Texas Department of Public Safety troopers continue to apprehend human smugglers and rescue unaccompanied minors at the border through Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security mission, Operation Lone Star.
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More than 2.75 million foreign nationals have illegally crossed the U.S. border so far this fiscal year.
That total represents nationwide encounters and apprehensions at ports of entry and between ports of entry, including at the northern and southwest borders. Combined, they total 2,756,646 after U.S. Customs and Border Protection released August data. The federal government’s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
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Amid debate in Congress over requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote, federal prosecutors in Alabama charged an illegal immigrant with obtaining a false identity in 2011 and voting unlawfully in multiple elections, including two presidential contests.
The Justice Department announced that the illegal immigrant from Guatemala agreed to a guilty plea after being charged with nine counts.
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In 2014, Vice President Joe Biden was dispatched to Guatemala by President Barack Obama to implore Latin American countries and their citizens to stop smuggling unaccompanied children into the United States.
“These smugglers routinely engage in physical and sexual abuse and extortion of these innocent, young women and men, by and large,” Biden said in a speech in Guatemala City.
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Over a million migrants hailing from Central America have crossed illegally into the U.S. since Vice President Kamala Harris was tapped to address the illegal immigration crisis stemming from that region.
Since the launch of her presidential campaign, Harris and her allies have vehemently pushed back on the narrative that she was appointed to serve as “border czar” for the White House, arguing that she was only given a limited role addressing the “root causes” of illegal migration stemming from Central America. However, roughly 1.7 million people from the Northern Triangle region, which includes El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, flooded into the U.S. after she was tasked with mitigating the crisis.
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Unless Congress and policymakers understand how weaponized migration is being used against the U.S., they won’t be able to solve the problem, foreign policy analysts warn.
More than 11 million foreign nationals, including gotaways, illegally entering the U.S. from all over the world is not an accident, military and foreign policy experts have warned. It’s called migrant warfare, The Center Square first reported. The European Commission, United Nations, NATO, and foreign policy institutes have identified hybrid warfare being used in Europe, including migrant warfare, to shape national and international policies.
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An undercover human trafficking operation in Florida found that 21 illegal foreign nationals were using papers given to them by the Department of Homeland Security to fly to major cities in the United States for free to engage in sex trafficking, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
“Federal policy drives illegal immigrant crime and victimization,” Judd said when announcing the results of a multi-agency undercover operation that led to the arrest of 228 people. Among them, 21 people arrested were in the country illegally, citizens of Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.
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A notice from last September by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that a total of 573 “noncitizens” from Guatemala, Venezuela, Honduras, and Mexico intended on traveling to Franklin, Nashville, Davidson County, and Murfreesboro following their release from DHS custody.
The notice, dated as the week ending September 16, 2023, is titled “Intended Destination of Noncitizens Processed at the Southwest Border.”
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As part of making their case to impeach U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Committee on Homeland Security Republicans identified more than a dozen parole programs they argue Mayorkas illegally created to circumvent laws established by Congress.
Texas, Florida and other states have sued over many of the programs that have allowed illegal border crossers to remain in the U.S., agreeing with the committee’s chairman, U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who is leading the charge for impeachment.
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A court in Massachusetts released an illegal immigrant charged with assault, battery and rape, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said on Monday.
ICE nabbed the 35-year-old Guatemalan national in Lynn, Massachusetts, on Nov. 21 after local police had arrested him on Nov. 15 and the Lynn District Court defied a federal detainer on the accused by releasing him from custody, the agency said. Border Patrol had arrested the Guatemalan man twice in 2006 for illegally entering the country before he chose to be voluntarily removed to Mexico.
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Miami-based agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, working with Border Patrol agents, arrested 18 criminal foreign nationals who they say pose a danger to their communities.
The four-day operation was conducted from June 26 to June 30 by officials working in ICE ERO Miami Stuart suboffice. The majority arrested are Guatemalan citizens, followed by citizens of Mexico, Honduras, Brazil and Saint Lucia.
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A multiagency operation led to the arrest of more than 200 people allegedly engaging in human trafficking in Polk County, Florida. More than half of the victims were smuggled into the U.S. illegally through the southern border, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Of the 24 victims identified as being trafficked, “14 of these females are illegally in this country,” Judd said. “Did you hear that? Did you hear clearly what I said?
“Fourteen of them are here illegally in the country. To me the bombshell is 13 of them are Cuban, one is Mexican, all of them came to us through the southern border.”
