The White House is aggressively stepping up its fight for tighter border enforcement, blaming former President Obama’s “catch-and-release” policies and legal loopholes promoted by congressional Democrats for the surge in fraudulent asylum claims and youth smuggling into the U.S.
“When you want to talk about what’s cruel and what’s inhumane, we should talk about the consequence of loopholes that make it almost impossible to remove individuals showing up in our country illegally, therefore driving massive numbers to take the dangerous trek, leading to more instability in sending countries; leading to more instability in receiving communities; and contributing to the rise of very dangerous transnational smuggling organizations,” said senior White House advisor Stephen Miller.
As part of its battle, the White House cited new and disturbing numbers that detail the surge in illegal immigration and asylum claims that they say are the result of the wink and nod policies of the Obama era loopholes. Among them:
- From 2008 to 2016, asylum requests surged 1,700 percent. Just 20 percent were granted.
- Illegal entry attempts have tripled as immigrants have tried to get into the U.S. before new effort to stop them can be implemented.
- Apprehensions of illegal immigrants are up 50,000 for the second month in a row.
- There has been a 315 percent one-year increase in illegals using children to pose as family units to gain entry into the country.