Report: Trump Administration has failed to end awful catch and release policy

Brandon Judd, The President of the National Border Patrol Council, has told the Washington Times bad news for the Trump Administration as it pertains to the border patrol agency.

The Trump administration reinstated a de facto catch-and-release policy for illegal immigrants nabbed crossing the border in Texas, with Border Patrol agents being told Wednesday not to even bother turning them over for speedy deportation because there was no bed space, a top agent said.

The problem, said Brandon Judd, an agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council, is that illegal immigration has surged once again after dipping during the early months of President Trump’s tenure.

That has left the deportation agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, struggling to find beds to hold the illegal immigrants. As a result, Border Patrol agents who bring apprehended people to ICE are turned away.

“We’re going to have to release them out our front door,” Mr. Judd said. “Even if we try to turn them over to them, they’re just not going to take them.”

He said ICE’s San Antonio office, which handles most of the traffic from the Texas border, said it would have to refuse to take any family units the Border Patrol tries to turn over and will soon reject even non-family migrants.

This is not good. The idea behind catch and release is flawed. If I am an illegal immigrant trying to cross the border what am I scared of if I know if I get caught I’ll simply be released?

Mr. Judd said the rhetoric from the president is good and had an immediate effect earlier this year in persuading migrants not to bother making the journey north. The Border Patrol set a modern-day record low of slightly more than 11,100 illegal immigrants nabbed in Apri

But as catch-and-release continued, word seeped back to home countries and the effects of Mr. Trump’s rhetoric waned. More than 26,000 illegal immigrants were arrested at the border last month, Mr. Judd said.

“The word got back to all of these countries that hey, the catch-and-release hasn’t ended,” he said. “The people that are supposed to be enforcing President Trump’s policy, they’re just not. They’re not following through on the promises he made.”

ICE didn’t deny the problem. Instead, the agency said it has to prioritize cases and is struggling with how to comply with court rulings on treatment of illegal immigrant families traveling together.

An official at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, insisted the agency won’t end up issuing notices to appear — essentially just notifications of future immigration hearings. The official said CBP will pursue expedited removal or speedy deportation.

“We are in the business of catch and remove, not release,” the official said.

Tyler Houlton, acting press secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, suggested the problem was a lack of support from the courts for Mr. Trump’s mission.

“We enforce the law but are severely constrained by litigation, court rulings and debilitating legal loopholes that limit our ability to carry out our mission,” he said. “These limitations are exactly why the president has proposed his immigration enforcement priorities and why we are working with Congress to address these problems.”

But Mr. Judd said the department’s policies are getting in the way of the president’s agenda.

This seems to be a common theme within Trump’s administration. People working under Trump are in open rebellion against him. The Obama Holdovers are doing everything in their power to make sure Trump’s agenda is stalled. People need to know illegally entering our country is something we don’t approve of. The idea that there is no punishment for many of them right now is undermining the mission Trump was elected to fulfill.