard and providing more immigration judges. The group briefed the House GOP caucus earlier today and will likely make their final recommendations public before the end of the week.

The group, headed by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), visited both Guatemala and Honduras over the weekend and said both countries are eager to help repatriate newly-arrived illegal aliens.

The Daily Caller obtained an unreleased poll that says 59 percent of voters who are closely following the border surge agree that "current administration policies and lack of focus on securing the border" are behind the crisis. One-third of political independents and Hispanics “strongly” blame the president. Six in 10 respondents say that unaccompanied alien children should be ordered to leave the country.

Pres. Obama has sent a formal request to House Speaker John Boehner asking for $3.7 billion to help combat the ongoing border surge of illegal aliens along the Southwest border. Despite reports of the last few days, Pres. Obama did not request a policy change in the way that unaccompanied alien minors are processed if they come from a noncontiguous country. The requested funds would be used to beef up interior immigration enforcement, pay for the legal processing and potential removal of newly-arrived illegal aliens, and help relocate illegal aliens to the interior of the country.

Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) was denied access to the illegal-alien housing facility at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma yesterday. The facility is housing 1,200 illegal aliens who were relocated after being caught and processed by Border Patrol agents in Texas. The facility is currently under the control of Health and Human Services.

New photos released by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) from his recent visit to the Rio Grande Valley border patrol sector in Texas reveals more details on the ongoing surge of illegal border crossings. Contrary to statements from the Obama Administration, saying the surge is of mostly women and children trying to escape violence in Central America, the pictures show a pretty even mix of women, children, and working-aged men who have been detained by Border Patrol officers.

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) has sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner regarding the situation along the Southwest border where thousands of unaccompanied minors are streaming across the border illegally.

A Texas TV station reports the Border Patrol is releasing women and children that recently entered the United States illegally if they are considered no threat to national security. The agency confirmed the releases, explaining the decision was prompted by an uptick in border apprehensions and already crowded detention facilities.

In a Telemundo interview that will air Jan. 12th, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte says he sees “no reason” why illegal aliens shouldn’t be legalized if border and interior enforcement measures are “up and operating.” Goodlatte also broadly discusses the GOP immigration principles Speaker Boehner said will be released soon.

Chairwoman for the bipartisan immigration commission Barbara Jordan said the United States can't have a credible immigration system without controlling illegal immigration. A new poll from Rasmussen finds that the vast majority of Americans agree with her statement. Asked if the U.S. government is "too aggressive or not aggressive enough in deporting those that are in the country illegally," 60% said the country isn't aggressive enough.

A change in the way ICE counts Border Patrol apprehensions has allowed the Obama Adminstration to claim they are deporting a record number of illegal aliens

A new Rasmussen poll shows that American voters do not believe that the federal government will secure the borders if a law is passed forcing them to do so.

The unions that represent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and Citizenship and Immigration Service employees have voiced their opposition to H.R.3141, the Biometric Exit Improvement Act of 2013. Both Unions presidents have sent letters to Members of Congress and the Border Security Subcommittee Chairwoman, Rep. Candice Miller (R-Mich.), expressing their opposition to the legislation.

A federal judge ruled that Maricopa County, Arizona cannot use a 2005 anti-smuggling law to criminally charge illegal aliens who paid to be smuggled into the U.S. The law was believed to be an important factor in shifting human smuggling traffic from Arizona to other border states.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) plans to introduce a comprehensive amnesty bill designed to pressure Republicans to take up the immigration issue during the busy fall schedule. The legislation would combine the bill the Senate Judiciary Committee passed in May with a border-security bill the House Homeland Security Committee passed.

A new poll from Rasmussen asked voters whether they think Congress will pass an immigration bill that includes an amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens in 2013, and only 28% of respondents said yes. That number is down from 37% in May and June who thought Congress would pass a bill. Sixty-three percent of respondents thought passage of an amnesty was unlikely in 2013.

An audit of the Department of Homeland Security has found that the agency has lost track of more than 1 million foreign visitors. The foreign citizens came to the United States on temporary visas, but DHS can't confirm that they've actually left the United States. In 1996, Congress mandated the creation of an entry-exit system at all ports of entry to track visa overstayers, but it has yet to be implemented.

The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) issued a press release yesterday urging Republican House leadership to forgo plans to provide amnesty for the 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. The organization instead, calls for the House to focus on enforcing the nation's laws. 

"The NAFBPO urges the American public to directly request Congressmen John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan to abandon their dreams of amnesty, by whatever name, and get on a realistic track to ensure national security and public safety. That track leads to effective interior enforcement in every jurisdiction in all fifty states. Only then can actual border security and control become possible," the group wrote in the release.

The head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has announced that she will be stepping down from her post. As Secretary of DHS, Napolitano is tasked with overseeing immigration enforcement in the interior of the nation and at the borders. During her four-year tenure, she drafted memos that grants deferred action to certain illegal aliens through the use of prosecutorial discretion. The memos are subject of a lawsuit filed by a group of ICE agents against her.

Chris Crane, the National ICE Council President, today called on Senators to defeat the Corker-Hoeven amendment to S. 744 – the comprehensive amnesty bill. He said that Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) admitted needed interior enforcement provisions are absent, and that Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) abandoned his commitment to ICE officers and Sheriffs to repair the bill’s provisions that gut interior enforcement.

Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) are preparing a so-called "border surge" amendment for the comprehensive amnesty bill (S. 744) that would add 20,000 Border Patrol Agents in ten years as a precondition for distributing green cards to illegal aliens. But the National Association of Former Border Patrol Agents (NAFBPO) says it would take at least 20 years to identify, train and hire that many Agents unless the process shortchanges proper training and background checks.

The labeling of Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Tex.) border security amendment as a “poison pill” has prompted Sens. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) to develop a related amendment. But amnesty propenents may see the pair's less flexible provisions as being even more difficult to swallow.