National Security

Report: Border Patrol Won’t Prosecute Illegals Because Of DOJ Inaction

REUTERS

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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The U.S. Border Patrol sends criminal illegal immigrants back home instead of prosecuting because agents are reluctant to deal with the Department of Justice (DOJ).  

According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published this month, the border patrol would rather just send illegals back than send them on to ineffective DOJ courts. The Washington Free Beacon reported Tuesday that border patrol agents did not apprehend nearly 4,000 illegals stopped at the border despite those captured possessing criminal records and having connections to criminal networks.

The report’s authors state that border patrol agents told them that referral to the DOJ was inconsequential: “Border Patrol has not assessed reasons for the relatively low application of consequences determined to be the Most Effective and Efficient consequence in each sector; but some agency officials stated that challenges include agents’ hesitation to apply consequences that require referral to federal partners facing capacity constraints, such as Department of Justice immigration courts,” the GAO found. 

The information is part of a government audit released this month that makes a thorough and critical assessment of the border patrol’s record for dealing with illegals who try to sneak across the border into the U.S.

The chairman of the homeland security committee for the House of Representatives received the report that examined the fiscal years 2013-15. The report notes that, despite using a comprehensive classification process called Consequence Delivery System (CDS) that categorizes aliens among seven different criminal and non-criminal criteria, border patrol agents were wrong in approximately 15,000 criminal apprehension cases and 3,717 aliens were sent back to their point of origin without further consequences, such as criminal prosecution.

“Our analysis showed that criminal aliens not classified in accordance with agency guidance were less likely to face prosecution and more likely to be voluntarily returned to their home country than criminal aliens overall,” the GAO investigation stated.

Just before the release of the audit, former general John Kelly appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of homeland security.  In that position, Kelly will be in charge of immigration and border security.

Kelly emphasized his belief that only a “layered” border defense comprised of human patrols, sensors and cooperation with geographic neighbors would be sufficient to stop the flow of drugs and illegals across the southern border with Mexico – and that the Trump wall would not entirely solve the problems encountered by border patrols.

The responsibilities facing border patrol agents are massive and they managed to apprehend more than 1.1 million aliens along the southwest border over the three-year period covered by the audit.

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