Former Border Patrol Agents: Illegal Immigration Crisis "Contrived”

Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

Thousands of illegal immigrants are flooding across the border into Texas and other border states every day, but two things distinguish this wave from earlier illegal immigration waves.

First, Hondurans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans now make up about 75 percent of illegals caught in South Texas, whereas previously most people who crossed the border illegally originated in Mexico. Second, large numbers of these illegal migrants are unaccompanied children. A Reuters article on May 29 cited Obama administration estimates that 60,000 children unaccompanied by parents or relatives will pour into the United States this year, up from about 6,000 in 2011.

The situation was deemed so urgent by the Obama administration on June 2, that the White House issued a presidential memorandum directing the secretary of Homeland Security to establish an interagency “Unified Coordination Group.” The group is to be created, stated President Obama, in “Response to the Influx of Unaccompanied Alien Children Across the Southwest Border.”

A June 12 report in The New York Post noted that in fiscal year 2009, border patrol agents apprehended 3,304 children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, but that number is close to 50,000 this year and is expected to continue increase dramatically.

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California Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, expressed concern on Fox News Radio that the mass migration of children trying to cross our border could result in fatalities.

“This flood is going to mean children dying trying to get in,” said Issa. “And more important, children coming here with the anticipation that somehow they’re going to be granted citizenship and then they will bring the rest of their family … that’s a false narrative.”

The Washington Post reported on June 12 that the sharp increase in the number of illegal migrants coming over the border over the past three months — especially in the number of children traveling without their parents — has overwhelmed the Border Patrol’s detention centers in South Texas, prompting officials to ship the children to converted warehouses and military bases as far away as California. The Post noted that during the past eight months, Customs and Border Protection has detained 47,000 unaccompanied minors, most of them in the Rio Grande Valley area of South Texas. This is an increase of 92 percent from the same period during the previous fiscal year.

“We’re fighting a losing battle right now,” said Chris Cabrera, the Border Patrol’s union representative in McAllen, Texas, as quoted in the Post. “We don’t have anywhere to hold them.”

The report noted that many of the migrants — especially women and children — are not trying to sneak into the country but are crossing the border in plain sight of Border Patrol agents. While illegal aliens from Mexico can fairly quickly be processed and sent back across the border, the situation for illegals from Central America is more complicated. The government must first clear their return with consular officials from their native country, then charter planes to fly them home. If the aliens request asylum in the United States, on the grounds that they fear persecution in their home countries, they must establish that their fears are credible.

Whether or not asylum is ultimately granted, the claim serves as a delaying tactic, often allowing the alien to remain in the United States long enough to blend in among the large numbers of “undocumented aliens.”

Of course, any attempt to deal with this massive increase in illegal immigration and the notable changes in the nature of the migration — the shift from Mexico to Central America and the marked increase in unaccompanied children — must address the root causes of these changes in migration patterns. A good place to start might be to study the sheer logistics of moving thousands of underage young people — practically all of whom come from homes too poor to own motor vehicles — all the way from Central America to the U.S. border. We addressed this problem at the conclusion of our last article on this subject on June 10:

A question that we have seen no one raise, not to mention answer, is how these thousands of children from poor areas of Central America manage to find their way — en masse — about 1,800 miles through Mexico’s rough roads to arrive in south Texas. While we cannot determine who is coordinating and assisting with their efforts, it is obvious that these children did not accomplish this Herculean feat all on their own.

The next day, the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO) released a statement that utilized refreshing logic in pointing out what should be obvious to almost anyone wondering how tens of thousands of unaccompanied children could travel 1,800 on their own to a common destination:

This is not a humanitarian crisis. It is a predictable, orchestrated and contrived assault on the compassionate side of Americans by her political leaders that knowingly puts minor Illegal Alien children at risk for purely political purposes. Certainly, we are not gullible enough to believe that thousands of unaccompanied minor Central American children came to America without the encouragement, aid and assistance of the United States Government. Anyone that has taken two six to seven year old children to an amusement park can only imagine the problems associated with bringing thousands of unaccompanied children that age up through Mexico and into the United States. I doubt even the Cartels would undertake that chore at any price. No, it has to be heartless corrupt politicians and their minions lusting for more money and power.

We spoke with Andy Ramirez, a recognized national expert on border security who has testified before Congress, the California state legislature, the DHS and the DOJ. We asked Ramirez about the large numbers of unaccompanied children coming across our southern border. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Chief, Ronald Vitiello, said in an internal memo on May 30 that border agents detained 40,000 unaccompanied children last year and they expect to apprehend 90,000 children this year, and 142,000 in 2015.)

Considering both the large numbers and the long distances involved, Ramirez stated bluntly: “There is no way this could have been done by an alien smuggling organization [ASO]. It had to have been done at a much higher level.”

Ramirez told us:

In speaking with my Border Patrol sources and given my own expertise, there is no way this flood of illegal aliens could’ve been accomplished by mere “children,” let alone small alien smuggling organizations. This is a major operation that requires logistical support, and that is well beyond snakehead capabilities. Therefore, it has to be well organized, like a military type operation, and only a government can accomplish such a thing. Given Mexico’s policies when it comes to illegal immigration entry into their country, and while knowing that setting up a North American Union has never included any Central or South American nations, it would require collusion between governments.

Now keep in mind, why are most of these illegal aliens crossing into Texas? Why not Arizona? It would be easy to have pulled that off in Arizona, but to risk the numbers of minors involved would have been a death sentence. So Texas is the answer especially knowing you have media centers like Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio for coverage.

Add in the Obama administration’s refusal to enforce U.S. immigration law, and how South Texas was targeted and the quick response to move the self-reporting aliens, it’s clear in connecting the dots that the Obama administration and Mexican government’s are co-partners. With Congress questioning DHS (ICE and CBP) about their failure to enforce the law, this is an operation forcing amnesty by decree.

Among those questioning the Obama administration’s immigration policies is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has charged that the crisis is a “direct consequence” of President Obama’s policies.“The parents think, ‘If I send my child [to the U.S.], my child will have amnesty.’ That’s what the president of the U.S. has said. It is the exact opposite of a humane approach to immigration or to securing our borders,” Cruz told Breitbart News.

The Hill reported that White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Cruz’s allegations, saying he would not “put a lot of stock in the ability of Republicans members of Congress to divine the thoughts and insights of children in Central American countries.”

However, wishful thinking along on the part of Central American children did not get them to the U.S. border. As Ramirez noted, it’s a matter of logistics.

^{Photo of two Guatemalan boys, with their mom, at the Greyhound bus terminal in Phoenix: AP Images}