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After years of surging immigration from Central America, law enforcement in Texas Rio Grande Valley are finally seeing some relief, thanks in part to President Trumps strong rhetoric.

Words matter, said Christopher Sabatini, an expert in Latin American affairs at Columbia University in New York City.The rhetoric has mattered. There is a sense of fear that immigrant families, without legal status, without papers are going to be sent back down.

That fear prompted a dramatic change in behavior among illegal immigrants that few predicted. For three years, a flood of unaccompanied children, women and families made the hazardous trek north from Hondurans, El Salvador and Guatemala, through Mexico to the U.S. Border. Now they are not coming.

Were at a trickle, said Chris Cabrera, with the National Border Council. It hasnt stopped but its slowed considerably that were at a point where we have empty cells now.

SESSIONS: BORDER CROSSINGS DOWN 60 PERCENT DUE TO 'TRUMP'S STRONG LEADERSHIP'

That added bed space is allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold immigrants longer. Previously, Central American immigrants turned themselves in, claimed asylum and were released.

In most cases, the Obama Administration accommodated the claim by placing the applicant on a court docket with a two- to three-year waiting list. In the meantime, most illegal immigrants were free to work while living with relatives. Some set down roots by getting married or having American-born children.

President Trump promised to end that catch and release policy, saying anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country.

Apparently that message got through thousands of miles away.

Since January, we have seen a significant decrease in traffic to the point were averaging about 150 alien apprehensions a day, down from as many as 1,000 a day, according to Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz of the Rio Grande Border Patrol Sector. A big part of the decrease, I think, has to do with a lot of the discussion about the buildup of infrastructure on the southwest border,more agents along the border and some of the message making its way down to those host countries.

DHS' KELLY DEFENDS MORE ICE, BORDER HIRES; SAYS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS MUST BE 'DEALT WITH'

And with traffic down,more enforcement means higher smuggling costs, detained immigrants tell the Border Patrol.

If you think that you are not going to be able to stay with relatives, you are not going to spend $8 to $9,000 to cross just to get caught and sent back, said Border Patrol agent Marlene Castro while overlooking the once busy Rio Grande.

Border Patrol numbers tell the story. Since the election, apprehensions have fallen every month, from 15,000 families and unaccompanied minors in November to just over 1,000 today.

Cabrera believes media reports surrounding ICE arrests, the proposed wall and the presidents vows to enforce the law scared many illegal immigrants into staying home.

The media has a big say in what happens, he said. They put that out there and people come or dont come, depending on what they say.

The same holds true, he said, of President Obama. Though his administration also vowed to deport most illegal immigrants and even produced an expensive ad campaign in Central America urging residents to stay home, the headlines told a different story of immigrants getting temporary amnesty and freedom from custody for those claiming asylum. By contrast, President Trump hasnt actually done much.

Without any real concrete changes in policies, without any real tightening of the border wall, without any of the $1.5 billion worth of increased funding yet for Homeland Security and the border guard, we are seeing the numbers that it is having an effect on peoples calculation of the risk of crossing the border illegally, said Sabatini.

The administration has elaborate plans to strengthen both the border and the court system to diminish the pull factors in illegal immigration.

So far, the Department of Justice has reassigned 25 judges from the interior to the border to help streamline the process and keep immigrants in custody until their asylum claims are completed.

Read the original here:
Trump's tough immigration rhetoric slows illegal border crossings: 'We're at a trickle' - Fox News

Published: Thu, May 11th 2017 @ 10:58 am EDT by Jeremy Beck

Sabrina Tavernise's May8 story in the New York Times lives up to its promise to share the stories of "people whose voices have rarely been heard in the long debate over how to fix the nations immigration system."

J.D. Ma, Stanley Salazar, Biplab Pal, andHongling Zhouare all American citizens. None were born here. At least three of them typically vote for the Democratic candidate. One lived in the country illegally before eventually getting a green card. All of them opposed bills to make their Maryland communities sanctuary cities:

"In passionate testimony before county legislators, and in tense debates with liberal neighbors born in the United States, legal immigrants argued that offering sanctuary to people who came to the country illegally devalued their own past struggles to gain citizenship."

