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illegal immigration

Biden/Harris made empty promises to stop migrants in Panama — but the flood continues

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A sign at the end of the notorious Darien Gap in Panama — where 1.5 million migrants have traveled since 2021.Photo by LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images

From the New York Post

By Todd Bensman

On July 1, Panama’s new President José Raúl Mulino took office on an unprecedented promise to close a major route of illegal immigration — through which at least 1.5 million foreign nationals have poured through since 2021.

Mulino said he would close the infamous Darién Gap, a 70-mile roadless jungle wilderness that South American migrants traverse on their way north to the United States.

He secured a promise from the Biden-Harris administration to help accomplish this: money and possibly even planes to carry illegally arriving migrants back to their countries.

A map of the 70-mile route that migrants take on the Darien Gap while passing through Panama.

But nearly two months after the US pledged a “removal flights program” to support Panama, the aid is nowhere to be found and the immigrants, after sheltering in place at home or in Colombia to see if Panama might actually deport people, are starting to flow once again through the Darién Gap.

‘We need support’

“We’re waiting,” said a senior Panama government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the topic. “We are [ready] to do our part of the agreement but we need the resources. We don’t have the airplanes to move the big numbers we need to.”

The official said the lack of American follow-through is probably “political” but has become more urgent to counter a new wave of Venezuelans — long among the most numerous nationalities crossing through Panama — who are now fleeing a fresh round of political violence.

Panama wants to dramatically increase air expulsions of Venezuelans back to Colombia to “change their mindset” so that fewer will want to make the dangerous trek.

But the Panamanian official said his country can’t afford to go it alone much longer.

Migrants boarding a boat in Colombia to head to the Darien Gap.
Migrants boarding a boat in Colombia to head to the Darien Gap.CIS.ORG
A group of migrants sailing from Colombia to Panama.
A group of migrants sailing from Colombia to Panama.CIS.ORG
Migrants arriving in Panama.
Migrants arriving in Panama.CIS.ORG

“We understand that we need logistical support to reinforce the expulsion of migrants . . . so we can avoid the movement and the normal flow to the United States,” the official said. “We need to change the migration politics of the border of the United States so we can send a very clear message to the migrants.”

His comments follow a similar public nudge from Panama’s presidential palace.

“The ball is in their court; we have done everything we can do,” President Mulino said at an Aug. 9 press conference in Panama City, referring to the Biden-Harris White House. “The border is in Panama, not in Texas.”

Catch-&-release logic

The American delay in following through, given the latest Venezuela unrest — and also the paltry $6 million the White House reportedly offered Panama for air expulsions — is inexplicable, given that Panama’s newfound willingness to reduce US-bound immigration on its territory represents a golden opportunity for the administration.

Polling shows the border crisis figures large as a political liability for Harris.

But it is in keeping with a Biden-Harris administration that has worked overtime to increase illegal-border crossing.

Rather than discourage passage through the Darién Gap, the US worked with the previous Panamanian government to make it easier to get through.

Migrants walking along a jungle path while traveling from Colombia to Panama on May 9, 2024.
Migrants walking along a jungle path while traveling from Colombia to Panama on May 9, 2024.AP Photo/Ivan Valencia
Migrants riding a small boat on a river in Panama's Darien province on Oct. 6, 2023.
Migrants riding a small boat on a river in Panama’s Darien province on Oct. 6, 2023.AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File

In 2022, for instance, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pressured the Panamanian government to open a shorter sea and river route, built larger and new hospitality rest camps, and arranged for dozens of United Nations and nonprofit migrant advocacy groups to provide all manner of aid and assistance.

These moves induced hundreds of thousands more border crossers per year to make the trip.

As a direct result of Biden-Harris catch-and-release policies, the Darién Gap passage became a major factor in the worst mass migration crisis in US history, funneling millions of illegal immigrants north.

A woman carrying a child as she crosses the Acandi River in Colombia on Sept. 15, 2024.
A woman carrying a child as she crosses the Acandi River in Colombia on Sept. 15, 2024.AP Photo/Fernando Vergara
A migrant camp at the Reception Center for Migrant Care in Lajas Blanca, Panama on June 27, 2024.
A migrant camp at the Reception Center for Migrant Care in Lajas Blanca, Panama on June 27, 2024.Photo by MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images

Election pressure

Fewer than 20,000 economic immigrants per year ever passed through the Colombia-Panama passage before the Biden-Harris administration, yet 250,000 passed through it in 2022, 520,000 last year and a projected 800,000 by the end of 2024.

With the election looming, Biden did pressure Mexico to try to reduce the all-time-record border crossings of 10,000-to-14,000-a-day.

Panama's then-president-elect Jose Raul Mulino visiting the Reception Center for Migrant Care on June 28, 2024.
Panama’s then-president-elect Jose Raul Mulino visiting the Reception Center for Migrant Care on June 28, 2024.Photo by MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images

The outreach has helped ebb the tide slightly and avoided some of the more shocking pictures and videos from overwhelmed border checkpoints.

So why the delay with Panama?

Perhaps it’s because the border has been “solved” just enough for optics sake ahead of the election. But Kamala Harris has absolutely no intention of following through with tougher border policies if elected.

If Harris wins in November, she won’t have to unravel a commitment to actual deportations in Panama that neither she nor her progressive liberal base authentically support or want, and the Darién Gap superhighway that they support can remain wide open.

Todd Bensman, a senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, is the author of “Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History.” Follow his progress through the Dairen Gap and Panama at CIS.org.

 

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Daily Caller

Musk Reveals To Tucker Why He Thinks 2024 Will Be Last Election If Dems Win

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From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

 

By Nicole Silverio

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said Monday that he believes Democrats will eliminate swing states if they are re-elected in the 2024 election.

