Before I tell you about the story which I should have posted a couple of days ago (hat tip Gary), briefly this is what I think is happening:
*Open borders advocates are using our asylum system to get more immigrants into the country.
*Businesses looking for cheap labor may be teamed up with non-profit “humanitarian” groups to facilitate the scam, and possibly even linked to the traffickers. There likely are some terrorist networks using the system as well.
*Most asylum seekers are economic migrants, not really persecuted people (thus my use of the word “scam”).
*Refugee advocates know that the number of refugees is going to go down as our economic situation continues to be unable to handle the numbers on welfare and more and more people are questioning the program, thus their focus is shifting to asylees.
*Immigration lawyers have set up extensive businesses in border states and are somehow tipped off to the arrival of the newest asylum seekers.
Admittedly I don’t have all the pieces to the puzzle, but my first inkling of this new focus of the Open Borders crowd came when I saw this story about illiterate and obviously not well-off Somalis paying as much as $10,000 each, then getting across the world to our southern border and knowing to ask for asylum—it all sounded fishy to me.
So, now to this news article at KRGV News that is written in such a confusing way that I’ve had to search through it, excerpt sections and rearrange a few of them in the hopes that it will be understandable for readers.
Not sure here whether the writer is implying the Indians might be terrorists or that if the Indians get in so easily, terrorists will too.
HARLINGEN – A terrorist could be crossing the border right now.
Intelligence agents are focusing on that line between the U.S. and Mexico.
They are watching the people who come from India through the Valley.
The Indians say they’re trying to escape persecution in their home country.
How many are coming?
CHANNEL 5 NEWS asked for the numbers of Indian illegals detained in the last year from the U.S. Border Patrol.
During October and April of 2010, 730 Indians were caught. During the same time this year, more than 1100 have been captured. Nearly a 50 percent increase.
The Indians are briefly detained then released?
After being caught in the U.S. and taken to the detention center they are released many are taken to the Harlingen Bus Station.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS staked out the bus station to see, one night we saw a group of five Indian nationals, another night we saw a group of three, then a group of four. [Maybe an investigative journalist should get on the bus and see where they are going!–ed]
Immigration lawyer helps them get released?
Border Patrol agents caught Rakesh Kumar coming into the country with a group of illegals from Central America.
CHANNEL 5 NEWS talked to him at the Hidalgo County Jail.
He’s facing pornography charges for bringing porn on a memory card. He’s a Sikh from Punjab.
Prosecutors dropped all the charges against him.
Burhan Nomani represents illegals. He’s an immigration lawyer in Houston.
[….]
Nomani meets the Indians after they end up in a federal detention center. He’s represented more than 100 so far.
A business man, a taxi driver, lawyers and “hotel people” tell them how to get here?
A CBP spokesman wouldn’t tell us how the Indians are getting here. But the Indians would.
“The hotel people told us who to talk to to bring me here,” says Sandeep.
Rakesh tells CHANNEL 5 NEWS a Guatemalan Taxi driver told him how to find a smuggler.
They got Visas at New Delhi Airport in India to get int Guatemala, smugglers drove and walked them into Mexico and then the United States.
Once in the U.S. they sometimes have friends come to pick them up. Others have to get outside help.
One businessman CHANNEL 5 NEWS spoke with says he picks up Indians from the bus depot almost every night after their lawyers or family call him.
He says he sees about 20 people a week, he helps them book trips out of the Valley and their immigration cases go with them.
Maybe there are terrorists among them, maybe not?
Burhan Nomani says the government believes terrorists could easily walk among the legitimate asylum seekers. They won’t be caught until they create chaos.
But, you can rest assured that some poor schlub from the slums of Calcutta is checked out very very carefully as immigration agents go over their backgrounds very very carefully before dropping them at the bus station and sending them on to your town!
Despite that, the vast majority of Indians coming into the Valley are not terrorists. In fact, Immigration agents check backgrounds and connections of every detained person before they are released.
Give me a break! A border agent just puts in a call to the chief of police of Calcutta and receives a background report? We don’t even know their real names or where on earth they have been living, but just run them on over to the bus station and move-em out! They are someone else’s problem now!
By the way, according to the most recent annual report from the Office of Refugee Resettlement, 22,852 asylum cases were approved in 2008.
Update: Thanks to Gary for sending some film clips about the situation on the border,here is Greta Van Susteren interviewing a ranch owner, Dr. Michael Vickers and here is a fascinating story (video account) from KRGV-TV about how the Texas Border Volunteers work to protect private ranches from illegal aliens crossing their land.