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Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Public Domain
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Sanwar Ali: additional reporting and comments
The so-called US immigration crisis at the southern border with Mexico has apparently sparked a rise in the number of Russian, Iraqi and Syrian nationals heading to the Central American nation to cross into the US. According to a Daily Mail report, the number of people from Russia and the Middle East crossing the Mexico border is increasing at an ‘alarming rate.’
Epimonia has detailed information on what causes refugee crises and other reasons why people may wish to flee their country. Reasons given include persecution, war, hunger, climate change, poverty, etc. Perhaps more needs to be done on an international level to try and prevent refugee crises.
According to official data, US President Joe Biden is spending approximately $3 million a day to accommodate migrants at a US immigration detention facility in Texas. An official at the facility has claimed that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are being forced to catch and release illegal immigrants without vetting them.
The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley is currently housing about 1,500 migrants at a cost of approximately $2,000 per person per day, according to The Daily Mail report. The facility is the largest US immigration detention center in America, with a capacity of 2,400. It was originally designed to house mainly women and children.
Migrant caravan
It’s understood that Russian and Middle Eastern migrants at the border are becoming increasingly common, having joined the caravan from Mexico that’s crossing into the United States, with Mexicans and people from other Central American nations also heading to the border.
However, the whistleblowing official, who asked to remain anonymous said that the facility in Texas has become nothing more than a ‘catch and release’ center for illegal immigrant families, including men. Most are being welcomed into the US after three days to await immigration court dates.
The anonymous official said: “It’s nothing more than catch and release. Before President Biden took over we had about 20 families a day arrive at our facility, now we are seeing more than 150 a day, we are overwhelmed. Before, we never accepted men at our facility, but now we are.”
Immigrants from all over the world
The inside source added that immigrants are arriving from all over the world, saying: “We used to get immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, but in the last few months we’ve had immigrants from Russia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam, Romania and Haiti.”
According to the official, migrant families would often remain at the Texas facility for months at a time while awaiting an outcome on their asylum cases. However, the maximum time they were held amid the so-called ‘border crisis’ is three days.
This has sparked several national security concerns, with immigration officials unable to properly screen migrants before releasing them.
The unnamed official said: “Because the turnaround time is so short, the immigrants aren't being vetted before they are released. Our government doesn't really know who they are releasing into our society. When these immigrant families come in from Russia, Syria and Iraq, some of them could be terrorists.”
“When men come into our facility with women and children, we have no proof any of them are actually related. Often they don’t have documentation so we have to take their word on their name, age, nationality, etc. They could be anyone, child predators, traffickers, terrorists,” the official added.
US immigration system overwhelmed
The official went on to add that the US immigration system is ‘completely overwhelmed right now.’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reportedly trying to move people through the system as quickly as possible.
“We have more people than we can handle. It’s a crisis situation, everyone is overworked,” the official said.
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