It is no secret there is a crisis on the border. Due to lax asylum laws, hundreds of thousands of Central Americans cross into the country via the border every year to try and claim asylum, despite the fact that most of them will be denied.
This denial is primarily because these migrants are trying to game the system by stepping foot on American soil, petitioning for asylum, and then being released until their court date arrives.
Director Ken Cuccinelli
As the acting director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli explained the problem at a recent Texas Public Policy Foundation forum, “Ending the Border Crisis: Urgent Solutions from Washington and Texas.”
“There are two lines in these detention centers: one of people coming in and a second, larger line of people leaving the detention center to wait for their court dates,” he said. “Then they will live out their five years, get deported, and then come right back for another five years.”
It’s that process that has led many Americans to call for reform of the current “revolving door” of American illegal immigration.
Cuccinelli was joined at that same forum by U.S. Rep. Roger Williams (TX-25) who chronicled the story of an illegal alien who was detained and released five times before killing U.S. citizens in a drunk driving accident.
U.S. Rep. Roger Williams (TX-25)
Williams went even further, describing how illegal aliens are responsible for 50 percent of DUIs on I-35. Williams then described how Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson went before Congress and pointed out how illegal aliens are taking much of the affordable housing.
Cuccinelli and Williams also noted that asylum claim abuse is so prevalent that “those who are actually seeking asylum are being forced to wait because of all of the fake claims.”
However, according to Cuccinelli, the Trump administration is taking steps to reform the process and curtail illegal immigration. Such actions include getting Mexico to detain the migrants illegally traveling through their country, repealing the Flores settlement so families can be detained together for longer periods of time, signing an Asylum Cooperation Agreement with Guatemala so asylum seekers can be safe there as well, and implementing the Interim Final Rule which adheres to international customs by requiring asylum seekers to first apply for asylum at the first safe country they reach.
Unfortunately for opponents of illegal immigration, all of these actions are being done with executive action and can easily be undone the next time a Democrat takes control.
In order to make these changes more permanent, Congress would need to codify these new rules, something likely impossible unless President Donald Trump is re-elected and Republicans capture a congressional majority in 2020.