"Surprise," says the headline. "Stunned," were supporters of the sanctuary policies, Tavernise reports:

"Democrats oppose deportation on the grounds that it breaks up families, Mr. Ma said. But so do other aspects of the justice system -- without setting off the same outcry.

'If a single mother commits a crime and has to go to jail,' he said, 'we don't say, 'Oh, we can't do that, because it will break her family.'

This perspective baffled the sanctuary bills supporters."

Why? Immigrants have at least as much at stake in a credible immigration policy as their fellow Americans who were born here. Immigration policy continues to effect immigrants long after they arrive. In fact, immigrants and their children are often the first to feel the effects of the next wave.

Stanley Salazar would like to see more ways for illegal aliens to gain legal status, but he also worries about his daughters. Tavernise reports:

"The public school population has risen sharply, and the county recently raised property taxes by about 9 percent to keep up. The share of students enrolled in classes for English learners rose to14.6percent of the school population this year, up from11.2 percent in 2009, andaccounted for more than half the total increase of studentsin the school system this year

But that burden is borne unequally, he said. The high school Mr. Salazar's daughters would attend, where more than 40 percent of students receive subsidized lunch, is ranked far below one in affluent Bethesda, where fewer than 5 percent qualify."

Record levels of immigration have significantly contributed to the number of low-income students in public schools in communities like Salazar's. Speaking on a Center for Immigration Studies panel about immigration and education, the opinion journalist ReihanSalam says policy makers should ask these questions upfront:

"Are we going to be able to successfully integrate folks? And also, are we going to be able to have create the resources the fiscal resources necessary to devote the resources we need in order to help integrate the existing immigrant and second-generate populations into the country?"

Immigration is a regulated process, the parameters and management of which reflect a nation's priorities and values. But to many people, immigration has become a value in and of itself, like love or justice. TheNew York Timeseditorial board, for instance, frames the immigration debate inbinary terms:welcoming v. unwelcoming, inclusive v. exclusive, pro-immigrant v. anti-immigrant. There is no room for Ma, Salazar, Pal, or Zhou within their paradigm.

Reducing a complex policy debate into a battle of good vs. evil has destructive consequences for our civil discourse. According to the Times' story, some of the immigrants who spoke against sanctuary cities were called "Trump Terrorists."

The four Americans profiled have nuanced and sometimes conflicting views about what immigration policy should look like. Some of them would appear to support at least some of the bi-partisanrecommendations from the Jordan Commission. They may oppose other recommendations. But they all express views that defy over-simplistic labelling. Kudos to Tavernise and the Times for sharing their stories and giving them a voice. JEREMY BECK is the Director of the Media Standards Project for NumbersUSA

Originally posted here:
Immigrants oppose illegal immigration; native-born Americans shocked - NumbersUSA (blog)

Amy Phillips, Producer, 22News Investigative Team Published: May 12, 2017, 7:10 am Updated: May 12, 2017, 8:43 am

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - The debate over immigration and sanctuary cities has continued to heat up across the country in recent months.

The stakes are high for undocumented immigrants, and the cities where they live. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January that threatened to strip federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities. A federal judge recently blocked that order, but Trump has vowed to take the battle all the way to the Supreme Court.

Should an undocumented immigrant be deported based solely on their immigration status? The leaders of sanctuary cities in western Massachusetts say no, but not everyone agrees with them.

The 22News I-Team discovers how the fight over sanctuary cities could impact communities in western Massachusetts. Watch the report on SANCTUARY CITIES, Tuesday, May 16 on 22News at 6pm.

