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'Catch and Release' policy lets 'Immigrants' roam U.S. freely
HARLINGEN, Texas â Several times a day, a chain-link gate rolls open and dozens of illegal immigrants stroll out of the U.S. Border Patrol station here, blinking into the hot Texas sun as they look for taxis to the bus station and a ticket out of town. Each holds a piece of paper that Spanish-speakers call a "permiso" â permission, courtesy of the U.S. government, to roam the country freely.Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, more than 118,000 undocumented migrants who were caught after sneaking over the nation's borders have walked right out of custody with a permiso in hand. They were from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil. But also Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen â among 35 countries of "special interest" because of alleged sponsorship or support of terrorism. These are the so-called OTM, or "Other Than Mexican," migrants too far from their homelands to be shipped right back. More than 70,000 have hit U.S. streets just since this past October... Illegal immigrants from Mexico and Canada typically choose to voluntarily depart and can be returned home almost immediately upon being caught. Those from other countries must undergo deportation proceedings and await flights to their nations. A growing number of those are freed with a notice-to-appear because of lack of holding space. Congress in the past two years funded 19,444 immigration detention beds nationally, says Manny Van Pelt, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. An extra 1,950 bed spaces were approved in May. The Border Patrol, as it checks apprehended entrants' names against terrorist watch lists and crime databases, contacts ICE's Office of Detention and Removal to see if there's holding space. Unless the entrant is a convict or on a watch list, the answer is often no â and migrants are cut loose. Migrants from terror-watch countries are vetted not only by Border Patrol agents and criminal database checks but also federal Joint Terrorism Task Force investigators, says Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. Authorities point out that a new "expedited removal" program, focusing on the quick return of non-Mexicans to their home countries, has resulted in 7,000 deportations. Still, word is out among migrants that if they can make it across the border, they might get walking papers. Homeland security officials say spotting would-be terrorists is the No. 1 priority of border guards. But veteran line officers note databases can't always detect whether a migrant is using a fake name. And while they're processing OTMs, other illegal entrants are getting by. Pakistani Farida Goolam Mahomed Ahmed was arrested last July at the McAllen, Texas, airport as she tried to board a plane to New York. She carried $7,300 in various currencies and a passport with pages missing. Agents later learned she waded across the Rio Grande. She was deported in March. In February, the reputed leader of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang was arrested after he crossed from Mexico into Texas. Ever Anibal Rivera Paz was found 100 miles north of the Rio Grande, hiding in the trunk of a car. He had escaped from a Honduran prison where he was charged with masterminding a deadly bus attack. He is jailed in Houston. Others who are caught, and then released, fail to show up for immigration hearings... ICE estimates a cumulative 465,000 undocumented immigrants â visa overstays, illegal entrants and others unlawfully in the States â have received final orders of removal but remain at-large. Posted by: Pappy 2005-07-16 |
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