Nielsen announces deal with Mexico to overhaul asylum process, combat 'catch and release'

foxnews.com/politics ^ | 12/21/18 | Adam Shaw

[a little elbow grease]

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced Thursday that the U.S. has secured an agreement with Mexico so that immigrants claiming asylum will be returned to Mexico as their cases are processed -- a bid to end the practice known as “catch-and-release.”

Nielsen made the announcement Thursday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, telling the committee that the goal is to crack down on migrants falsely claiming asylum, only to be released into the U.S. and escape the radar of immigration officials.

“But by the time the courts have issued their orders, most of these illegal aliens have vanished within our country for good,” she said. “They have escaped the law, undermined the system, and made it harder for us to actually help real asylum-seekers by flooding the system with false claims.”

Nielsen said the goal is to “not ‘catch and release’ but ‘catch and detain’ -- or under our new protocols, ‘catch and remain in Mexico.’”

To combat this, she said those entering the U.S. illegally or without proper documentation would be returned to Mexico as their case is considered.

“They will not be able to disappear into the United States,” she said. “They will have to wait for approval to come into the United States. If they are granted asylum by a U.S. judge, they will be welcomed into America. If they are not, they will be removed to their home countries.”

She said that the Mexican government has pledged to provide migrants with humanitarian visas to stay and work in Mexico as they wait for a decision from the U.S. Migrants will also have access to attorneys and to the U.S for court hearings. She said all actions were in line with international law.

[a little elbow grease]

This seems to be an improvement to an absurd situation.

"All prior efforts to ensure border security — sanctions against employers, threats to cut off foreign aid to Mexico and Central America, and talk of tamper-proof identity cards — have failed.

Instead, amnesties, expanded entitlements and hundreds of sanctuary jurisdictions offer incentives for waves of undocumented immigrants.

THE REASON A SECURE BORDER WALL HAS NOT BEEN - AND MAY NOT BE - BUILT IS NOT APPREHENSION THAT IT WOULD NOT WORK, BUT RATHER REAL FEAR THAT IT WOULD WORK ONLY TOO WELL." -- Victor Davis Hanson

[Caipirabob]

Quite frankly this is brilliant. We'll see how it works in practice but it's hardly promising to be subjected to torillas and beans in the Mexican desert as opposed to the Ritz grade care they receive here with the additional opportunity to simply "disappear".

May discourage some.

[DugwayDuke]

Perhaps, but we won’t know if this is constitutional until the Ninth Circuit fully analyzes these efforts.

[Savage Beast]

What the U.S. and Mexico need is a Marshall Plan for Mexico:

The U.S.A.should withhold foreign aid money from nations that hate America, use the money to build a strong, free market economy in Mexico, and assist Mexico in freeing itself from drug cartels, crime, and violence.

Mexico should assist the U.S.A. in preventing Mexicans from entering the U.S.A. illegally and returning illegal Mexican immigrants from the U.S.A. to Mexico.

The U.S.A. and Mexico should combine forces to prevent illegal immigrants from entering either Mexico or the U.S.A.

[Redwood71]

” the goal is to crack down on migrants falsely claiming asylum, only to be released into the U.S....”

This has nothing to do with asylum. These people are trying to get into the US for the money. They are currently standing in a country, Mexico, that has an asylum program. Problem is they don’t have all “the warm fuzzies” the US can provide (or be stolen). So they are not choosing asylum, they are trying to move on up. That is not asylum, that is cultivated upgrading, not sanctuary.

If Neilson wants to do something right, make them use the Mexican asylum they have at their disposal right now. Then they don’t need ours as they have it in the true sense of the program. If they enter US soil, they are not trying for asylum, they are trespassing and have no case to be considered. They need to be deported back to the country they left where asylum was available and we are not awarding them a sanctuary here but giving it back to them in Mexico. They don’t need ours if they already have it.

rwood