Last week President Obama announced his plan to legalize at least five million people living illegally in the United States during a primetime address to the nation from the White House. He detailed the plan again last Friday at a Las Vegas high school.
Just before his announcement, law enforcement officers working in and people living along the Texas border with Mexico were already seeing a surge in illegal immigration as a result. From Local ABC 5 news in the Rio Grande Valley:
The flow of illegal immigrants appears to be on the rise again in Brooks County.
Rugged trails on ranches are littered with empty bottles, the remnants of the journey made by those who entered illegally and those who are making their way north. People in the area said foot traffic is once again on the rise.
Dr. Michael Vickers said he is seeing more of these water bottles left behind on Brooks County ranches.
Vickers said, "We had two groups, Sunday a week ago. Seven of them gave up to me. They were Hondurans and Salvadorans."
Vickers said President Obama's talk of executive action on immigration could be looked at as an open invitation to people south of the border to make their way north.
"Every time he opens his mouth about immigration and what he's gonna do, there's a huge negative impact on us that live out here along the border, especially in the rural areas where all the smuggling trails are," said Vickers.
The phenomenon of border crossings increasing when either the President or lawmakers in Washington D.C. start talking about some kind of amnesty plan is nothing new. Back in early 2013, border crossings doubled as Senators began debate on the Gang 8 illegal immigration overhaul.
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As the immigration reform Gang of Eight inside the Beltway prepares to announce a deal later this week, claiming border security will come before a path to citizenship for millions of illegals, Border Patrol agents have seen illegal border crossings double and warn the cutting of agent work hours will only result in less border security, not more.
"We've seen the number of illegal aliens double, maybe even triple since amnesty talk started happening," an agent told Townhall, who asked to remain unnamed due to fears of retaliation within Customs and Border Protection [CBP], something he said is common. "A lot of these people, although not the majority, are criminals or aggravated felons. This is a direct danger to our communities."
The Rio Grande Valley in Texas and Nogales, Arizona is where we saw the huge surge in unaccompanied minors over the summer that overwhelmed law enforcement and pulled resources away from patrolling the border into overcrowded warehouse processing facilities. Last week as President Obama announced his legalization plan, Immigration and Customs Enforcement readied thousands of beds for a potential incoming surge of illegal immigrants unaccompanied minors.
On the same day President Obama announced his executive immigration overhaul we learned that the administration was gearing up for yet another surge of illegal immigrants coming this spring—more than 100,000 to be exact. And to do so, they’re getting a family detention center ready with 2,400 beds.
“We must be prepared for traditional, seasonal increases in illegal migration. The Dilley facility will provide invaluable surge capacity should apprehensions of adults with children once again surge this spring,” said Acting ICE Director Thomas S. Winkowski, reports The Washington Examiner.
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