U.S. Border Patrol agents, in conjunction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently disclosed the increasing practice of releasing “low threat” illegal immigrant detainees to address the over-crowding of immigration detention centers in south Texas, according to official confirmation of local reports.
One south Texas television station, KRGV, recently reported instances of women and minors claiming to have been recently released from immigration officials with “documents that allow [them] to travel anywhere in the United States.” Released individuals claimed their federal instructions stated they were not legally allowed to work and could be subject to further immigration hearings. The report claimed that most individuals interviewed and released were of Central and South American origins other than Mexico.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Border Patrol recently confirmed such anecdotal evidence to be part of a larger strategy to focus resources away from individuals “posing no threat to national security.”
“In an effort to maximize resources and focus on the uptick in apprehensions, RGV Border Patrol Sector has begun implementing several steps,” a Border Patrol statement read. “These efforts include, transporting detainees to other sectors within the South Texas Campaign AOR, temporary reassignment of agents from other sectors into RGV and temporarily issuing a notice to appear for immigration hearings to family units posing no threat to national security.”
Breitbart Texas’ Contributing Editor and border security expert Sylvia Longmire described this development as emblematic of a continuing trend where “band-aid policies” are being instituted in lieu of a functioning federal immigration system.
“While ICE is only releasing individuals it deems to be non-threats to national security, most of them will abscond and never show up for their immigration hearings,” Longmire said. “Immigration reform means different things to different people, but the inconsistency in how these band-aid policies are being applied is incredibly frustrating for people who want to see real change–and improvement–in one direction or another.”
Longmire cautions that the recent development could largely prove a waste of resources entirely.
“Thanks to the lack of a standardized and smoothly functioning immigration policy, agents are wasting their time on processing non-threats–and rounding them up later–instead of going after violent drug smugglers and terrorist sympathizers who do pose real threats.”
Breitbart Texas’ Managing Director Brandon Darby recently reported on a related issue where an American Border Patrol Agent, Robert Rosas Jr., was killed in an altercation with an illegal immigrant who had been placed on “supervised release” by federal immigration officials in 2013.
Follow Logan Churchwell on Twitter @LCChurchwell
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