Kobach: The United States Is Giving the Caravans a Huge Incentive to Keep Coming…”Mexico is warning that the “mother of all caravans” – over 20,000 people – is gathering in Honduras.”
by KRIS W. KOBACH
BREITBART.COM
29 Apr 2019
We are witnessing an extraordinary collapse of the rule of law in our immigration system as hundreds of thousands of migrants exploit our generous asylum system by making bogus claims of asylum after entering the United States illegally.
As I wrote recently, caravan after caravan of illegal aliens from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador has been pushing toward our border. Mexico is warning that the “mother of all caravans” – over 20,000 people – is gathering in Honduras. Border apprehensions exceeded 100,000 in March – the highest monthly total in twelve years.
I just visited the border yet again recently. Unfortunately, the news is not getting better. Indeed, there is no end in sight for the current crisis. Worse, official U.S. policy is creating massive incentives for the caravans to keep coming.
We are providing huge incentives for migrants to enter illegally and walk up to Border Patrol agents to demand a ride to the Border Patrol stations so they can make what is likely a bogus asylum claim. We know the claims are likely to be bogus, because the overwhelming majority of these migrants are denied asylum when their hearings eventually occur. U.S. policy has created three huge magnets for the caravans to keep coming:
1. We are giving the migrants employment authorization right away. ICE has been operating under an Obama Administration policy that started in 2010 of granting the newly-arrived asylum applicants who pass the initial “credible fear” screening “immigration parole,” which gives them temporary lawful presence in the United States. With parole comes the opportunity to obtain a work permit without first waiting the normal 150 days to apply. The immigration regulations of the United States spell that out at 8 C.F.R. 274a.12(c)(11). That work permit enables the alien to obtain employment and compete against U.S. citizens and against those aliens who did it the right way by entering the United States legally. And it’s not short-term work authorization either.
2. The asylum hearing dates are five to six years in the future. It’s not the six-month or one-year period that we’ve seen in the past. Because of the huge backlog in the immigration courts, the migrants are receiving court dates set many years in the future. In the meantime, they get to work legally in the United States. It’s as if they are handed a six-year work visa as soon as they arrive.
3. It appears that we may be giving the migrants EBT cards. Many of the aliens who claim asylum are now applying for free EBT card for SNAP (food stamps) benefits. The cards come pre-charged with money so the migrants can start spending, courtesy of the American taxpayer. Depending on how many are in the group, the card value can range from about $200 a month for an individual to well over $1000 a month for a family unit, depending on its size. And word has gotten out. As a Border Patrol agent told me, one newly arrived migrant came up and asked about the form to fill out so she could get her “free food card.”
U.S. law allows those who actually obtain asylum to qualify for federal welfare benefits, but now it appears that many asylum applicants may be getting them too. Again, the Obama Administration parole policy seems to be the problem; the fact that the migrants are being given parole is opening the door to the welfare benefits. A parolee need only be in the United States for a year before becoming eligible. And it appears that many are getting EBT cards well before that.
The Rest…HERE
