Vice President Pence tours San Diego area border barrier
Meanwhile, caravan’s migrants climb border fence to protest US immigration rules stopping their entry
Two months ago, the federal government began work to replace a section of border wall in California, the first wall contract awarded in the Trump administration outside of eight prototypes that were built last year in San Diego.
This week, Vice President Mike Pence visited the site to check on the progress.
The original Calexico border wall was built in the 1990s out of recycled scraps of metal and old landing mat, CBP said in a statement in February, when work on the replacement began.
Pence acknowledged that the barrier at the Calexico border existed prior to Trump’s calls for a more massive wall but said the repairs, which will increase the height of the wall by several feet, underscores the need for stronger reinforcements everywhere.
“This is the beginning of keeping our promise to the American people that we’re going to build a wall,” Pence said.
Meanwhile, 100 miles away, migrants from the caravan-through-Mexico were struggling to get processed through a San Diego area port of entry.
About 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the first 50 of the roughly 200 asylum-seekers attempted to walk into the San Ysidro Port of Entry to officially begin the process of requesting safe haven, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
But several hours later, the status of the first wave of migrants to seek asylum, mostly women and children, was uncertain, according to the Union- Tribune. As darkness fell, the first group had not entered the U.S. facility to be processed, and leaders of the Pueblo Sin Fronteras Caravan made no announcements about their fate, the newspaper said.
The Border Patrol reported “several groups” of people in the caravan have entered the country illegally since Friday by climbing a dilapidated metal fence. It didn’t say how many.
BREAKING: Supporters of Migrant Caravan preparing to cross #USmexico border to seek asylum climb to the top of border fence. Stay w #NBC7 & @TLMD20 for complete coverage. Watch LIVE @ https://t.co/Zn9YGkme6g pic.twitter.com/E3IfuxiFWK
— Liberty Zabala (@LibertyNBC7SD) April 29, 2018
For some reason, the border officials seem prepared to be skeptical of requests for asylum.
US authorities have advised there may be delays in their ability to process such a large group of migrants and that some “may need to wait in Mexico as [border officials] work to process those already within our facilities”.
The group from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador arrived in Tijuana on buses over the past couple of days, and most of them said on Saturday that they intended to seek legal asylum in San Diego.
Death threats from local gangs, the murder of family members, retaliatory rape, and political persecution back home prompted them to flee, members of the group said.
But by Sunday morning, doubts were setting in after US immigration lawyers told the group of the hardships they could suffer if their asylum cases were not strong enough, including detention, deportation and long periods of forced separation from their families.
Perhaps I would be less wary of the claims these people need asylum if they didn’t wave flags from their countries of origin as they hopped our barrier. That act reveals the truth of what this caravan is: An invasion.
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“Perhaps I would be less wary of the claims these people need asylum if they didn’t wave flags from their countries of origin as they hopped our barrier. That act reveals the truth of what this caravan is: An invasion.”
Of course! No asylum-seeker from ANYWHERE else in hte world retains ANY emotional connection to the land of their birth.
Good thing these people employed such an impeccable tell-tale act to identify themselves as “invaders”…as they sought to be legally processed into our system.
BTW, where are the military assets mobilized to prevent this horror…???
As an immigrant myself I can tell you there’s absolutely no justification for what those invaders are doing.
We come here because our countries of origin are shitholes, as Trump allegedly and accurately described them. We come here and take advantage of the generosity of the American laws, so we have a moral duty to show respect and gratitude.
I find those flags offensive and I find their behavior unacceptable. Those people climbing the wall “in protest” should be photographed and denied entry on the spot with no regard to the supposed merits of their asylum claims. If they do not show respect and gratitude now, they never will.
Yes. The problem is clearly emigration reform, and the solution is either a Gaddafi sodomy or a Mandela necklace. Both are legal under the international social justice framework and UN commission.
I’ve known a LOT of Cuban refugees (the first generation kind) who are fiercely proud of their origins.
They fly the Cuban flag regularly, and it is not considered by anyone to be disrespectful to the U.S.
As I pointed out before, asylum-seekers are not “illegal aliens”. They are conforming to our laws and subjecting themselves to them.
If all this seems anti-climatic after all the “swarms of killer drones” chest-pounding and other hair-on-fire nonsense of the past weeks, that’s because it was never…
1. anything new, or
2. any kind of crisis.