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A caravan of migrants hoping to enter the U.S. reached the Honduran-Guatemalan border over the weekend, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei’s office told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The caravan, which is largely composed of Venezuelans, arrived Sunday and had around 2,000 migrants when it began amassing at Guatemala’s border with Honduras in the towns of El Cinchado and Corinto, Giammattei’s spokesman Kevin Oliva told the DCNF.
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The Biden administration’s messaging on immigration has created “confusion” that human smugglers and traffickers have exploited, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.
Giammattei said smugglers know it’s easier to get people into the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration as a family, and that smugglers have used children, whether biological or not, in order to get their clients across the border. He mentioned the Biden administration’s effort to codify the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which prevents migrants brought to the U.S. as children from being immediately deported, as exacerbating the problem.
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On Tuesday, Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) applauded efforts by Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei to increase prison sentences for “coyote” human smugglers.
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Guatemala says it will detain and return a migrant caravan of around 2,000 that entered the country from Honduras on Thursday, the Associated Press reported Friday.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei vowed the caravan would be sent back to Honduras over concerns about coronavirus, the AP reported. The caravan overpowered Guatemalan border guards who reportedly made little attempt to control the situation, according to the AP.
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ICE Air Operations, the air transportation arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has so far rescued 466 U.S. citizens stranded in the Northern Triangle region of Central America amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Following orders of final removal, ICE deported Salvadoran and Honduran nationals back to their home countries on Friday. On the return leg of these flights, the agency took aboard U.S. citizens who were stranded due to COVID-19 lockdowns, according to an ICE press release.
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President Donald Trump says Guatemala has signed a deal with the U.S. that would restrict Central Americans from seeking asylum in the United States.
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by Reuters WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump said he is now considering a “ban,” tariffs and remittance fees after Guatemala decided to not move forward with a safe third country agreement that would have required the Central American country to take in more asylum seekers. “Guatemala … has decided to break the deal they had with us on signing a necessary Safe Third Agreement. We were ready to go,” Trump tweeted. “Now we are looking at the ‘BAN,’ Tariffs, Remittance Fees, or all of the above. Guatemala has not been good,” Trump wrote. Guatemala, which has been forming Caravans and sending large numbers of people, some with criminal records, to the United States, has decided to break the deal they had with us on signing a necessary Safe Third Agreement. We were ready to go. Now we are looking at the “BAN,”…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2019 ….Tariffs, Remittance Fees, or all of the above. Guatemala has not been good. Big U.S. taxpayer dollars going to them was cut off by me 9 months ago. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2019 It was not immediately clear what policies he was referring to. The…
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by Reuters WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales at the White House on Monday for talks on immigration and security, the White House said on Friday. Government sources from both countries have said Morales may sign an agreement with Trump on Monday declaring the Central American country a safe destination for asylum seekers, while five former Guatemalan officials have gone to court to block such a deal. Trump said last month the United States and Guatemala were close to reaching a “safe third country agreement” as part of his efforts to curb U.S.-bound migration from Central America. Under such an agreement, Guatemala would be obliged to process asylum claims from migrants who entered its territory en route to the United States. Migrants from Honduras and El Salvador heading to the U.S.-Mexican border overland usually cross into Mexico via Guatemala. The White House said in a statement Trump and Morales “will discuss ways to create a more robust relationship focused on addressing migration and security priorities.” “The two leaders will also discuss how Guatemala can build a stronger relationship with its Central American partners to expand economic growth, create jobs, and promote opportunities…
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Major differences have surfaced between the United States and Guatemala over a proposed agreement to block Central Americans from seeking asylum in the U.S., dashing the Trump administration’s hopes for a quick resolution of talks, according to an internal U.S. State Department report on the first full day of talks Thursday in Guatemala. A three-member State Department delegation traveled to Guatemala in search of approval of a seven-page draft White House agreement that would establish a “safe third country” protocol between the U.S. and Guatemala, as VOA first reported Thursday. Under the terms of the proposed deal, migrants fleeing persecution in El Salvador and Honduras would be forced to request asylum in Guatemala, a gateway to Mexico and the United States. In all but rare exceptions, those migrants who chose to continue north to the United States without first exploring their chances in Guatemala would be returned to their home country by U.S. immigration forces. The pending agreement with Guatemala, if signed, would be the first such agreement between the U.S. and a Latin American country in U.S. history. But the State Department readout on the first day of talks suggested that there had been a “complete misinterpretation” by…
