by WorldTribune Staff, April 5, 2019

The former chief of U.S. Border Patrol said there has been a 50 percent increase in illegal immigrant gang members coming into the United States this year.

“As an example, last week, three MS-13 members who were arrested in Maryland for stabbing a rival gangster and burning the body were resettled basically as refugees under the false pretenses of being brought to this country as ‘unaccompanied minors.’ Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated example,” Mark Morgan, who headed up Border Patrol from 2016-2017, said in testimony on April 4 before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

“Long Island and Maryland became hot spots for MS-13 activity during the surge of Central American teens in 2014. The number of teens coming in now, both individually and with families, dwarfs the 2014 numbers,” Morgan said.

“The MS-13 is one of the most violent and prolific transnational gangs the U.S. as ever seen and the influx of minors into the country through the current crisis will provide them with unlimited vulnerable prospects. While Border Patrol is tied up with the humanitarian mission, the smugglers business is thriving. According to Border Patrol, 800 gang members were apprehended so far this year, a 50 percent increase from last year. Imagine what they’re not catching.”

Morgan warned the committee that loopholes in federal law will result in some 650,000 illegal immigrants being released into the United States this year. Most will “never to be heard from again,” he said.

Morgan said that the U.S. isn’t sure of the background of those entering through the southern border.

“It’s simple – they step one foot on American soil, say the magic words under ‘credible fear’ and within a few days they’re allowed into cities all across the U.S.,” Morgan said. “What should sound additional alarms of concern is that most of the family members either lack proper identifying documentation or effective vetting of what they produce is impossible, so we know virtually nothing about who we’re letting in. Once in, they are typically never to be heard from again.”

Committee chair Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, blamed Congress.

“This crisis is not the fault of the dedicated, hardworking men and women of DHS; they have been given an impossible task,” Johnson said. “The fault rests with Congress alone. I challenge my colleagues to act. Unless you support this new reality of open borders, work with me now to address this crisis.”

In one 12-day period – March 21 to April 1 – DHS released over 17,000 border crossers and illegal immigrants into the interior of the U.S., Breitbart News reported, citing newly obtained data. Since December 21, 2018, DHS has released about 125,565 border crossers and illegals into the interior of the country.

“The Catch and Release process often entails federal immigration officials busing border crossers into nearby border cities and dropping them off with the promise that they will show up for their immigration and asylum hearings, sometimes years later,” Breitbart noted. “The overwhelming majority of border crossers and illegals are never deported from the country once they are released into the U.S.”

Since December 21, 2018, DHS has released:

• 12,745 border crossers into the San Diego, California area.
• 22,000 border crossers into the Phoenix, Arizona area.
• 37,500 border crossers into the El Paso, Texas area.
• 53,320 border crossers into the San Antonio, Texas area.

The crisis could reach nearly unprecedented levels between April and June, Princeton Policy researcher Steven Kopits told Breitbart News.

“A half million border apprehensions in the next three months would not surprise me,” Kopits said. “I think the current situation is likely unsustainable and will likely result in a political crisis somewhere before the middle of July.”

Kopits’ projection is that the U.S. could see potentially 130,000 arrests at the southern border in April, 170,000 arrests in May, and 150,000 arrests in June for a total of about 450,000 arrests in just three months.

To put that rate of illegal immigration into perspective, there were less than 400,000 arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border in the entire Fiscal Year of 2018.

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  000 illegals to be freed into U.S. this year, 50 percent jump in gang member immigrants; 650, Border Patrol, DHS, illegals, immigration, southern border, WorldTribune.com