June 11, 2019

The Trump Administration's recent announcement of a deal with Mexico to stem the flow of the illegal aliens through America's southern border is a certainly a game changer. President Trump who has been fighting to solve the border crisis without any help from Congress and pushing back against activist federal judges, threatened to enact tariffs on all goods from Mexico unless the Mexican government takes action. The potential high cost of tariffs beginning at 5%, increasing every thirty days by another 5% to a maximum of 25% apparently got the attention of Mexico. Our southern neighbor which itself has strict immigration laws turned a blink eye by allowing caravans of economic migrants mostly from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to pass through their county on their way to the US border unimpeded. Due to the sheer number of migrants and the Flores decision which requires the release of unaccompanied minors as well as parents with minors overwhelmed the US Border Patrol. This necessitated the release of tens of thousands of migrants who claimed asylum into the interior of the US which is referred to as "Catch and Release". The new deal with Mexico will likely change that dynamic over time.

As noted by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, over 600,000 illegal aliens were apprehended by the Border Patrol in Fiscal year 2019 with almost four months left to go. This was more than double last years number of 300,000.  Further discussing border apprehensions, Graham added, “And as you can see from the chart here, there’s been 135 percent increase of apprehensions at the southwest border, 74 percent increase in unaccompanied minors, 463 (percent) increase in family units. That doesn’t include everybody. When you include everybody, it’s 144,278 in May alone. The total in FY’19 is 676,315, which is double of what we did in 2018, so somebody needs to ask the question why,” he said. Yet Congressional Democrats have claimed that there is no border crisis, have refused to provide additional funding for the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and money to provide humanitarian aid to those arrivals who are overwhelming the system. They have even slipped in further restrictions on the Border Patrol in the last budget deal.

If there is any doubt as to the total abdication of House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority leader Check Schumer to address the border crisis, their response to the deal with Mexico said it all. Nancy Pelosi, “President Trump undermined America’s preeminent leadership role in the world by recklessly threatening to impose tariffs on our close friend and neighbor to the south,” Threats and temper tantrums are no way to negotiate foreign policy,” Chuck Schumer, "This is an historic night! @realDonaldTrump has announced that he has cut a deal to 'greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States,'" Schumer tweeted. "Now that that problem is solved, I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future," Schumer added. They even recently rejected a emergency $4.5 billion dollar supplemental request to provide mostly humanitarian assistance to families with children. 

It is well established that economic migrants who pay human smugglers to get to the US southern border are coached to make claims of asylum in order to be released into the interior of the United States and often never show up for their asylum hearings. Upwards of 90% of asylum claims are rejected once they receive further review beyond the initial screening. The basis of an asylum claim is a founded fear of returning to their home country due to being targets by their country's government due to their status in a particular class of people such as a religious or ethnic minorities, political associations, etc. Asylum was never intended to allow everyone who claims a fear in their home country due to non-governmental violence, crime, domestic violence or economic issues to be approved for a court hearing after an initial interview. That is why former Attorney General Sessions reaffirmed the established standard for asylum, however the rule change to enforce the existing standard was blocked by a federal judge.

While Donald Trump battles to take control over the border, members of Congress who swear to defend the constitution and more importantly to protect the American People are acting more like domestic enemies in their effort to prevent their government to gain operational control of our borders. If we learned anything from the 911 attack, an integral part of our security lies with border security. Any concerted action to actively undermine that effort is reckless and puts millions of Americans at risk. Even if their actions are based on their hatred of Donald Trump, why go this far? Fortunately for America, President Trump is winning the battle even if he has to go it alone.