Jackson County Sheriff A.J. Louderback at his office in Edna, Texas, Feb. 5, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
“For the first Time in the history of the United States, the federal government is going back to asylum seekers who have been denied for the past year or so, and they’re reaching out to them to bring them back to the United States.” Sheriff A.J. Louderback said of President Biden‘s immigration policies.
He said that under Biden’s reforms, U.S. government employees contacted asylum seekers who had been denied during the Trump administration and encouraged them to reapply for asylum under the Biden Administration.
The five-term sheriff from Jackson County added that the Biden administration essentially “dismantled every piece of the Immigration Naturalization Act,” meaning that any individual from any country was “invited” into the United States “whether you were seeking asylum or not.
Jackson County is directly impacted by human smuggling in the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest illegal entry corridor along the southwestern U.S. border.
“The Trump Administration just said, ‘No, we’re going to follow the Immigration Protection Protocol … we’re going to have an asylum process, but you have to stay in another country and then apply to the U.S. and then be brought into the U.S. in an orderly fashion.'” The sheriff said in reference to the previous administration’s immigration rules.
Under President Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols, asylum seekers would be housed in Mexico while awaiting a court ruling on their claims.
However, Biden recently banned all deportations, and now illegal immigrants are considered to have surrendered to Border Patrol, where they can apply for a Notice to Appear and be allowed to enter the U.S. without any COVID-19 testing or vaccinations, which Lauderbach described as “absolute hypocrisy. “.
The sheriff said he learned from Border Patrol agents working in the Rio Grande Valley sector that they have seen about 1,000 people crossing into the U.S. every day for the past three weeks.
“Where are they going?” He said.
He went on to warn the American public that people are not being told the truth about the widespread impact of this flow of illegal immigrants and the communities they pass through and settle in.
He noted that such a flow brings money and power, enriching smuggling rings that hold turf near the border and whose human smugglers (coyotes) can collect tolls from illegal immigrants. These criminal groups are also known for smuggling drugs and weapons.
Illegal Honduran migrants on a road in Guatemala, Jan. 16, 2021. They hope to travel to the United States. (JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
“If you want to enter the border through their territory (known locally as plazas), you will pay a fee known as a ‘peso’ (peso) to the Gulf Cartel in this area, which is currently reduced to an average of about $250 per person. So with 1,000 (people crossing the border) per day, that’s $250,000 per day coming in and funding future violence by criminal groups and strengthening criminal activity in Texas, and across the United States.” Lauderback said.
Biden’s policies are helping people engage in this illegal trade, he said.
“We’re allowing criminal groups to charge these people to enrich themselves and make themselves rich.”
Lauderback said many of the newly arrived immigrants had no ties in the United States and ended up getting help from a Catholic Charities organization that arranged contacts and travel for them throughout the United States. But the lack of social connections makes it easy for these foreign immigrants to end up in hard labor and crime.
“You know what happens to a community, where possible, when there are many new members who are new to the area and don’t know anyone or know very few people? Many of them will be working for criminal groups.”
“So when we let these people come into this country in large numbers, it’s clear that we have sent a message to the world that our borders are now open. And Texans are going to pay for it, Americans are going to pay for it.”
“Having secure borders is what makes us a country,” the sheriff said, “and I think people need to pay attention to that.”
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