The absolute lack of transparency by the Obama administration about our porous southwestern border is nothing short of criminal. In this age of international terrorism, our border should be secured with a massive wall (something GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump has proposed) and enough border security personnel to make sure no one slips through.
But that isn’t happening. In fact, as bad as this administration has been about border security, the real numbers are even worse.
Polizette reports that a recent Department of Homeland Security study revises, and lowers, the estimated numbers of illegal aliens traversing the border from Mexico. But even that figure is misleading, according to the president of the union that represents Border Patrol officers (and backs Trump for president, though historically, the union doesn’t endorse anyone for president).
As further noted by Polizette, an Associated Press report said that the study, which has yet to be released publicly, estimates that about 54 percent of the roughly 315,000 people trying to illegally sneak into the U.S. were successful during fiscal year 2015 (October 2014-September 2015). That is much worse than the 81 percent success rate at stopping illegal aliens that the Obama administration claims officially (and even that is pathetic).
The reason for the discrepancy is that different calculating methodologies are being employed by the administration and those at DHS responsible for border security. The authors of the study, for example, did not count people who turned themselves in and then applied for asylum right away. That number climbed from 20,000 a decade ago to 140,000 last year. When those people are counted as illegal immigration stops it makes the border appear more secure than it actually is.
Also, the report doesn’t include what are called “touch-backs,” or people who cross the border but then run back into Mexico when they see Border Patrol agents.
That said, National Border Patrol Council president Brandon Judd said even the new study counts as successful interdictions thousands of people who are detained for a short while but then released due to Obama administration catch-and-release policies.
“We’ve refuted those numbers forever,” he said. “Being an agent myself, I know those numbers just aren’t true … It’s just disappointing that they’ve been lying to the American people for so long.”
Disappointing, true, but also standard policy for the Obama administration, which is about as far from being “the most transparent” in history as it gets – and even a Left-leaning Washington Post columnist thinks so.
Fooling Americans about foreign policy deals and secretive trade agreements is one thing; pretending like you’re keeping them safe and secure when you’re not is unforgivable. Obama has a lot to answer for; sadly, he’ll never have to.
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