Biden's speech does nothing to bridge America's divide. Just the opposite, actually. (op-ed)

Screenshot from YouTube clip of acceptance speech

Lawmakers warn that young illegal immigrant girls are ‘being raped’ as Biden border policies endanger more and more

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WASHINGTON, D.C.– House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), along with the congressional delegation, including some of the top Republican committees with jurisdiction over America’s southern international border recently traveled to a section of the U.S-Mexico border in Texas.

After their trip, the group of GOP lawmakers said that President Joe Biden’s policies are fueling a crisis at the southern border that endangers American citizens, puts the lives of unaccompanied children at risk, and fuels sex trafficking. 

The Republicans asserted that the Biden administration’s changes to the Trump-era administration’s border policies have incentivized illegal immigrants to make the dangerous journey to the United States and have made the cartels involved in human trafficking more money. McCarthy said in a statement:

“I came down here because I heard of the crisis. It’s more than a crisis. This is a human heartbreak. The sad part about all this is it didn’t have to happen. There’s not other way to call it than a Biden border crisis.”

Two GOP lawmakers addressed the Hispanic-American community in both English and Spanish, explaining that President Biden’s immigration policies are hurting Latinos. Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) stated:

“We need to join forces and send the message that we cannot allow what’s happening on the border because it’s our girls, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, the ones who are being raped.

Our girls are the children who are being trafficked. Child sex trafficking is one of the highest international crimes booming in this country.”

She added:

“In this country, you have to arrive legally. We must indeed reform the immigration system, without a doubt, but we should not enter this country illegally because our daughters and our families are part in danger during the journey. Also, the traffickers, the coyotes, are the ones who are making all the money.”

Salazar proceeded to urge the Hispanic-American community to “rise and send a message” to their representatives, regardless of which party they belong to and to say that what is happening at the border cannot continue. She said:

“We need to stop being pawns of the politicians in Washington and pawns of the traffickers who are trafficking with our children, our families, and our women.”

Rep. Carlos Jimenez (R-FL) added that by incentivizing people to cross in the country illegally, the Biden administration’s border policies are harming the country while also endangering the lives of the illegal immigrants who are making the “harrowing” journey. He said:

“I spoke to a family that told me it took them 22 days to come from Honduras. They were incentivized by the Biden administration rhetoric, by the change of policy. They said it was a harrowing trip. Many of them don’t make it.”

Addressing President Biden directly, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) said:

“Allow us an audience with you. You have been misled.

The policies that you have signed into effect are injuring the American citizens you serve and endangering the children of God who are making the trek to our southern border under incredibly dangerous circumstances.”

During their trip, the Republican delegation visited the El Paso Central Processing Center, noting that immigration officials held many unaccompanied illegal immigrant children. Rep. Jimenez stated:

“For me, what impressed me the most was the faces of the boys and girls, hundreds of them, who are here alone, unaccompanied. Later, when they are released into the country, we don’t know who they are going to be with.”

He added:

“You cannot check if they really are with relatives or someone who loves them or someone who really wants them for other things. This is the danger stemming from the Biden policies.”

Rep. Salazar added:

“We have come from a detention center were there are thousands and thousands of children from Central American and Mexico, unaccompanied children, five, six, and ten years of age. That cannot stand because this is exposing children to the worst that a child can be exposed to.”

Rep. Jimenez called on President Biden to “reverse” his immigration policies and restore some of the agreements the previous administration made with Latin American countries. He added:

“To make sure we disincentivize people from coming here in an illegal fashion.”

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Media, pundits silent as Biden administration illegally holds unaccompanied migrants children, CBP says

February 27th, 2021

Remember the media outrage when Customs and Border Patrol under the Trump administration held unaccompanied minor illegal alien children in holding facilities?

Of course, when Trump was president, they were referred to as “cages.”

Now, the exact same facilities are referred to as holding or “overflow” facilities and the media has been largely silent.

 

In fact, according to the CBP union, the Biden administration is illegally holding the children longer than legally allowed, according to the head of that union. Yet the media says nothing, because it’s “their guy” who’s doing it. 

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council told Breitbart Texas that as of last Monday, CBP held over 800 Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) in custody.

Legally, they are only permitted to be held for 72 hours, then must be released to other federal agencies. Judd said that over 212 were held in custody longer than what is legally permitted.

“Today, [White House Press Secretary] Jen Psaki said the Administration could not hold the children in other locations due to the Covid protocols including social distancing,” Judd told Breitbart.

“But what she didn’t tell the media was that the children in [Border Patrol’s} custody were being held in conditions that have nearly no way to social distance.”

Psaki’s remarks came after she was pressed by Fox News’ White House Correspondent Peter Doocy, who questioned the difference between the Trump era “cages” and the facilities in which the migrant children were now being held. Forbes tweeted a video of the exchange:

 

Judd made it clear that the Biden administration is keeping unaccompanied minors in Border Patrol custody for a longer period than law permits in conditions where it is not possible to maintain social distancing in order to maintain that ability in other federal facilities.