The rest is here:
The impact of illegal immigration and sanctuary cities in Massachusetts - wwlp.com

Federal authorities have canceled the temporary deferred status of an illegal immigrant who is the face of so-called dreamers in the Atlanta area, opening the door to her possible deportation.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement stripped Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections from Jessica Colotl, a 28-year-old Mexican national, because sheadmitted to making a false statement to law enforcement following an arrest in 2010. A government lawyer asked an immigration judge to issue a deportation orderon May 3, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

ICE confirmed Wednesday that Colotls case falls within with government policy not to offer protected status to certain categories of illegal immigrants. Officials have canceled DACA status for about 1,500 people since the start of the program in 2012 because of criminality or gang affiliation concerns, agency spokesman Bryan Cox said in a statement.

Deferred action does not, in any way, prevent (the Department of Homeland Security) from moving forward with execution of a removal order, Cox added. (RELATED:Candidate Trump Promised To Terminate DACA. President Trump Says DREAMers Should Rest Easy)

Colotl was arrested in 2010 and charged with impeding traffic and driving without a license on the campus of Kennesaw State University, where she was studying at the time. Her arrest sparked a political debate over illegal immigration when the school revealed it was charging her in-state tuition. She later became a vocal proponent of immigration reform and a paralegal at Kuck Immigration Partners LLC, an Atlanta law firm specializing in deportation defenses.

Colotl signed a document in 2011 admitting she gave Cobb County law enforcement officers a false home address, for which she was charged with a felony. Although the case was eventually dismissed, Colotls confession was sufficient cause to remove DACA status, according to ICE.

Ms. Colotl was subsequently allowed to enter a diversionary program by local authorities, Cox said. However, under federal law her guilty plea is considered a felony conviction for immigration purposes.

Colotl is challenging ICEs decision in federal district court in Atlanta. Her lawsuit accuses the government of using her as a test case to revoke DACA, exceeding its discretionary authority in an arbitrary and capricious manner, reports the Journal-Constitution.

It is completely outrageous, Colotl said.On Monday when I first found out about this, I felt shock because I didnt know this could potentially happen.

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Feds Strip Illegal Immigrant Woman In Atlanta Of DACA Status | The ... - The Daily Caller

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Moises Eliseo Rodriguez Ayala, 25, is accused of killing his sister-in-law, 23-year-old Zuleika Hernandez, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Houston Police found Hernandez on April 24, three days after she was last seen entering her home when witnesses say they saw a truck leaving that tied Ayala to the crime scene.

Investigators believe that a struggle took place between Hernandez and her attacker in multiple rooms throughout the house before her attacker beat her to death with a board, KHOU-CBS reported.

Ayala reportedly gave police a statement of confession in which he allegedly admitted to not only killing Hernandez, but also stealing property that belonged to the couple so that he could sell it.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Breitbart Texas that Ayala, from El Salvador, is also an illegal immigrant and was previously deported in 2012.

On May 9, officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed an immigration detainer with Harris County (Texas) Sherriffs Office on Moises Eliseo Rodriguez Ayala, 25, from El Salvador, following his arrest on criminal charges. ICE deported Moises Eliseo Rodriguez Ayala in July 2012, ICE said in a statement to Breitbart Texas.

Ayalas Brother, Antonio Rodriguez Ayala, was detained in March by ICE, an event that prosecutors allege led to the murder.

Antonio Rodriguez Ayala entered ICE custody March 29. An immigration judge granted him bond, and he was released from ICE custody April 28 after posting bond, ICE said in their statement to Breitbart Texas.

The vehicle had a sign on the tail gate Antonio Ayala Roofing, damage to the hood and a large sticker on the rear window resembling an ElSalvador flag with the numbers 503 on it, according to a statement from Houston Police.

While the numbers 503 represent El Salvadors international calling code, they also represent Mara 503, a gang that is directly related to Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13.

Neither prosecutors nor investigators have stated that there is any connection between Ayala and his brother to this gang as of now.

Ryan Saavedra is a contributor for Breitbart Texas and can be found on Twitter at@RealSaavedra.

Read more from the original source:
Illegal Immigrant Charged in Murder of Texas Woman - Breitbart - Breitbart News