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President Donald Trump claimed Sunday that Mexico “for many years” has not been cooperative to curb the surge of migrants traveling through it to reach the United States, but believes a new agreement will alleviate the problem. The president warned, however, that “if for some unknown reason” Mexico does not stanch the flow of Central American migrants heading north to the U.S., “we can always go back to our previous, very profitable” imposition of tariffs on Mexican exports sent to the United States. “But I don’t believe that will be necessary,” he added. A deal announced Friday calls for Mexico to dispatch 6,000 troops to its border with Guatemala to halt the flow of migrants, while the U.S. gained new authority to force asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their legal cases in the U.S. are pending. Trump said there is one particular provision of the pact that has yet to be disclosed but will be announced “at the appropriate time.” “There is now going to be great cooperation between Mexico & the USA, something that didn’t exist for decades,” he said on Twitter. “Now I have full confidence, especially after speaking to their President (Andrés Manuel López…
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by Jason Hopkins A poll by one of Guatemala’s largest newspapers found a startling number of its citizens expressed a desire to leave the country, with the U.S. being the destination of choice for most of them. A survey by Prensa Libre published on Thursday found that 39 percent of Guatemalans intend to leave the country. Of those who said they wanted to leave, 85 percent picked the U.S. as the country they hoped to land in. Results also showed how emigration to the U.S. has become such an integral part of their lives, with 57 percent of respondents saying they have friends or relatives already living in America. Prensa Libre, which is one of the most circulated newspapers in the country, polled 1,596 people between Jan. 22 and March 20 using electronic devices. The survey was done in conjunction with the Association for Research and Social Studies and Barometro de las Americas. Poll results found other eyebrow-raising answers from everyday Guatemalans. Despite the dire situation in the country, 75 percent of respondents expressed “little interest” in politics. Nearly 90 percent did not align themselves with any political party, and one-in-five Guatemalans said they would not be participating in…
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President Donald Trump on Friday once again threatened to close the entire U.S.-Mexico border and cut aid to Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador if Congress fails to give him money to fund the border wall. In a series of tweets, Trump also asked to change the “ridiculous immigration laws that our country is saddled with.” The comments come as the U.S. government enters the seventh day of a partial shutdown as a budget standoff remains between Trump, who wants $5 billion in wall funding, and Democratic lawmakers, who back a modest increase in overall border security funding but resolutely oppose a wall. Closing the U.S.-Mexican border would mean disrupting a $1.68 billion-a-day trade relationship between the two countries, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Immigrant advocates have called the move to seal the border “disgraceful.” Trump has declined to comment on whether he might accept less than $5 billion for wall funding. When asked Wednesday how long he thinks the shutdown will last, Trump told reporters, “Whatever it takes.” Democrats have blamed Trump for “plunging the country into chaos” adding that, weeks ago, Trump said he would be “proud” to “own” a shutdown over border wall funding.…
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The United States Constitution does contain a few references relative to immigration and naturalization as well as to persons seeking to enter the United States in contravention of its laws — whether violently or non-violently and whether singly or in the form of a human tsunami. In its Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, the Constitution specifically grants Congress the power “To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization….” By expressly allocating this capacity to Congress, the Constitution seeks to prevent the confusion which would inevitably result if an individual state could itself bestow U.S. citizenship upon a person not born within the boundaries of that — or any other — state. Construing Clause 4, the United States Supreme Court, in the 1892 case of Boyd v. Nebraska ex rel. Thayer, defined “naturalization” as “…the act of adopting a foreigner, and clothing him with the privileges of a native [U.S.] citizen.” In Clause 11 of that same Article I, Section 8, the Constitution authorizes Congress “To declare War…and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water….” Interpreting Clause 11, the High Court ruled in the 1795 case of Penhallow v. Doane that the war power of the United States government is…
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President Donald Trump says the U.S. “will now begin cutting off or substantially reducing” the amount of foreign aid given to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, saying they were “not able to do the job” of stopping migrants from leaving their countries and “coming illegally” to the U.S. His Twitter comments Monday came as a group of several thousand migrants, mostly from Honduras, spent Sunday night in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula as they continued their trek toward the United States and away from what they say is untenable violence and poverty at home. Trump said, “Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military thaI have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergency (sic). Must change laws! Two weeks ahead of nationwide congressional elections in the U.S., the U.S. leader, a Republican, laid the blame for the latest mass migration toward the southern U.S. border on opposition Democrats. “Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country…
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Guatemala is to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, President Jimmy Morales said Sunday, becoming the first leader to back US President Donald Trump’s controversial change of stance on the holy city. After speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Morales wrote to Guatemalans on his Facebook page that “one of the most important topics…
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