Website advises on how to avoid Border Patrol

Immigrants looking to enter the United States illegally can find tips on how to avoid US Border Patrol on the agency’s own website. Critics claim that this is proof of the ‘schizophrenic’ attitude to immigration enforcement taken by the Obama administration.

The website informs that actions are rarely undertaken, except with the approval of a supervisor or in an emergency, at locations such as churches, hospitals, and schools. This makes them places where undocumented immigrants can find sanctuary. The government website states that the policies are intended to ensure that sound judgment is exercised by agents with Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Media Research Center and other critics argue that the information tells illegal immigrant crossers where they can avoid the authorities.​

Agents are forbidden from arresting, searching or interviewing suspected undocumented immigrants at the locations listed above. Critics of the immigration policies pursued by the Obama administration have long believed that those policies undermine border enforcement by imposing stringent rules on agents, resulting in them not being able to do their jobs.

The president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, Dan Stein, claims that all aspects of border enforcement have been maliciously and systematically attacked by the current administration to the point that ICE is no longer able to carry out its primary mission as almost no immigrants will be forced to return home.