The leader of the union for Border Patrol agents in the United States claims that they have seen their job grow only more difficult because of the policy of the Obama administration to allow undocumented immigrants apprehended at the Mexico border to go free inside the United States.
National Border Patrol Council president Brendon Judd says that the catch and release program is the biggest single reason driving illegal immigration in the United States. Judd made the comments in written testimony for yesterday’s hearing on Immigration and the National Interest in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. When Border Patrol agents detain undocumented immigrants at or near the US border with Mexico, they interview them and then in many instances simply allow them to be released into the country if they claim to have been in the nation since 2004.
Judd wrote that unaccompanied minors will be released and escorted to their destination, while family units will simply be released, as will those who claim to have credible fears for their safety if they are returned home. Even single men who claim to have been in the US for twelve years that are not actually witnessed crossing the border will be released without the need to show corroborating evidence of their immigration status.
Judd also says that Border Patrol’s efforts are also being hampered by a shortfall in management accountability and the increasing power of Mexican cartels who are in charge of illegal activity along the US border.