Pirate's Cove

Whatever would give them that idea?

(AP) Hundreds of immigrant families caught illegally crossing the Mexican border told U.S. immigration agents they made the dangerous journey in part because they believed they would be permitted to stay in the United States and collect public benefits, according to internal intelligence files from the Homeland Security Department.

The interviews with immigrants by federal agents were intended to help the Obama administration understand what might be driving a puzzling surge in the numbers of border crossings that started over the summer. The explanations suggest the U.S. government’s efforts to discourage illegal crossings may have been unsuccessful. Its efforts have included public service campaigns in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to highlight the dangers and consequences of making the trek across Mexico to cross illegally into the United States.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the interview summaries, which were compiled in reports by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Intelligence. They said hundreds of people traveling as part of families consistently cited opportunities to obtain permission to stay in the U.S., claim asylum and receive unspecified benefits. Immigrants spoke of “permisos,” or a pass to come into the United States.

It’s puzzling!

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the rising number of border crossings by families and children was due to “push factors” in Central America, such as crime and violence. He said the Obama administration wants to invest $1 billion in Central America to address the underlying problems that push families and children out of Central America.

Yet, these people do not head to any South American nations. They don’t attempt to move to stay in Mexico or other Central American nations. I mean, you can almost understand why they come here. It’s similar to why people are abandoned Detroit, why they’re streaming out of cities like Baltimore and St. Louis. But, perhaps Jeh Johnson forgot this

Newspapers in El Salvador and Honduras are promoting policies by the Obama administration that defer deportation to minors brought to the United States as children by their parents — known as “Dreamers” — and those that are housing illegal children at military bases in the South and West.

“Almost all agree that a child who crossed the border illegally with their parents, or in search of a father or a better life, was not making an adult choice to break our laws, and should be treated differently than adult violators of the law,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is quoted in a story about a new two-year extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy published by Diario El Mundo in El Salvador.

It matters little that Obama’s DACA policy does not apply to these newer illegals, because Liberal supporters of illegal aliens will find ways to support these new illegals and call for them to be given legal standing. And all the government support that comes with it. The federal government even has a website that teaches illegals how to sign up for welfare.

“This internal Border Patrol document shows that the Obama administration’s lax immigration policies are the culprit for the ongoing surge at our borders,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

To be fair, it doesn’t help that many Establishment Republicans, ones like Marco Rubio, push for “comprehensive immigration reform”, which is really all about amnesty.

Although the administration opened two new detention centers in Texas to hold thousands of immigrants, a federal judge in California ruled in August that the facilities violated a long-standing legal agreement that stipulates that immigrant children cannot be held in unlicensed secured facilities. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ordered the department to release the children, with their mothers when possible, “without unnecessary delay” and gave the department until this month to comply.

The administration has appealed that ruling, though before Gee’s order was issued, Johnson had already announced plans to make it easier for families to be released on bond after being caught at the border.

The chances of any of these people appearing in court is minimal, and they disappear into America. Does anyone think that these lax policies aren’t known by those who are crossing into the country illegally?

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Illegals Caught At Border Thought Their Families Could Stay In US »