Los Angeles Times
By Brian Bennett
October 9, 2014
Frustrated
by claims that Islamic terrorists have crossed the Southwest border, or
that people carrying the Ebola virus could easily do so, Homeland
Security Secretary
Jeh Johnson decried "overheated rhetoric" Thursday, saying the number
of migrants attempting to sneak across the border is at its lowest since
the 1970s.
Johnson
said four Kurdish migrants were arrested in September attempting to
cross the U.S.-Mexico border, but investigators found they had no link
to terrorism.
The
four were members of the Kurdistan Workers Party, an organization that
is fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq, Johnson said. He said the
four would be deported.
This
week, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) said on Fox News that Border Patrol
agents had told him that at least 10 Islamic State militants had
crossed from Mexico into
Texas. The Homeland Security Department quickly called the claim
"categorically false."
"In
the absence of facts, the American public is susceptible to claims that
we have an open, 'porous' border, through which unaccompanied minors
and members of terrorist
organizations such as ISIL may pass," Johnson said, using an acronym
for Islamic State. He spoke at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, a think tank in Washington.
People
in public office, he added, "owe the public informed, careful and
responsible dialogue, not overheated rhetoric that is certain to feed
the flames of fear, anxiety
and suspicion."
Some
Republicans running for office in November have accused President Obama
of devoting too few resources to protect the border from people
infected with Ebola, the deadly
virus believed to have killed more than 3,800 people in West Africa
this year.
Johnson
said all passengers arriving from West Africa would be checked for
fever at five U.S. airports — John F. Kennedy International in New York,
Newark Liberty International
in New Jersey, Dulles International in Virginia, O'Hare International
in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta — starting
this weekend. Officials announced the plan this week.
About
150 people arrive every day who have been in Liberia, Sierra Leone or
Guinea, the three countries hardest hit by the epidemic, he said.
"We
are enhancing our Ebola screening of air passengers from the three
affected African countries, and we are continually evaluating whether
more is appropriate," he said.
Johnson
said thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America who crossed
into the Rio Grande Valley in Texas last spring, sparking headlines and
leading to concern
in border communities, had immediately surrendered to Border Patrol
agents.
The
influx has now dropped to its lowest level since early 2013, partly due
to public service announcements in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras
warning of the dangerous
journey to the U.S. border, and the seasonal drop in migration during
the hot summer months.
"Unlike
other spikes in migrations in the past, many of these families and kids
expected to be apprehended once they crossed the Rio Grande," Johnson
said. "They were
not seeking to evade our Border Patrol agents."
He
said the influx could grow again this winter, and the department is
building special detention cells for families with children.
"We believe it is necessary to build more of that capability in the event we have another spike," Johnson said.
While
most federal agencies have faced budget cuts, Congress has given the
Border Patrol "unprecedented" resources, Johnson said.
The
Border Patrol has more than doubled in size since 2000. It now has
18,127 agents on the Southwest border, has built hundreds of miles of
fencing, installed more than
10,000 ground sensors, and doubled its fleet of surveillance aircraft
and helicopters, he said.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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