Musk said during an interview with Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson that Democrats will legalize the status of illegal immigrants, which will in turn allow them to become citizens and vote in future elections. He said that this scenario would turn the U.S. into a “single party country,” as the illegal immigrants voting in elections will largely back Democratic candidates.

“My prediction is if there’s another 4 years of a [Democrat] administration, they will legalize so many illegals that are there that the next election there won’t be any swing states,” Musk told Carlson. “And we’ll be a single party country just like California is a single party state. It’s a super majority Dem state in California.”

The tech mogul said there will not be another election if Republican nominee Donald Trump does not win in November, causing him to endorse and support the former president.

“My view is that if Trump doesn’t win this election, it’s the last election we’re gonna have,” Musk said. “That the Dem machine has been importing so many people, bringing in so many illegals … they’re transporting large numbers of illegals to swing states. If you look at the numbers, these are the numbers from the government website, so like from the Democrat administrative government website … and there are triple digit numbers of illegals to all the swing states and in some cases, it’s 700% in the last three years.”

Musk further criticized California’s new law banning local governments from requiring voter identification.

The D.C. Council passed the “Local Resident Voting Rights Amendment Act” in 2022 to allow non-citizens to cast ballots in local elections. House Democrats urged members in May to oppose a Republican-led bill to bar the city government from allowing illegal immigrants to vote in local elections.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper in September that several states, including swing states, have found “thousands of non-citizens” are registered to vote, warning these illegal votes could “determine the outcome of the [2024] election.” Trump and Johnson discussed drafting legislation to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in April, NBC News reported.

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illegal immigration

Bombshell report: ‘High risk noncitizens’ without IDs flying across U.S.

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From The Center Square

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Feds don’t know how many noncitizens were released into US without identification

Twenty-three years after Islamic terrorists used airplanes to conduct the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, the federal agency created to protect Americans from national security threats “cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country.”

The potentially high-risk noncitizens are being flown on domestic flights without identification, creating a public safety risk, according to the latest Office of Inspector General report assessing several federal agencies within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The OIG has repeatedly published reports identifying potential national security risks created by Biden-Harris policies identified within DHS and its subagencies.

In the latest redacted report that has “sensitive security information,” the OIG expressed concerns about Americans’ public safety to the administrators of the Transportation Security Administration, US Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Under current processes, CBP and ICE cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country. Additionally, TSA cannot ensure its vetting and screening procedures prevent high-risk noncitizens who may pose a threat to the flying public from boarding domestic flights.”

The report states the agencies didn’t assess risks to public safety by releasing non-citizens into the United States without identification and putting them on domestic flights.

The OIG requested data on the number of noncitizens without identification who were released into the United States from fiscal years 2021 through 2023. “Because immigration officers are not required to document whether a noncitizen presented identification in the databases,” the data the OIG obtained “may be incomplete.”

“Therefore, neither CBP nor ICE could determine how many of the millions of noncitizens seeking entry in the United States each year entered without identification and whose self-reported biographic information was accepted,” the report states. CBP and ICE officers interviewed by the OIG “acknowledged the risks of allowing noncitizens without identification into the country, yet neither CBP nor ICE conducted a comprehensive risk assessment for these noncitizens to assess the level of risk these individuals present and developed corresponding mitigation measures,” the report states.

One of the primary responsibilities of CBP and ICE is to verify noncitizens’ identities prior to seeking entry; TSA is responsible for screening everyone who boards domestic flights. The OIG audited them to determine to what extent CBP and ICE policies and procedures confirmed individual’s identities “for the documents TSA accepts for domestic travel and whether TSA ensures noncitizens traveling on domestic flights provide proof of identification consistent with all other domestic travelers.”

As Border Patrol officials have explained, the majority of illegal border crossers are not vetted and released with DHS papers. The OIG confirms this, stating CBP and ICE officers accept “self-reported biographical information, which they use to issue various immigration forms. Once in the United States, noncitizens can travel on domestic flights.”

The OIG also notes that noncitizens do not have TSA-acceptable identification but “are allowed to board domestic flights.” TSA requires them “to undergo vetting and additional screening,” which involves running their information through systems to validate information on DHS–issued immigration forms and conducting additional screening procedures like pat downs.

“TSA’s vetting and screening procedures do not eliminate the risk that noncitizens who may pose a threat to fellow passengers could board domestic flights,” the OIG report says.

It gets worse, the OIG says.

“Under current processes, CBP and ICE cannot ensure they are keeping high-risk noncitizens without identification from entering the country. Additionally, TSA cannot ensure its vetting and screening procedures prevent high-risk noncitizens who may pose a threat to the flying public from boarding domestic flights.”

The 37-page redacted report details the procedures that must be followed according to federal law and notes in bold: “CBP and ICE have policies and procedures for screening noncitizens, but neither component knows how many noncitizens without identification documents are released into the country.”

Security issues also exist with the CBP One app, which has been used to fast track over 813,000 inadmissible illegal foreign nationals into the country, The Center Square reported.

These issues are redacted. “Because of CBP’s and ICE’s process for inspecting and releasing noncitizens, TSA’s methods to screen for individuals who pose a threat would not necessarily prevent these individuals from boarding flights,” the OIG warns.

It also points out that it has released previous reports where its office “documented similar weaknesses in CBP’s screening processes that allowed high-risk individuals into the country,” including those on the terrorist watchlist.

It concludes, “If CBP and ICE continue to allow noncitizens – whose identities immigration officers cannot confirm – to enter the country, they may inadvertently increase national security risks.”

The agencies did not concur with the OIG’s findings. In response, the OIG, as prescribed by a DHS directive, gave them 90 days to respond and provide corrective action that would be taken as well as a target completion date for each recommendation.

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