Attorney: Increase in Border-Crossings a Sign ‘Deterrence Talk’ Without a Wall is Useless

A recent increase in border-crossings by illegal aliens at the U.S.-Mexico border is a “sign” that mere “deterrence talk” from President Trump’s administration will only go so far to stop illegal immigration, a pro-immigration attorney is admitting.

With talks of an amnesty, under which 12 to 30 million illegal aliens could obtain U.S. citizenship, has come a steady increase in illegal border-crossings at the southern border, as Breitbart Texas reported.

Bryan Johnson, an immigration attorney who represents illegal aliens who are allegedly MS-13 gang members, admitted to McClatchy DC that Trump’s talk of a border wall and strict immigration measures will only prevent the issue for so long.

“This is a sign that the deterrence talk can only have so much effect,” Johnson said. “A lot of this is huffing and puffing and it’s not real. They’re inflating the fruits of their work.”

Thus far, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has secured waivers and begun reviewing border wall prototypes, but construction on the U.S.-Mexico border has yet to take place, despite the issue being the driving force of Trump’s “America First” agenda.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has placed focus on a potential amnesty for 1.3 million eligible illegal aliens who were at one point shielded from federal law by former President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) temporary amnesty program.

Coinciding with talks of amnesty for illegal aliens have come increases in illegal immigration at the border.

For instance, the number of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) and Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) apprehended while illegally crossing into the U.S. through Mexico increased as well. In the month of August, nearly 3,000 UACs were apprehended at the southern border, an increase of 20 percent from July. Another 4,645 FMUAs were arrested at the border, an increase of 37 percent over the month before.

“People may be figuring that out,” a government official told McClatchy DC. “They may have assumed that it was going to be worse than it is.”

Additionally, the Trump administration has yet to end a program which resettles UACs across the U.S., despite experts saying the resettlements have led to the proliferation of gangs like MS-13.