The same things I’ve been saying for years now would work wonderfully to solve this whole matter. They are simple, should be uncontroversial to most thinkers, and could be strongly politically attractive.
Rags: If they are fleeing their countries and asking for asylum, then why fly the flags of those shithole countries?
Clearly, this is a big middle finger to President Trump and those who support his border control policies.
In our house, he have the Danish and Romanian flags for our heritage. But above them, and the only one we wave, is the American flag.
But, please…continue down this rabbit hole and keep on collecting those down votes. No post of mine would be complete without one of your comments, God bless you.
I second that sentiment!
Leslie, because they are not fleeing their nations, they’re fleeing the gangs, or the regime, or natural enemies. Your ancestors didn’t stop being Danish or Romanian just because they fled whatever it was that drove them here, so why should these people stop being Guatemalan or whatever? Most refugees and asylum seekers, at least when they first come here, keep their attachment to their homes and hope to be able to go back one day when things are better.
The only historical examples I can think of of refugees who discarded any connection to their old homes and came here intending never to go back were Jews, who were never citizens of wherever they came from, so when they left they didn’t look back.
“In our house, he have the Danish and Romanian flags for our heritage. But above them, and the only one we wave, is the American flag.”
How many generations back were your Danish refugee ancestors? How many generations back were your Romanian ancestors refugees? Or were they just immigrates?
I make it a point NOT to post on your stuff, Leslie. I find most of it boring (Leslie’s Kulifornia Report), and I know I’ll just generate an inordinate “click rate” if I do.
“If they are fleeing their countries and asking for asylum, then why fly the flags of those shithole countries?”
I’ve never, ever seen you hint the same question regarding Cubans…or any other refugees. Of course, the answer is simple; they felt an attachment to the nation of their birth, even while deploring what it has become. Not hard. But also not in tune with your T-rump narrative.
Clearly, a physical wall has never been enough, what we need are automated defenses such as tracking gun turrets, physically small drones, both surveillance and antipersonnel, passive devices such as mines, a few thousand semi bed mounted human cannons (for quick, inexpensive and dramanic returns). These for anyone who tries to sneak in. Those on top of the wall should be removed by snipers.
Those who try to use the front door should be treated with respect until they give us a reason to do otherwise. Taxpayers should no be paying to feed, house, or give medical care until they have been accepted for entry.
Standards for entry should be tight, generally limited to people who will be productive and likely to assimilate. Groups with excessively high reproductive rates entry should be allowed in numbers adjusted to lower their disruptive impact.
The bottom line is that entry to America is not a right and any costs that we incur should only be made by our choice, not by their choice.
Well I know a lot of Cuban refugees also, obviously. In fact I know many, many, many. A lot of them are first generation immigrants. (I am myself, first generation.)
Many of the Cubans I know are NOT true political refugees, or refugees at all, just people taking advantage. Some of them even defend what they left behind, something I find despicable.
I also know many from the “old guard”, and I have the utmost respect for most of them. They are the “real” Cuban refugees.
One thing I can tell you for sure. I am not aware that ANY of them came in here waving Cuban flags. If ANY of them did, that would not be right, not acceptable.
Don’t get me wrong.
There’s nothing wrong about keeping in touch with your roots. Nothing wrong with flying another flag BELOW the American flag. Nothing wrong with being proud of one’s origins and openly expressing that pride.
But for some things there are right times and right places. Sometimes you just need to show respect. Sometimes you have to show gratitude, and sometimes you need to be humble.
There is a Cuban saying: “Pedir limosna con escopeta”. It translates to something in the lines of “To ask for charity while pointing a shotgun”. That’s what most of these “caravan” people are doing, and it’s wrong. Any way you look at it.
Rags,show us you are committed by sponsoring a few refugee families, taking in as many as you can afford, covering all their expenses.
We are deficit spending, mortgaging our children’s and grandchildren’s future to pay for illegals and Muslims. I do not want to pay for them or to have subsequent generations to have to pay for them.
Show who I’m committed to what?
I thought you were supposed to be intelligent.
Obviously not.
But…totally apropos of YOUR bullshit…let’s see you go down an kill people along the border, Cass Sunstein’s stupid brother.
C’mon! Until the “swarms of killer drones” arrive, you can do your part with your tiny lil’ ‘gun’.
