Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must stop “the madness” of the expanded Catch and Release policy that has allowed more than 161,000 border crossers and illegal aliens to be released into the interior of the United States since December.
As Breitbart News has reported, DHS has released about 8,200 border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. over the past seven days through an expanded Catch and Release policy wherein federal immigration officials have had to grapple with less detention space and increased implementation of release programs for foreign nationals.
During an interview with Fox News on Friday, Kobach called on DHS to end the Catch and Release policy and stop issuing work permits, as well as food stamps, to those released into the country from federal custody.
Kobach said:
[Released border crossers] all over the United States right now. And … we just got news that April was another record month, recent record, of more than 100,000 people apprehended at the border. [Emphasis added]
We’ve got two months in a row with over 100,000 so they’re continuing to come. There’s no more bed space at the detention centers. We have got to address this crisis because what’s happening is most of them are making fraudulent claims of asylum. They have no basis for it, but they claim it. Then they’re being turned loose into the United States and they’re being told ‘Come back in six years for your hearing.’ [Emphasis added]
And in the meantime, we’re giving out work permits to most of them. We’ve got to stop giving these out … and food stamps, by the way. We’ve got to stop giving out the benefits. We’ve got to stop turning people loose in the United States who probably have no basis for claiming asylum. [Emphasis added]
Kobach has detailed in Breitbart News how the Trump administration and DHS can immediately end the Catch and Release policy by building detention facilities and processing centers at the U.S.-Mexico border to speed asylum hearings and quickly deport fraudulent asylum seekers.
“I believe we have to have processing centers where we can keep people detained, set up temporary facilities, and process the claim with the immigration judges right there because … right now the message is getting out to Central America, ‘Come to the United States, make a false claim, and they’ll turn you loose and they’ll give you food stamps and a work permit,’ which is just crazy,” Kobach said. “We’ve got to stop the madness.”
Currently, border crossers are able to obtain one-year work permits after 150 days of being released into the interior of the country by DHS. With those work permits, border crossers can apply for welfare benefits like food stamps for their children.
Americans largely agree that claiming asylum in the U.S. is far too easy for foreign nationals. The plurality of all U.S. likely voters, minority voters, and working class Americans say claiming asylum must be more rigorous, a recent Rasmussen Reports poll found.
Less than ten percent of all asylum claims made by foreign nationals end up being legitimate, as Breitbart News has reported. In nearly 50 percent of asylum cases, Central Americans never return for their asylum hearings and instead end up living illegally in the interior of the U.S. At current illegal immigration levels, the U.S. is on track to admit about one to 1.5 million illegal aliens into the country this year.
DHS has continued the Catch and Release policy and, at current rates, the agency is releasing about 40,300 border crossers and illegal aliens into the interior of the U.S. every month. More than 10,000 are being released every week.
By the end of the year, DHS will have released more than 480,000 border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities should Catch and Release continue — in addition to the projected half a million illegal aliens who will successfully cross the U.S.-Mexico border this year, undetected by federal officials.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.