In the latest House Republican criticism of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership, Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) sent an letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano on Wednesday expressing concern over whether a surge of immigrants at the US-Mexico border were exploiting "credible fear" claims for asylum in order to slip into the United States and remain there. The letter comes after an August 11 Fox News report said that as many as 200 Mexican immigrants were being granted entry to the US at the San Diego border by reciting a handful of stock phrases indicating they faced a credible fear of persecution from drug cartels back home.
In his letter, Goodlatte cites that report in asserting that a "recent surge in foreign nationals, largely from Mexico" who were seeking asylum at US ports of entry was "overwhelming Border Patrol agents in San Diego". Last week, DHS officials said the increase in asylum petitions was overstated in the Fox article, and soon afterward released statistics indicating that at the San Diego port of entry, an average of only 30 people per day were filing for asylum. Those same statistics also indicated that credible fear requests had more than doubled over the last three years. But DHS officials also told the Associated Press that asylum requests from Mexicans, in particular, hadn't shown a marked increase. In fact, they're probably Central Americans. In July, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Associate Director Joseph Langlois told the Associated Press that about two-thirds of "credible fear" claims come from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
Goodlatte doesn't think they should be released from detention while their credible-fear asylum requests are reviewed. In his letter, the House Judiciary Chairman cited low court-appearance rates among asylum-seekers who are released by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on parole as evidence of a scheme. "As reported by the press," he wrote, "Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sources indicate that addresses provided to authorities by aliens who claim credible fear are often fake...To make matters worse, according to information provided to me by ICE, there are approximately 500,000 aliens who remain in the US despite final orders of removal".
An ICE representative told the Latin Times that the agency typically only releases asylum-seekers on parole if they have a clear way to find them if they try to disappear - through family who are US citizens or permanent residents, for example - and said it tracks parolees by fitting them with ankle bracelets or requiring them to check in periodically with ICE offices. But Goodlatte thinks this isn't enough. "Most [claimants] are likely being released into the US," he wrote, "pending further proceedings before Immigration judges as opposed to being detained as required by law". As of the time of publication, the ICE had not responded to requests for data on what percentage of credible fear asylum-seekers are released from detention.
Goodlatte also accused the DHS of violating the law in adopting a policy directive issued by then-ICE Director John Morton in 2010 in response to a huge backlog in detention centers which expanded the ICE's powers to release credible fear asylum seekers who are deemed not to be a danger to society.
"Once again," Goodlatte wrote, "the Administration has chosen to turn the immigration enforcement switch off in a manner contrary to the intent of Congress, by simply enforcing the immigration laws when, where and as it is deemed fit. Such actions are the primary reason why our immigration system is broken today."
RELATED: Immigration Reform 2013: Bob Goodlatte Says He Won't Support 'Special Pathway To Citizenship' For Undocumented; What Does He Mean?
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