The next explosion of illegal teen border crossing has begun, but just one-in-six are being sent home, with most of the rest settled in the United States, according to new government figures.
The U.S. Border Patrol agency reported that they have seized 12,509 illegals under age 18 since October, making it the second biggest surge in history after last year’s unprecedented movement of unaccompanied youths across the nation’s southern border.
When compared with the number of illegal kids turned over to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, it is clear that most are being “booked in” to U.S. facilities and then released — not sent home.
Documents provided to the Washington Examiner show that ICE is accepting an average of 2,000 a month, meaning that the Border Patrol is returning just one of six to their countries, mostly Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Those papers show that ICE “booked in” 2,355 unaccompanied youths in December, second only to the previous December’s 3,582 and way ahead of the 420 in December 2012, 656 in 2012 and 1,216 in 2013.
“And this is supposed to be the slow time of year,” said expert Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. “Cities and towns that have already received large numbers of unaccompanied illegal alien minors should brace themselves to repeat the process again in the coming months.”
Based on the documents and her experience charting the last year’s surge of illegal teens, Vaughan projected that U.S. border officials are on track to apprehend about 42,000 “unaccompanied alien children” this year.
While fewer than the 56,029 taken into the United States last year, it is a clear sign that the administration’s “Return to Sender” note on border crossings isn’t having the expected impact.
BARNEY FRANK LOVES THE NRA
Former liberal Rep. Barney Frank used to get flack for avoiding the hand-to-hand combat other gay leaders engaged in on behalf of LGBT rights, and now he’s explaining why.
In his new biography, Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage, he wrote that activists “decried my lack of ‘militancy.’ ” He said they wanted him to copy activists such as Martin Luther King Jr. and stage protests.
But he argued for a different model: The National Rifle Association. In the past Frank has talked about NRA tactics, but in his new book he expands on his praise for the gun group’s success in lobbying lawmakers and filling voting booths.
“Liberals who try to comfort themselves with the notion that the NRA wins legislative battles because of their vast campaign contributions are engaged in self-deceptive self-justification. The NRA wins at the ballot box, not in the streets and not by checkbook,” he wrote.
He added that the gay community has finally accepted his advice and is getting results “with much greater success.”
HOLLYWOOD FINDS GOD — AND IT PAYS
Just in time for Easter, Hollywood executives are finding God, and the profits that come with movies and TV shows Christians are flocking to.
“It’s not their natural instinct to do that,” said Chris Stone, founder of the group Faith Driven Consumer that promotes Christian consumers to different markets. “But,” he added, “the market is there.”
While the entertainment industry has only occasionally produced Christian-themed films and shows, the schedule for this year is packed. It started with “Unbroken,” directed by Angelina Jolie, and includes NBC’s “A.D.,” Paramount’s “Ben Hur,” National Geographic’s “Killing Jesus,” and “Do You Believe,” from the makers of the popular movie “God’s Not Dead.”
Universal Pictures this month put an exclamation point on the trend when it announced plans to release a “bonus disk” to “Unbroken” that details how the subject of the movie, Louie Zamperini, decided to forgive his Japanese captors after attending a Billy Graham tent revival.
His son, Luke, told the Examiner that while “Unbroken” had a Christian theme, it was a film attractive to all kinds of viewers and is a model for Hollywood to follow. “It wasn’t just all Christians going,” he said.
“The prime driver is accuracy,” added Stone, who said movies like “Noah” strayed too far from the Bible and was punished at the box office.
QUOTE:
“I was definitely a third or fourth seed. But I was scrappy.”
— President Obama, comparing his first presidential campaign to the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament filling out his 2015 brackets for ESPN.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
