According to an “elite, law-enforcement sensitive El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) intel report from July 7, 2014” that Breitbart Texas obtained, nearly every migrant federal officials interviewed said they thought U.S. law required Border Patrol agents to give them “free passes” (“permisos”) to enter and remain in the United States.
Of 230 illegal immigrant migrants the U.S. Border Patrol interviewed in late May, 219 said the “primary reason for migrating to the United States was the perception of U.S. immigration laws granting free passes or permisos” to unaccompanied children and to adult females from Central America who are traveling to minors.
The “migrants indicated that knowledge of permisos was widespread across Central America due to word of mouth, local, and international media messaging–prompting many to depart for the United States within 30 days of becoming aware of these perceived benefits.”
Migrants from Central America also told federal officials that many who traveled with them planned to surrender to Border Patrol agents because “they were informed that they would likely be released” with “permisos.”
The report also found that family members in the United States encouraged migrants to travel to the United States as soon as possible because the federal government, they claimed, would stop issuing “permisos” after June of 2014.
There have been at least 57,000 illegal immigrant children who have unlawfully entered the country since October of last year, and federal officials expect at least 150,000 more to try next year. The number of illegal immigrants entering the country spiked, though, in the fiscal year after President Barack Obama unilaterally enacted his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2012.
Though the Obama administration has started a public relations campaign to discourage Central Americans from unlawfully entering the United States, Obama’s executive actions and promises of more to ease deportations have convinced Central Americans that they can cross the U.S.-Mexico border with few consequences.
As noted in the original Breitbart Texas report, agencies that make up EPIC include:
[T]he Drug Enforcement Administration; Department of Homeland Security; Customs & Border Protection; Immigration & Customs Enforcement; U.S. Coast Guard; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; Department of Transportation; Internal Revenue Service; U.S. Department of the Interior; National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; U.S. Department of Defense/IC; Joint Task Force-North; Joint Interagency Task Force-South; Texas Department of Public Safety; Texas Air National Guard; National Guard Counter Narcotics Bureau; Department of State; Bureau of Indian Affairs; Union Pacific Railroad Police; Kansas City Southern Railroad Police; El Paso Police Department; and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.
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