border control

On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the Refugee Admissions Program will add an undefined number of people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The effort is meant to head off illegal migration from these countries, which has spiked in recent months. President Obama the same day authorized $70 million for resettling refugees in the United States, the largest increase ever.

Officials from Central American countries met in Guatemala City this week to create a plan to help around 8,000 Cubans who are stalled in Costa Rica reach the U.S. The countries have decided to provide flights for the Cuban migrants from Costa Rica to El Salvador then bus them to Mexico where they can cross the U.S. border.

Deportations of illegal aliens declined by 25% in 2015 according to an annual report released by the Department of Homeland Security earlier today. In 2014 DHS reported 315,943 deportations compared to 235,413 in 2015.

The number of illegal alien minors coming across the border is steadily increasing hitting a record high for the month of October according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Around 5,000 unaccompanied minors were caught at the US-Mexico in October, double the number from October 2014 during the border surge.

Last year’s border surge of unaccompanied minors has stalled the immigration courts, creating an average 3 year wait time for illegal-alien adults with only one in six minors showing up for their legal hearings according to the Migration Policy Institute report.

Testifying before the House Oversight Committee earlier this week, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd estimated that the agency has only achieved operational control for approximately 40% of the U.S.-Mexico border. The Secure Fence Act of 2006 required that DHS achieve operational control along the entire border.

According to Deputy Border Patrol, Chief Ronald Vitiello, the number of illegal alien families captured at the border rose unexpectedly in July despite the harsh warm weather. This upward trend may continue after Judge Dolly M. Gee’s July 24 preliminary ruling that severely restricts the detaining of illegal alien families.

An internal document that the Obama Administration sent to congressional appropriators last spring on the expected surge of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) has been made public with startling new information. In it, the Obama administration predicted a large number of UACs to arrive last summer and record numbers for summers to come. The document counters claims that top federal officials did not anticipate the surge last summer.

The Senate passed a border amendment to its budget resolution late Thursday night that attempts to prevent future border surges like the one experienced last summer along the U.S.-Mexico border. The amendment, offered by Sen. John McCain (#360), passed by a 58-to-42 margin, but not before a bit of drama.

While testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera indicated that nearly 6 out of 10 illegal aliens cross into the United States without being apprehended. Cabrera is an agent at the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas and is the vice president of National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) Local 3307, a union for border agents.

A report released on Friday cited the causes for the surge of illegal aliens across the border late last summer. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the debate over legalizing illegal aliens was “a primary cause” of thousands of Central Americans crossing into the United States illegally.

Kenneth Palinkas, President of the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, released a statement yesterday condemning President Obama's executive amnesty, the lack of action in the Senate to reverse the executive actions, and the upcoming border security bill. Palinkas stated the "grave peril" that President Obama's "skewed priorities" in granting executive amnesty to millions of illegal aliens puts the 12,000 adjudicators and personnel he represents at USCIS in.

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Homeland Security passed an amended version H.R. 399, the Secure our Borders First Act of 2015, by a vote of 18-to-12. The bill, introduced by Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas), would require the Secretary of Homeland Security to gain and maintain operational control of the international borders of the United States.

House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) has introduced H.R. 399, the Secure the Borders First Act, that would require the Department of Homeland Security to obtain operational control of the border and complete the Congressionally-mandated biometric entry/exit system, but the timeline set forth in the bill wouldn't require most provisions to take effect for 5-7 years. Since the bill is called the "Secure the Borders First Act", there should be no further legislation or guest worker programs until the border is fully secured 5-7 years from now.

Fox News is reporting that Pres. Obama will announce a 10-point executive action on immigration next week that will grant deferred action to at least 4.5 million illegal aliens. The report does not stipulate whether or not the action will issue work permits to illegal aliens, but does indicate that illegal-alien parents of U.S. citizen children would be eligible to receive the amnesty. The action will also expand the President's 2012 executive action, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

In an op-ed for The Daily Caller, former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell rails against "Obama's pro-amnesty agenda". Blackwell calls Pres. Obama's unwillingness to institute a travel ban on Ebola-stricken countries "an extension of his larger, pro-amnesty, open border position."

The House of Representatives adjourns for its month-long August recess later today, but before it does, it will vote on H.R.5230, its emergency supplemental border bill. The bill gives Pres. Obama $659 million to deal with the border surge, but doesn't address the cause of the problem -- his executive amnesties and promises of future amnesties. In the Senate, GOP Senators are pushing Majority Leader Harry Reid for a vote on the House bill as well.

More than 25 groups, including NumbersUSA, signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) urging him to force Pres. Obama to use the resources that are already at his disposal in response to the ongoing border crisis. At least 240,000 illegal aliens have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border this year, including 50,000 Unaccompanied Alien Children. Pres. Obama has asked Congress for nearly $4 billion in emergency funding - much of which wouldn't be used until FY2015 and would go towards the caring for and relocation of illegal aliens.

Later today, Pres. Obama will meet with leaders from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala - the three countries that are sending the most illegal-alien children to the United States during the ongoing border surge. But in advance of that meeting, Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernández, offered his opinion on what caused the surge - the Obama Administration's lax immigration enforcement policies.

The House working group, formed by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and led by Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas), has released their recommendations for solving the ongoing crisis along the Southwest border, including the deployment of the National Guard, a change to the 2008 human trafficking law, the establishment of repatriation centers in the sending countries, and permission for Border Patrol agents to operate on federal lands. The group has not offered legislative language, which can often be much different from a set of principles.

Here's a list of the group's recommendations:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) is taking matters into his own hands and is ordering 1,000 National Guard troops to the Texas border to help stop the illegal-alien border surge. Gov. Perry is expected to make a formal announcement later today, but by making the move before the Obama Administration takes action, Gov. Perry will oversee the Guard's operation since he's the one who deployed the troops.