(National Sentinel) Bold: A spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council offered a set of simple, practical solutions to the migrant “crisis” a day after scores of them attempted to rush the U.S. border at San Ysidro, only to be repelled by tear gas and pepper balls after many of them began throwing rocks and bottles at Border Patrol agents.
In an interview with Fox News‘ Laura Ingraham, spokesman Chris Cabrera said there is an easy way to determine quickly how many of the thousands of mostly Central American migrants are actually eligible to claim asylum in the U.S.: Put asylum officers at the front end of the process, on the ground in San Diego.
If that were to happen, “within a couple days or a week, we would see a much smaller number of people actually claiming asylum,” said Cabrera.
The spokesman noted that current abuses of the asylum process — people claiming it who clearly are not qualified — was like “the boy who cried wolf,” adding that false or illegitimate claims are clogging up the system for those who really do fear for their lives and need asylum.
Under current rules and laws, anyone who arrives in the U.S. legally or illegally can apply for asylum within a year of entering.
“We’ve been calling in the Rio Grande Valley for two years to send us help, and nobody has,” said Cabrera, saying that Customs and Border Protection officials, as well as others, have been aware such a crisis coming for a long time.
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“Now, instead of being able to fight this on one front, which we could have done a couple years ago, now we have the issue in the Rio Grande Valley, we have it in Laredo, we have it in El Paso, Arizona, and California — so it’s [on] multiple fronts,” he said.
“Now our resources are stretched even thinner than they were in the past,” he said, noting further that very few people would actually qualify for asylum based on early interviews.
Simply looking for a better job or living conditions is not a qualifying condition, he said.
For his part, POTUS Donald Trump offered some ‘solutions’ of his own on Monday, tweeting: “Mexico should move the flag-waving migrants, many of whom are stone-cold criminals, back to their countries. Do it by plane, do it by bus, do it anyway you want, but they are NOT coming into the U.S.A. We will close the border permanently if need be. Congress, fund the WALL!”
Republicans have 15 days left in which they retain full control over Congress to pass the president’s initiatives. We’re not going to hold our breath.
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