Lindsey Graham urges US to close immigration loopholes

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that the surge of unaccompanied minors and families crossing the border into the US was the direct result of loopholes in lax US immigration laws.

“It is no coincidence that these two groups – unaccompanied minors and family units – are crossing the border at an alarming rate. Our immigration laws require that both unaccompanied children and family units be released into the interior of the United States after apprehension,” Graham said in a prepared opening statement for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on border security.

“This is due to two legal loopholes in our immigration system: the Flores settlement agreement and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). Flores requires children (or those with children, so family units) to be released after 20 days in custody. The TVPRA requires unaccompanied alien children from non-contiguous countries (countries that do not border the United States) to be released to Health and Human Services care facilities instead of being sent back to their countries of origin.”

He also ripped Democrats dismissal of President Trump’s national emergency declaration over what the commander-in-chief calls a crisis at the border.

“Contrary to what some political opponents and media outlets claim the situation at our southern border is dangerous and growing worse. It’s not a hoax. It’s not a manufactured crisis. It’s not a cable television ploy. It is real. It is serious. It is a threat. And it poses a direct challenge to the safety and security of the citizens of the United States,” said Graham, the committee’s chair.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said that “63 percent” of illegal border crossings would be addressed just by changing those laws.

Advocates say the measures are designed to protect children and prevent them from being separated from their parents or families for extended periods.

More than 76,100 asylum seekers were nabbed at the southern border in February, more than double the 36,751 held the same month a year earlier, CBP said a day earlier.

The number is also on pace to reach levels not seen in more than a decade.

The majority of the migrants were Central American parents with children in tow fleeing violence, poverty and political chaos in their homelands.

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