Rags, I spent decades engineering automation and robots. Drones are most certainly within my expertise. I am a decent marksman, but why be such when thousands, hundreds even millions of drones can be deployed to do the job better. Actually, it might be fun to integrate machine vision with automated high power guns.
maybe Mexico will decide to actually do something about their people invading us, but then as long as they are getting 69 billion USD transferred from America into their coffers by their illegals.
That is why we need to start taxing those transfers at at least 20%, maybe more, to pay for border enforcement.
POTUS mobilized the national guard. But if they can’t or won’t do anything to stop 200 known invaders at a known border crossing, what good are they going to do against of the unknown number of invaders along the entire border?
This “caravan” of people seeking asylum came from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. They safely made it all the way through Mexico, some 1,500 miles, without incident. Seems like Mexico is a safe place. Why the hell are they allowed to show up at my doorstep and wait inside when they safely made it all the way through my neighbors house. Seems like any sort of “moral obligation” rested with my neighbor, not me.
Time to invade Mexico.
Or,
time to withdraw as much aid as we give to all Central and South American countries (they’ll start pressuring each other to stop this);
tax remittances;
kill NAFTA.
Also, if you’re an American and have any brains, time to vote in your primaries. Primaries are the action is.
Georgia primary May 22nd.
I support Michael Williams for Governor because he wants to make the 287(g) program, which empowers local law enforcement to enforce immigration law, state-wide.
Support Josh McKoon for Secretary of State for his stellar, absolutely stellar efforts to prevent illegal aliens from getting the privileges of citizenship like drivers’ licenses and transparency in the Georgia Senate.
If you don’t vote in primaries, the establishment GOP wins, hands down.
Hit ’em where it hurts.
Far as I can tell catch and release is still in effect and all they need to do is wait us out. Adding 2 feet more of fence is an impotent act if the legal framework is not there to deal with this first probe of the invasion force. Sessions was supposed to send more judges to border areas to process the caught so they wouldn’t be released and evidently he hasn’t. Trump et al have had a month to prepare a response and all we see are tepid gestures. Everything Ann Coulter has said is right. Pretty disgusted.
This is a classic example of never letting a crisis go to waste. What do the American people see? A bunch of foreigners entering the US by climbing a tall fence while carrying and waving foreign flags. What does this look like? An invasion. And, the public is being told that because of existing law, most of these people will have to be allowed to enter the US and will be released into the general population. It is all the fault of the Congress. What people do not see, is the fact that this “invasion” only amounts to some 1000 people and that there are 13 MILLION illegal aliens, by conservative estimates, already in the US.
There is no wall to keep these people out and no funds to increase detention space as well as judicial orders which require the release of many of these people within 90 days, if a hearing can not be scheduled within that time. Thank you Republican Congress. By the way, it is only five months till the midterm elections.
This is the headstone for Trump’s presidency. He said catch and release was over, it’s not. What we need is our government to stand against our government and that won’t happen. We clearly don’t have people in place who can cope with a crisis.
Flooding the Voter Rolls in US and Greece
by Maria Polizoidou • April 30, 2018 at 5:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12227/voter-rolls-greece
This is not catch and release. It is the law, either statute or case law. The federal government CAN NOT hold many asylum seekers past 90 days, without a hearing. And, it is nearly impossible for the government to schedule a hearing within 90 days.
Again, this is not the fault of President D J Trump. It is the fault of the Congress which has failed to act on immigration matters for the last three decades and the liberal courts.
Some oif you go totally nuts over immigration issues. I can understand your frustration as the Congress has refused to deal with immigration problems and previous administrations have refused to enforce immigration law. But, these problems can not be corrected overnight. We are talking about only about 1000 people total, in this caravan and we have one almost every year. It really does not affect the 13 million illegal immigrants already in this country. And, we should expect the current POTUS to follow the law. We just endured 8 years of one who ignored the law and did whatever struck his fancy.
Relax and slow down. You will get5 a much more harmonious outcome.
Cattle prods. A little dab’l do’ya.
Clearly Mexico is either complicit or cannot control its own territory.
We need to patrol into Mexico if they’ve lost control.
Declare a no mans land 100 miles wide south of the existing border and test the latest and greatest automated anti personnel devices there. Israel should probably do the same for their borders. We could collaborate.
Perhaps Israel could deploy the technology to clean the whole mess, and then make those areas bastions of prosperity.
Why isn’t Border Patrol arresting the people they see hopping the fence?