Legislation being introduced into the Senate is aimed to close the legal loopholes that allow hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to enter and stay in the United States without a valid asylum claim.
Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) bill, titled “Secure and Protect Act of 2019,” outlines four main fixes. The first is that asylum must be claimed in either the individual’s home country or in Mexico. That will prevent illegal immigrants from gaining access to the United States unless their claim is approved.
Under the current system, if an adult brings a child illegally into the United States and claims asylum, there is a 98 percent chance they will stay indefinitely. In some areas, where the Border Patrol is overwhelmed, fewer than 10 percent of illegal aliens claim asylum, but are still released after 48 to 72 hours.
The bill also provides a fix to the Flores Settlement Agreement, which was expanded by a judge in 2015 and has, in part, contributed to the surge in family units since then. In 2015, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of the Central District of California said no minor can be held in detention longer than 20 days. Previously, that rule only applied to unaccompanied minors, not those who were part of family units. The result is that families are released within a few days.
Lawmaker’s stunned face and other viral moments cap rough week for political class
Top investigator in Biden-era election probe wanted to tear key constitutional right away from lawmakers
Look: Grok AI Leaves Only 1 Out of 40 Standing When Asked to ‘Remove the Fake Gods’ from Image
El-Sayed Suggests Football Is Unethical, Based on ‘Toxic Masculinity’… But Turns Out He Was HS Team Captain
‘Fauda’s’ new season is a gripping, moving tribute to the victims of Oct. 7
Arab parties set up for kingmaker role in Israeli election despite Netanyahu’s move to ban them
Three college students face federal charges over alleged threats against Trump ahead of campus rally
Trump planning a 10-state travel blitz in the midterms’ closing stages — visiting all but one battleground
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Christianity rejected, socialist streamer speaks, violence glorified
FBI’s first cyber fugitive on Ten Most Wanted list returns to US after capture in Venezuela
Blue state councilman mocked after claiming self-driving cars are ‘murdering’ pets: ‘Hide your cats’
Watch: Letitia James Has No Answer When Reporter Points Out Big Problem with Her Cornell Move
Inside explosive Cornell rape allegations: 7 men accused, conflicting accounts and a political firestorm
DNA Test Leads to Adopted Man Learning His Biological Father Is a Rock-and-Roll Legend
Justice Department Finds UCLA Law Has Been Discriminating Against White, Asian Applicants for Years
Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen estimated that 1 million illegal immigrants will be apprehended this fiscal year. The largest increase of illegal border crossers are family units. More than half of the 460,000 Border Patrol apprehensions so far this fiscal year are individuals within family units—a 400 percent increase over the same time period in fiscal 2018.
Graham’s bill would increase the time in detention to 100 days, which would allow for the adjudication of an asylum case, and a quick deportation if status is not granted.
“I’m trying to turn the faucet off. These loopholes are creating a humanitarian crisis,” Graham said in a press conference on May 15. “If we do nothing, what’s it going to look like next year?”
In conjunction, Graham wants an additional 500 immigration judges hired to help adjudicate the cases and clear the almost 900,000-case backlog that exits.
Lawmaker’s stunned face and other viral moments cap rough week for political class
Top investigator in Biden-era election probe wanted to tear key constitutional right away from lawmakers
Look: Grok AI Leaves Only 1 Out of 40 Standing When Asked to ‘Remove the Fake Gods’ from Image
El-Sayed Suggests Football Is Unethical, Based on ‘Toxic Masculinity’… But Turns Out He Was HS Team Captain
‘Fauda’s’ new season is a gripping, moving tribute to the victims of Oct. 7
Arab parties set up for kingmaker role in Israeli election despite Netanyahu’s move to ban them
Three college students face federal charges over alleged threats against Trump ahead of campus rally
Trump planning a 10-state travel blitz in the midterms’ closing stages — visiting all but one battleground
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Christianity rejected, socialist streamer speaks, violence glorified
FBI’s first cyber fugitive on Ten Most Wanted list returns to US after capture in Venezuela
Blue state councilman mocked after claiming self-driving cars are ‘murdering’ pets: ‘Hide your cats’
Watch: Letitia James Has No Answer When Reporter Points Out Big Problem with Her Cornell Move
Inside explosive Cornell rape allegations: 7 men accused, conflicting accounts and a political firestorm
DNA Test Leads to Adopted Man Learning His Biological Father Is a Rock-and-Roll Legend
Justice Department Finds UCLA Law Has Been Discriminating Against White, Asian Applicants for Years
Lastly, the bill aims to even out the disparity in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), under which currently a minor from Mexico or Canada (a contiguous country) may be quickly returned to that country if they are not a victim of trafficking; minors from any other (noncontiguous) country cannot be returned.
“If you think this is a Trump-created problem, you really just hate Trump. Because this problem has been long in the making before Trump got here,” Graham said.
He said he will hold a hearing to discuss the bill and then a markup session. He expects Democrats to add amendments to the bill, including for more aid to Central American countries and some type of amnesty for a population of illegal immigrants in the United States, probably Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
He intimated he was open to adding both.
“To any Republican who doesn’t want to find a solution, then you own the problem,” he said. “The Democratic Party has marginalized this issue—they have told you this is not a problem, [that] Trump created this problem. When President Trump made his State of the Union speech, every Democrat said ‘This is just Trump hysteria, Trump demagoguery.’
Lawmaker’s stunned face and other viral moments cap rough week for political class
Top investigator in Biden-era election probe wanted to tear key constitutional right away from lawmakers
Look: Grok AI Leaves Only 1 Out of 40 Standing When Asked to ‘Remove the Fake Gods’ from Image
El-Sayed Suggests Football Is Unethical, Based on ‘Toxic Masculinity’… But Turns Out He Was HS Team Captain
‘Fauda’s’ new season is a gripping, moving tribute to the victims of Oct. 7
Arab parties set up for kingmaker role in Israeli election despite Netanyahu’s move to ban them
Three college students face federal charges over alleged threats against Trump ahead of campus rally
Trump planning a 10-state travel blitz in the midterms’ closing stages — visiting all but one battleground
Fox News Campus Radicals Newsletter: Christianity rejected, socialist streamer speaks, violence glorified
FBI’s first cyber fugitive on Ten Most Wanted list returns to US after capture in Venezuela
Blue state councilman mocked after claiming self-driving cars are ‘murdering’ pets: ‘Hide your cats’
Watch: Letitia James Has No Answer When Reporter Points Out Big Problem with Her Cornell Move
Inside explosive Cornell rape allegations: 7 men accused, conflicting accounts and a political firestorm
DNA Test Leads to Adopted Man Learning His Biological Father Is a Rock-and-Roll Legend
Justice Department Finds UCLA Law Has Been Discriminating Against White, Asian Applicants for Years
“To my Democratic colleagues, your credibility on this issue is pretty low right now. You need to understand that you were wrong. This was a real problem.”
In February 2018, four immigration-related bills failed in the Senate, while another two failed in the House during the summer.
Trump has maintained that he will sign a reasonable bill that closes the border security loopholes and moves toward a merit-based immigration system. Senate Republicans met with Vice President Mike Pence and White House adviser Jared Kushner on May 14 to discuss Trump’s immigration priorities.
Story cited here.