‘The hypocrisy from the left and the mainstream media shows they care nothing for the children they were using as pawns to attack President Trump,” Judd said.

“Today Jen Psaki said, ‘Customs and Border Control’ [not Customs and Border Protection] continue to transfer unaccompanied children to HHS’ Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR),” the Border Patrol union leader explained.

“She went to great lengths that due to the pandemic and social distancing, ORR only has capacity for a certain number of children.”

“What she didn’t explain is that the children that ORR doesn’t have the capacity to take are left in facilities far worse than those of HHS,” Judd continued.

“In fact, they are being held in the same locations they accused the Trump Administration of inhuman acts when they said he was holding ‘kids in cages.’”

 

One person who wasn’t happy when the Trump administration put children in detention facilities who was no less unhappy with the decision by the Biden administration is Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ocasio-Cortez slammed the decision by the Biden administration, saying:

“This is not okay, never has been okay, never will be okay—no matter the administration or party.”

 

The increase in apprehension of unaccompanied minors is causing problems for the Biden administration, clearly of its own doing.

Biden signaled prior to November’s election that it would be “doors wide open” for anyone wishing to enter the United States were he elected president.

Once that happened, the floodgates started to open.

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The number of Unaccompanied Alien Children illegally crossing the southern border is increasing every month, according to reports from CBP officials.

For example, in January 2021, Border Patrol officers apprehended 5,871 unaccompanied minors, an increase from the 4,995 apprehended in December 2020, while less than 3,100 were apprehended in January 2020.

Breitbart Texas said they reached out to CBP and the Border Patrol for confirmation of the number of migrants currently being held, and how long they are being held for. No official reply was received by Breitbart as of their publication date.

Criticism of the Biden administration came from all quarters.

The Washington Examiner reported that Linda Brandmiller, a Texas immigration lawyer slammed the administration’s action.

“It’s unnecessary, it’s costly, and it goes absolutely against everything [President] Biden promised he was going to do,” Brandmiller said. “It’s a step backward, is what it is, it’s a huge step backward.”

The outlet reported that dozens of migrant teenagers were interred at the facility on Monday because permanent holding facilities are dealing with lower capacity limits during the coronavirus pandemic, while a slew of unaccompanied children are attempting to cross the border.

However with limited exceptions, the selective outrage that blew up in 2019 when the Carrizo Springs temporary detention facility opened under the Trump administration, is nowhere to be found this time.

This is especially true on mainstream media outlets such as CNN, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and of course the late-night talking morons, Kimmel, Colbert, Fallon and Noah. The silence is deafening.

At that time for example, the senior policy director for the Children’s Defense Fund of Texas, Cheasty Anderson said, “This is a travesty and a crime against humanity. We must raise our voices and cry out with one voice today, tomorrow and everyday until this is over.”

In fact, that facility generated so much partisan selective outrage that employees of Wayfair, the online furniture retailer actually walked out of work in protest after it was revealed Wayfair had sold $200,000 in beds and other furniture to the facility.

“We’re walking out in protest of our leadership’s decision to sell to reprehensible concentration camps,’ said one employee at the time.

“We had hoped that raising awareness would be enough for them to do the right thing, but it wasn’t. We want to make it clear that this is not a political issue—it’s a humanitarian issue, and we will not back down.”

Unless it’s a Democrat that’s making the decisions. Then it’s no longer a humanitarian issue, just a partisan political one apparently.

However despite the criticism leveled at the facilities under the Trump administration, current Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Mark Weber noted that children placed in the facility receive good care, which has not changed with the change in administrations.

‘If we could find another way, that’d be great,” Weber said.

“On the flip side, these kids just come in, and they’re turned loose on the street—they end up being homeless kids.”

Still, there are some who were opposed to the facilities in 2019 and are still opposed today.

One such person is community activist Rosey Abuabara from San Antonio. She wonders if the reopening of the facility means that not much has changed with the approach between Trump and Biden.

“When I read they were opening again, I cried,” she said. “I consoled myself with the fact that it was considered the Cadillac of [migrant child] centers, but I don’t have any hope that Biden is going to make it better.”

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About The Author

Jenna Curren, Ed.D., is an assistant professor in criminal justice studies. As chair of a CJ advisory board, Jenna actively partners with members of the community to integrate current students into internships and prospective law enforcement careers. Prior to working in academics, Jenna held various custody and treatment positions and was a lieutenant for the CT Department of Correction. Throughout her tenure, she supervised men, women, youth and mental health offenders. A C.E.R.T and honor guard member, as well as a training officer, Jenna has 10 years of experience in the criminal justice and human services fields.

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