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Border Patrol: Agents Have Been Given Orders To Release Any Illegals That They Catch If They State They Have Been Here For Certain Period Of Time

By Louis Babcock
Published on: 10:02 PST, Feb 4, 2016

Border Patrol union president, Brandon Judd, spoke in front of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security on Thursday in which he talks about the orders that Border Patrol agents have been forced to follow. According to Judd, President Obama has given an order that Border Patrol agents must release any illegal immigrant that is apprehended if the immigrant tells the agent that they have been in the country since January 2014.

“Simply put the new policy makes mandatory the release — without a [Notice to Appear] of any person arrested by the Border Patrol for being in the country illegally, as long as they don’t have a previous felony arrest and conviction and as long as they claim to been continuously in the United States since January of 2014. The operative word in this policy is ‘claim. The policy does not require the person to prove they’ve been here, which is the same burden placed on them during deportation — instead it simply requires them to claim to have been here since January of 2014. Not only do we release these individuals — that by law are subject to removal proceedings — we do it without any means of tracking their whereabouts.”

The House Subcommittee convened this investigation due to an increase in the numbers of illegal immigrants coming into the United States from Mexico. During his testimony, Judd relates that he feels like the immigration laws are pointless due to the Border Patrol having no authority to do the job they have been hired to do.

Prior to this new policy set forth by President Obama, Border Patrol agents were given a protocol that has been referred to as “catch and release.” This “catch and release” edict allowed Border Patrol agents to issue a Notice To Appear order to any of the illegals that they apprehended. According to Judd, statistics showed that up to 40 percent of illegals that were given an NTA order never showed up. It is believed that the new policy set forth by President Obama was put in place due to the high percentage of illegals that willfully disobeyed the order to appear. The high percentage was seen as an embarrassment so they just eliminated the NTA’s.

Along with the new policy of releasing illegal immigrants who claim they have been in the United States for two years, Border Patrol agents are prohibited from asking questions that would be standard to ask during the course of their investigation. According to Judd’s testimony, Border Patrol agents have been told that they cannot ask any questions that would compel an illegal immigrant to state what their purpose is for coming into the United States. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security also learned today that Border Patrol agents believe, and fear, they will be fired if they try and ask an illegal immigrant why they have come here.

Representative Raul Labrador wanted to make sure he was clear in what he was hearing from Judd. Labrador asked Judd point blank, “so for wanting to enforce the law that is in the books, they are going to be terminated from their jobs?” Judd replied simply with “absolutely.”

Judd states that no Border Patrol agents have been fired from his group because they follow the orders that have been put in place by President Obama.

What are your thoughts on the new directives that Border Patrol agents are forced to work within?

[Image Via AP Photo/Eric Gay]

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