Mexican officials have reportedly begun to break up a new caravan that left Honduras last week in hopes of reaching the United States. According to reports, Mexican officials have stopped much of the caravan and have been processing the unauthorized migrants to be possibly returned to their home countries. The effort by Mexico is part of an agreement it has with the U.S. to help stop large caravans in order to prevent economic tariffs.
Customs and Border Protection will start a pilot program this week where they'll collect DNA samples from detainees and share the information with the FBI. CBP will begin collecting the samples at the Eagle Pass port of entry in Texas and the port of entry near Detroit.
Democratic Presidential hopefuls gathered in California last night for their sixth debate. While immigration hasn't been discussed much at the last two debates, last night, the candidates were asked for their position on the illegal-alien population and how they would handle the families who were separated at the border.
The House of Represen -tatives approved legislation on Wednesday night that would grant amnesty to more than 1 million illegal farm workers and renew the outdated system of indentured servitude to guarantee a steady and cheap foreign worker labor force going forward. The bill passed 260-165, mostly along party lines with all but four Democrats who were present supporting the legislation and more than 80% of the Republicans opposing the legislation.
Border Patrol officers apprehended 35,444 illegal border crossers last month, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, marking a 15-month low for apprehensions. In addition, officers encountered 9,806 inadmissibles at a port of entry for a total of 45,250 encounters last month -- also a 15-month low.
Once again, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked for unanimous consent from the Senate this week to pass the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act, S. 386 in the Senate and H.R. 1044 in the House, that would lift per-country caps for employment-based green cards, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) objected. Sen. Durbin used his objection to introduce new legislation, the RELIEF Act, which would substantially increase the number of green cards issued each year, including clear the existing backlog of employment-based green cards over five years.
There's little doubt that the issue of immigration will be on the minds of voters throughout next year's presidential elections. That's why I was somewhat surprised at how little time ABC dedicated to the issue during last night's third Democratic Presidential debate. But here's a recap of what each candidate said . . .
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to tour the ICE detention facility in Aurora, Colo., owned and operated by The GEO Group. This facility has been at the center of the immigration-enforcement debate ever since protesters replaced the facility's American flag with a Mexican flag and defaced a Blue Lives Matter flag earlier this summer. Here's what I saw . . .
A number of media outlets are reporting that the Trump administration has ended the "medical deferred action" program, which will result in the removal of thousands of illegal aliens living in the country who are receiving life-saving medical treatment. However, the reports misrepresent the policy change and exaggerate the impacts.