Pinal County, AZ Sheriff Paul Babeu argued that the president’s executive order on immigration was “de facto amnesty” for all illegal immigrants on Thursday’s “Cavuto” on the Fox Business Network.
Babeu stated that the president’s plan to limit protection to illegal immigrants who have been in the country for five years could not be done, saying “we’ve had deputies stop, and traffic stops or other lawful action, illegals, who admitted or upon questioning said they were here illegally and then we’re required by the Supreme Court to call ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or the Border Patrol, and on the phone this happens, and we talk to the illegal, talk with the ICE agent, and they say ‘well, how long have they been here?’ And based off of what that illegal tells us, the ICE agent says, ‘because they’ve been here five years, let them go, treat them as any other citizen.’ So, if you and I just came from Honduras, last week…[and] have fraudulent documents and a law enforcement officer, [asks] ‘how long, Neil and Paul, have you been here?’ We’re going to say the magic word[s] ‘five years.’ And guess what happens? No action. So, the president is saying it’s five years or more, well guess what? He just had de facto amnesty, meaning no enforcement of law for all these illegals, not just five or six million.”
Former Border Patrol National Deputy Chief Ronald Coburn added “he just invited the black market of documentary fraud and the creation of false records including rental receipts, just like the amnesty program of the late ’80s, early ’90s.”
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