Ann Vandersteel went out of the studio, took a trip to the border city of McAllen, Texas, and found how life has changed for those wishing to enter the U.S. via the southern tip of the state.
The "Steel Truth" host talked with people from the Customs and Border Protection to local businesses and was surprised with the leniency President Joe Biden's administration has treated the migrant applicants as opposed to former President Donald Trump's strict orders to bar their entry whenever possible.
"All of these people that have done all kinds of work to protect our government lands are here to basically push paper as administrative assistants and allow people to come through the processing center as they are picked up by the thousands every day, processed, and then put back," said Vandersteel during the January 27 episode of "Steel Truth" on Brighteon.TV.
"This is what our customs and border patrol have become. This is what our government is doing, bringing people in, sit down in front of a typewriter, essentially, and process people and then send them back out."
Nothing wrong there, really. It's their job to at least take note of those people who are raring to pursue their American dream.
Vandersteel can accept that. What piqued her was the discovery that these applicants have become pampered.
"We spoke to somebody today that works in the business here locally. And she told us that, in fact, not only are these people coming into the processing center but they're given $200 debit cards and a free plane ticket to anywhere they want to go in the country. They're being resettled at an alarmingly high rate," said Vandersteel.
Ultimate betrayal of the American taxpayer
The Brighteon.TV host continued: "This is Joe Biden's America. Absolutely atrocious what's happening right now. Talk about the ultimate betrayal of the American taxpayer. These videos that are coming out, the stories that we're hearing are all about the fact that these people are coming across the border and being allowed to resettle wherever they want. So yes, coming to a city near you are going to be the illegal immigrants that are coming across the border." (Related: Report finds illegal immigrants to receive about $4 billion in stimulus checks.)
Bringing her crew and new equipment along, Vandersteel showed a video clip of the border wall built by Trump, the processing station for the actual border, where people need to go through if they're coming from the American side to the Mexican side.
And again something caught her attention.
"There was very little traffic actually going to the border check station from McAllen, Texas, into Mexico. And the only thing I can surmise is that they're all coming across the border illegally. There's really very little reason for them to be commuting back and forth across the United States. Really quite interesting."
Taking a tour of McAllen, which is just 11 miles from Reynosa, Mexico, Vandersteel noticed that it's very busy, with a lot of industry, big factories and a lot of manufacturing, with the signage in Spanish.
This led Vandersteel to believe the border community is thriving.
Migrants fear the cartels
But when she talked to a businessman, she found there's a prevailing fear of the cartels among the over 142,000 residents.
The businessman requested not to be shown on camera for fear of reprisal from cartel members who are into human trafficking, drug trafficking and gun smuggling.
Vandersteel could only empathize with him and the other locals.
"It's not because they can't say no to these people. It's because they're in fear of these people. And this is right here on American soil. They actually fear the cartel, because they know they come into our country, they know they're coming in and doing business in our establishments. And frankly, they're afraid to actually interact with the cartel or even condemn them. So this is again, Joe Biden's America."
Since his term started in January 2021, Biden has either altered or reversed many restrictions imposed by Trump on immigration to the United States.
These steps include plans to boost refugee admissions, keep deportation relief for unauthorized immigrants who entered the U.S. as children and lifted restrictions set early in the coronavirus pandemic that reduced the number of visas issued to immigrants. From about 240,000 visas granted in the first quarter (January to March) of 2020, the number dipped to 79,000 in the second quarter (April to June).
Currently, there are over 35 million legal immigrants in the U.S. and most of them are already American citizens. In addition, about one million unauthorized immigrants have temporary permission to live and work in the United States.
But this number pales in comparison to Biden's immigration proposal that would open the path for nearly 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants who are already in the country to gain legal status.
Vandersteel could only cringe at the thought.
More related stories:
Crimes at the border: Illegal immigrants, illegal drugs, flow freely in southwest border.
Illegal immigrants now outnumber Americans who are officially unemployed.
Watch the full January 27 episode of "Steel Truth" below. Catch new episodes of the program from Monday to Friday at 9:30-10.30 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.
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