US Immigration Loopholes By Numbers

Homeland Security Minister Kirsten Nielsen defended the “zero tolerance” policy towards illegal immigrants, despite public outcry over the separation of families at the border.

Photo: depositphotos.com

“Legal loopholes have impeded immigration enforcement and contributed to the crisis at our border,” Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement.

According to her, in recent years the number of illegal immigrants who use children to enter the United States has increased by 315 percent.

“The number of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children (UAC) at US ports increased by 636 percent from April 2017 to April 2018. Over the past three months, illegal immigration at the southern border has exceeded 50 people per month,” she added.

At the same time, loopholes in US asylum laws led to a significant surge in the number of asylum requests. As the current law establishes an easily satisfied standard for “people who are trustworthy,” refugees fleeing from actual persecution and violence are bound by waiting for a decision by the United States Citizenship and Immigration (Uscis), which has grown by more than 1900 percent since the end of 2012 fiscal year .

Nielsen stated that foreign nationals seeking asylum in the United States should go to the border crossing points and go through the routine process of processing their applications, instead of entering the country through rivers and mountainous areas on the southern border with Mexico. In this case, the process of consideration of applications may be long. Nilsen acknowledged that there is currently a lineup of 600 000 applications.

The number of asylum applications received in the 2017 fiscal year was the highest in more than 20 years.

Nielsen added that smugglers and traffickers understand this and exploit these flaws in the immigration system.

“Until these loopholes are closed by Congress, it is not legally possible to detain and deport entire families who come to the United States illegally,” she said.

Recall that a migration scandal is breaking out in the United States because of the new rules, according to which border violators are charged and their children are sent to special detention centers. The new migration policy is called the “zero tolerance” policy.

Democrats are actively drawing attention to this problem, demanding that the administration take action that will allow families not to be separated. More Republicans are joining these calls.

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