The White House is aggressively stepping up its fight for tighter border enforcement, blaming former President Obama’s “catch-and-release” policies and legal loopholes promoted by congressional Democrats for the surge in fraudulent asylum claims and youth smuggling into the U.S.
“When you want to talk about what’s cruel and what’s inhumane, we should talk about the consequence of loopholes that make it almost impossible to remove individuals showing up in our country illegally, therefore driving massive numbers to take the dangerous trek, leading to more instability in sending countries; leading to more instability in receiving communities; and contributing to the rise of very dangerous transnational smuggling organizations,” said senior White House advisor Stephen Miller.
As part of its battle, the White House cited new and disturbing numbers that detail the surge in illegal immigration and asylum claims that they say are the result of the wink and nod policies of the Obama era loopholes. Among them: