The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly transporting
illegal immigrants from the Mexican border to Phoenix and releasing them
without proper processing or issuing court appearance documents, Border
Patrol sources tell Judicial Watch. The government classifies them as
Other Than Mexican (OTM) and this week around 35 were transferred 116
miles north from Tucson to a Phoenix bus station where they went their
separate way. Judicial Watch was present when one of the white vans
carrying a group of OTMs arrived at the Phoenix Greyhound station on
Buckeye Road.
The
OTMs are from Honduras, Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala and Border
Patrol officials say this week’s batch was in custody for a couple of
days and ordered to call family members in the U.S. so they could
purchase a bus ticket for their upcoming trip from Phoenix. Authorities
didn’t bother checking the identity of the U.S. relatives or if they’re
in the country legally, according to a Border Patrol official directly
involved in the matter. American taxpayers pick up the fare for those
who claim to have a “credible fear,” Border Patrol sources told JW. None
of the OTMs were issued official court appearance documents, but were
told to “promise” they’d show up for a hearing when notified, said
federal agents with firsthand knowledge of the operation.
A security company contracted by the U.S. government is driving the
OTMs from the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector where they were in custody
to Phoenix, sources said. The firm is called G4S
and claims to be the world’s leading security solutions group with
operations in more than 100 countries and 610,000 employees. G4S has
more than 50,000 employees in the U.S. and its domestic headquarters is
in Jupiter, Florida. Judicial Watch is filing a number of public records
requests to get more information involving the arrangement between G4S
and the government, specifically the transport of illegal immigrants
from the Mexican border to other parts of the country. The photo
accompanying this story shows the uniformed G4S guard that transported
the OTMs this week from Tucson to Phoenix.
Outraged Border Patrol agents and supervisors on the front lines say
illegal immigrants are being released in droves because there’s no room
to keep them in detention. “They’re telling us to put them on a bus and
let them go,” said one law enforcement official in Arizona. “Just move
those bodies across the country.” Officially, DHS denies this is
occurring and in fact earlier this year U.S. Customs and Border
Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske blasted Border Patrol union
officials for denouncing this dangerous catch-and-release policy.
Kerlikowske’s scolding came in response to the congressional testimony of
Bandon Judd, chief of the National Border Patrol Council, the labor
union that represents line agents. Judd told lawmakers on the House
Judiciary Committee that illegal immigrants without serious criminal
convictions can be released immediately and disappear into the shadows.
Kerlikowske shot back, telling
a separate congressional committee: “I would not stand by if the Border
Patrol was — releasing people without going through all of the
formalities.”
Yet, that’s exactly what’s occurring. This report, part of an ongoing
Judicial Watch investigation into the security risks along the southern
border, features only a snippet of a much broader crisis in which
illegal aliens are being released and vanishing into unsuspecting
American communities. The Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the
National Interest addressed this issue just a few weeks ago in a hearing
called Declining Deportations and Increasing Criminal Alien Releases – The Lawless Immigration Policies of the Obama Administration.
Judd, the Border Patrol Union chief, delivered alarming figures at the
hearing. He estimated that about 80% of apprehended illegal immigrants
are released into the United States. This includes unaccompanied minors
who are escorted to their final destination, family units and those who
claim to have a credible fear of persecution in their native country.
Single males that aren’t actually seen crossing into the U.S. by Border
Patrol agents are released if they claim to have been in the country
since 2014, Judd added.
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