Who would know best whether a border wall would be an effective means of border security? The men and women on the front line, of course.
In a new survey, Border Patrol agents overwhelmingly support President Trump’s border wall. They also support an end to the ridiculous “catch-and-release” policy.
Border Patrol agents say they can’t be much clearer: They want more walls along the U.S.-Mexico border, reports The Washington Times.
In a survey conducted by the National Border Patrol Council, the agents’ union, they overwhelmingly supported adding a “wall system” in strategic locations, embracing President Trump’s argument that it will boost their ability to nab or deter would-be illegal immigrants.
Agents also said they need the government to change the “catch and release” policy. They often have to immediately release illegal border crossers they arrest, giving them the chance to disappear into the shadows with the 11 million other illegal immigrants in the U.S.
The findings, shared with The Washington Times, appear to undercut the argument of congressional Democrats, who released a report last month concluding that line agents didn’t support Mr. Trump’s plans for a wall. The report was based on an internal tool used by Homeland Security to evaluate security gaps.The NBPC’s survey, of more than 600 agents in two of the Border Patrol’s busiest sectors, found just the opposite: A stunning 89 percent of line agents say a “wall system in strategic locations is necessary to securing the border.” Just 7 percent disagreed.
It really isn’t rocket science. Border walls work. Israel has cut compromises of its border to practically zero by building a formidable wall to keep terrorists out of Israel.
Brandon Judd, president of the NBPC, said that finding directly contradicts a March 22 report by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which looked at data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection — the Homeland Security Agency that oversees the Border Patrol — and concluded that agents didn’t want more fencing.
“There are many pieces to the border security puzzle and — contrary to the minority staff report — the survey clearly shows frontline Border Patrol Agents identify a wall system in strategic locations as a vital and necessary piece of the border security puzzle,” said Mr. Judd, who commissioned the survey.
Agents were even more adamant that the catch-and-release policy wasn’t working.
A staggering 95 percent of agents surveyed said the government’s inability to hold illegal immigrants while they await deportation serves as a magnet for still more illegal border crossers.
Under catch-and-release, many caught at the border are processed, given court dates and then released into the communities in the hope that they show up for legal proceedings about deportation. Many of them never show up and instead disappear into the shadows.
Catch-and-release is an embarrassingly ridiculous policy of Barack Hussein. It makes Americans look stupid, which was always a goal of the former president. May he end up in a prison cell for the rest of his life for all of the damage he has done to America.
The White House held a press briefing Monday calling for changes to curtail catch-and-release. One official said courts have imposed a 20-day limit on holding families that have jumped the border — a virtual guarantee that those illegal immigrants will be released.
“We can’t possibly get a removal order within three weeks, which means we have to release [them] within 20 days,” the official said.
Another official said migrants have learned to game the asylum system by claiming fears of being sent back to their home countries. More than 80 percent of those seeking asylum are granted initial admission to the U.S., giving them a foothold in the country while they await court dates that can be delayed for five years.
