U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials admit they release certain migrants without issuing a Notice to Appear before an immigration court on a specified date. The official, however, said this is not a “change in policy.”
Breitbart Texas’ Randy Clark, a retired U.S. Border Patrol agent with 32 years of service, first revealed on Sunday that CBP officials notified Border Patrol agents to begin releasing migrant families without a Notice to Appear. Breitbart confirmed the directive with two officials operating under the umbrella of CBP.
Clark quoted a CBP official saying, “This is insane, it is another pull factor that will overwhelm us … We are creating another entirely different class of aliens we will have to deal with years from now. We will never find most of these aliens once they are released.”
Breitbart reached out to CBP officials for confirmation of the new policy and additional information about its implementation.
The official confirmed they are releasing some migrant families without issuing a court date but claimed, “there is no change in policy.”
Retired Agent Clark responded to the statement, saying, “This is completely unprecedented. Never, in my 32 years as a Border Patrol agent have we had a policy to release migrants without issuing a court date and Notice to Appear.”
“This is what enters the migrant into the alien registration system and starts the ball rolling for their removal if they do not qualify for asylum,” Clark explained. “Without a Notice to Appear, we are depending on the migrant’s word that they will self-register with the court near their destination city.”
CBP, in a written response to Breitbart’s inquiry:
In some cases, families are placed in removal proceedings further along in the release process rather than while they are at the border patrol station. All families, however, are screened at the border patrol station, including the collection of biographical and biometric information and criminal and national security records checks.
Without a Notice to Appear, the only way the migrant can be “placed in removal proceedings” is if they go to immigration court and place themselves into the removal process, Clark explained. “There is no other charging instrument created under this new policy to enter the migrant into the court’s docket.”
CBP officials told Breitbart they are simply allowing law enforcement officers operating under the Department of Homeland Security “the flexibility to handle each situation in a manner that best fits each unique encounter.”
However, rather than being an officer or agent’s decision about a “unique encounter,” it appears to be a blanket instruction to allow a group of migrants to be released with no legal consequence for illegally entering the United States, Clark concluded.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Face
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