- Asylum seekers who cross the border are entitled the same protections as an American citizen.
- When illegal immigrants are awaiting asylum hearings, they flee into the U.S. and disappear.
- Sen. James Inhofe will introduce legislation requiring aliens to claim asylum in Mexico or Canada preventing them from crossing to the U.S.
Inhofe explained to The Daily Caller News Foundation that the biggest issue is asylum seekers stepping over the U.S.-Mexico or U.S.-Canada border. Once an individual crosses onto American soil, they are entitled to all the protections of a U.S. citizen. Accordingly, illegal aliens are assigned court hearings prior to deportation, however, they almost always neglect to attend, as they have already disappeared into the country.
“The reason that we’ve had a problem is that when a person comes up to the [U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)], the border patrol has to determine whether or not, in the case of asylum, they have to go before a judge … but once they are in the United States, they are home free,” said Inhofe. “They’ll assign them a court date that their asylum case can be heard, and of course they never show up.”
As illegal immigration is increasing, detention centers are overflowing with apprehended aliens who have made it across the border. Often, CBP releases them into the supervision of churches or other organizations in anticipation of the alien’s court dates. (RELATED: Ted Cruz Announces Legislation To Keep Illegal Immigrant Families Together)
The draft of the proposed bill prevents U.S. Border Patrol from allowing anyone into the country who does not have the required entry documents. Rather, asylum seekers will be turned away and advised to apply for asylum at “the most convenient United States embassy or consulate in Canada or Mexico.” Therefore, decisions regarding asylum cases can be made prior to the seekers’ entry into the U.S.
The proposed legislation also imposes harsher penalties for aliens who don’t comply with immigration policy such as subjection to a warrant of arrest or expedited removal proceedings.
The Oklahoma senator toured the southern border on Tuesday where he visited CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities near Texas’s Port of Brownsville and Port Isabel. He has visited the Texas-Mexico border six times since 2013.
“We started putting the bill together last March, but I wanted to wait and see what was going to happen to the illegal population coming in after a few months [of a new administration] go by,” Inhofe told TheDCNF. “We suspected, and were correct, in that that number [of people seeking asylum] is increasing, not decreasing.”
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