The Patriot Post® · Catch-and-Release Catastrophe

On Monday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Barack Obama’s executive actions that granted quasi-legal status to millions of illegal aliens living in the U.S. That decision heartened Americans who believe in Rule of Law, though Obama is appealing to the Supreme Court. That leaves a decision (likely against Obama) to come just in time for the 2016 election, presenting the Democrats another campaign issue.

Meanwhile, there are other less heartening happenings on immigration front. “New information from a variety of sources further demonstrates that the Obama administration’s handling of the continuing influx of illegal Central American family and youth border-crossers has been nothing short of a disaster,” reports the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), referencing the Obama administration’s determination to allow thousands of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) from Central America to “surge” across the border. “Government agencies and NGO contractors have lost track of most of the youth who have been released (or escaped) from shelters.”

Such an outcome was eminently predictable for two reasons. First, the administration not only allowed UACs to enter the nation, they purposefully dispersed them into all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Second, in June 2014, Mark Greenberg, acting assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration (HHS) for Children and Families, admitted his agency does “not verify the immigration status of the individual” taking custody of these children, who were ostensibly expected to show up for deportation hearings. When pressed by former Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) on the likelihood of an illegal custodian bringing an illegal child to an immigration hearing, Greenberg hedged. “This is about who the child should live with while they’re awaiting the removal proceedings and during the removal proceedings,” he declared.

CIS notes the oh-so predictable results arising from both agendas: “New statistics from the immigration courts confirm trends reported earlier showing that about half (48 percent) of the UACs are skipping out on their hearings. … In total, 60 percent of those whose cases are completed have been ordered deported, but only a small number have actually been deported, probably fewer than 4,000 (the exact figure has never been disclosed and may not be known).”

And why is the exact figure undisclosed and likely unknown? “No single government agency has been given the responsibility for tracking the UAC and family arrivals,” CIS explains. “As a result, the statistics that have been published by different sources may have slightly different numbers, depending on the time period covered and how they are counted.”

The number of illegals involved is daunting. A webinar conducted by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) reveals a staggering 77,824 UACs had been dispersed throughout the United States since Oct. 1, 2014. That’s in addition to the approximately 40,000 who arrived in 2012 and 2013. The Washington Times reports that border agents apprehended 40,000 children in FY2015, down from 68,541 in FY2014. In addition 40,000 parents and children, down from 68,445 in FY2014, were also apprehended while traveling together.

Border Patrol officials in Washington, DC, towed the administration line, insisting the surge was precipitated by violence and poor economic conditions in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the three nations chiefly responsible for the ongoing assault on the nation’s Southwest border.

Agents who work on the ground revealed what’s really going on. “Most believe that they will either not be caught, or even if they are caught, they will not be deported back to their home country,” said National Border Patrol Council official Chris Cabrera in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee last month. “The UACs and family groups we detain are acutely aware of the fact we will not hold them until they are adjudicated.” He dismissed the assertions regarding violence and economic conditions, noting both have been a reality in those countries for decades. He further noted the illegals themselves were well acquainted with the Obama administration’s contemptible gamesmanship. “[The illegals] know that they will be released and issued a Notice to Appear (NTA),” Cabrera explained. “What we have right now is essentially a catch-and-release policy.”

It is a catch-and-release policy with deadly consequences. “A government agency reveals that the nation’s most violent street gang has been energized by the barrage of illegal immigrant minors who have entered the U.S. through Mexico,” reported Judicial Watch (JW) in September. That energizing was driven by a “recruiting frenzy at U.S. shelters housing the illegal immigrant minors.” According to the Justice Department’s National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), those street gangs, including the notorious Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 gang, are responsible for the majority of violent crimes in the U.S., and are the primary distributors of most illicit drugs throughout the nation. A 19-page report compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety also reveals a series of gruesome murders attributed to MS-13, along with the threat to that state posed by street gangs’ “relationships with Mexican cartels,” that precipitate “high levels of transnational criminal activity” and “violence.”

A representative of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), one of the largest contractors involved in resettling the youths, spoke at the aforementioned webinar. She revealed that most teenage UACs are not interested in further contact with authorities, and that several are no longer living with their original sponsors, even if that sponsor was an actual parent, due to “family breakdown.” She further noted only 35% of UACs took the time to attend their legal orientation program, suggesting that the majority of illegals are content with maintaining their law-breaking status.

And why not? It’s infuriatingly apparent the Obama administration has nothing but contempt for Rule of Law and the American public. That reality is further highlighted by a report revealing former San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong, a staunch supporter sanctuary cities, is on the “short list” to become the new Border Patrol chief. Fong spent five years as the head of the SFPD and told reporters in 2008 her officers “do not cooperate with ICE when they go out for enforcement of immigration violations of the law.” Fong is currently an assistant secretary for state and local law enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, and would be the first outsider to run the Border Patrol in its 90-year history.

Brandon Judd, head of the agents’ union, put her potential appointment in the proper perspective, noting it “would prove that the Border Patrol is no longer the enforcement agency that Congress and the American public intended it to be.”

Adding insult to injury, iVote, a group comprised of former aides to Obama and President Bill Clinton, is spearheading efforts to effect changes in the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, known as the “motor voter” law. Currently, the NVRA offers individuals applying for drivers’ licenses and other forms of ID the option of registering to vote as part of the process. iVote wants to make it automatic unless a driver objects. Legislation to enact such laws is pending in 17 states. Two states, Oregon and California, have already enacted such proposals. California is also one of 10 states, including Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia, that now issue drivers’ licenses to illegal aliens.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach cuts through the self-righteous nonsense of Democrats, who insist the initiative is all about fighting GOP attempts to “suppress” voting. “You’re going to end up with aliens on the voter rolls,” Kobach insists. “It’s inevitable that an automatic registration system would result in many of them getting on.” Kobach has pushed for what the reliably leftist New York Times characterizes as “some of the nation’s most restrictive voting laws, including one that requires proof of citizenship.”

Only “progressives” could describe requiring proof of citizenship to vote as “restrictive.”

Make no mistake: Obama, the Democrat Party and their media and corporatist allies are countenancing, and/or coordinating an all-out assault on Rule of Law, national sovereignty and the integrity of the voting process in the transparent effort to fundamentally transform the nation. It has gotten so brazen that United We Stay, a group comprised of illegal immigrants, first generation Americans and human rights activists has proposed an illegal alien “Bill of Rights” that include demands for health care, in-state college tuition rates, a guarantee of eventual citizenship and an end to arrests and deportations for “all law-abiding undocumented Americans.”

“Law-abiding undocumented” is a contradiction in terms, and calling illegals “Americans” is an outright lie. And the bet here is the presidential candidate who makes the most clear-cut and forceful case for putting an end to this despicable assault on the American public will be the next individual to occupy the Oval Office.