CBP Commissioner: Current Law Is 'Inviting and Incentivizing' Caravans
Kevin McAleenan is the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (Photo: Screen capture/C-SPAN)
(CNSNews.com) - Kevin McAleenan, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told CNN's Chris Cuomo Monday night that the current caravan situation is far more challenging than any that have gone before:
"First let me just comment on the caravan," McAleenan told Cuomo:
"First let me just comment on the caravan," McAleenan told Cuomo:
This is different phenomenon. A large caravan crossing with violence across two international borders, primarily adult male. Not like the prior caravans last spring and the year before.
This is a different phenomenon. Again, they used force against Mexican police. They used force to try to enter the country yesterday. This is a different group.
Also the size, as you noted. We have not seen caravans come together at this scope and size to have 8,500 people in one Mexican state at the same time intending to be a cohesive group to approach the border. That's new, that's different. And that's a challenge.
In terms of the structure, the incoming Congress is really going to have to grapple with the fact that the legal framework that we maintain is inviting and incentivizing this kind of challenge, this kind of behavior.
Alongside the these 8,500 people we have in Baja, California, over the last five-and-a-half weeks since this group formed, we've seen over 60,000 people either cross our border illegally, 85 percent of them, or arrive at our ports of entry and claim asylum lawfully.
That's a massive flow.
And they know that they are going to be released into the United States if they make an asylum claim, to await a court proceeding that could be years out. Congress needs to face a reality of that. And in that process, they are paying smugglers, they're putting themselves and their children at risk. And it's a dynamic that's really not sustainable or safe for anyone. We have vulnerable people in the hands of violent criminals throughout the cycle, and that's not a good place to be.
McAleenan said the situation that developed in Tijuana on Sunday involved "large group" attempts to breach the border, both at the San Ysidro port of entry and at "multiple points across almost a two-mile stretch of our border over the international border fence and through the Tijuana river channel. That was a dynamic and dangerous situation. Our border patrol agents and CBP officers responded with professionalism and effectively resolved it without serious injury on either side of the border."
https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/cbp-commissioner-current-law-inviting-and-incentivizing-caravans
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