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Rafael Carranza, Arizona Republic Published 4:54 p.m. ET April 11, 2017 | Updated 46 minutes ago

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced a get-tough approach to immigration prosecutions during a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border. (April 11) AP

Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Nogales, Ariz.(Photo: Ross D. Franklin, AP)

NOGALES, Ariz. The nation's top prosecutor outlined an expansion of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration Tuesday to include directing federal prosecutors to bring felony charges against immigrants suspected of making repeated illegal entriesto the United States.

Undocumented entry cases have been previously charged as misdemeanors.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in his first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, detailed the changes as an attempt to "establish lawfulness in our immigration system.''

"This is a new era," Sessions said. "This is the Trump era.The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws, and the catch-and-release practices of old are over."

In a memo to U.S. attorneys across the country, Sessions said prosecutors must consider:

Charging individuals for "bringing in and harboring certain aliens."

Charging undocumented immigrants with a felony "if they unlawfully enter or attempt to enter a second time and certain aggravating circumstances are present."

When possible, charging undocumented immigrants "with document fraud and aggravated identity theft."

Make prosecution of assault on a federal law-enforcement officer "a top priority."

Sessions also announced a plan to hire and deploy 50 new immigration judges to the border this year and 75 more next year to address a massive backlog in immigration appeals.

The administration's most vocal advocate for tougher border enforcement measures, Sessions' trip to the region comes as the Department of Homeland Security recorded a 40% decline in illegal crossings along the southwest border during the first two months of the year.

Sessions called the decline "unprecedented,'' coinciding with the administration's roll out of aborder security strategy, including the planned construction of a border wall.

Despite the declining apprehensions, Sessions defended the need for a wall, describing it as "a force multiplier'' to deter future illegal immigration.

"There is no doubt that the barrier, the wall, will have a great and positive impact,'' he said.

Read more:

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In his new charging directive to federal prosecutors, Sessions said felony prosecutions would be recommended for repeatillegal immigrants, "especially where indicators of gang affiliation, a risk to public safety or criminal history are present.''

Civil rights advocates, however, characterized Sessions' directive as an attempt to intimidate immigrant communities.

Attorney General Sessions is grandstanding at the border in an attempt to look tough and scare immigrants,'' said Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice Education Fund. "Its yet another example of the Trump administration treating all immigrants as threats and as criminals.''

Josh Breisblatt, a policy analyst at the American Immigration Council, said the attorney general's prosecution directive effectively makes illegal entry prosecutions a national priority, beyond the border states where the majority of cases are brought.

"This is a waste of resources,'' Breisblatt said. "It seems to be a further attempt to link immigration and crime.''

Contributing: Kevin Johnson and Alan Gomez

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Sessions directs felony charges against repeat illegal immigrants - USA TODAY

A 40-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico who had been deported from the U.S. was arrested Friday in Virginia on sex abuse charges involving a 12-year-old girl.

Oscar Perez-Rangel faces charges including felony aggravated sexual battery. The abuse allegedly occurred between October and December 2016,Fox 5reported.

The girl was abused while at a daycare center operated by Perez-Rangels girlfriend, investigators said.

Fairfax County police said they did not believe there were other victims.

An immigration detainer has been lodged against Perez-Rangel.

Perez-Rangel was previously removed from the U.S., and has felony convictions for attempted robbery, use of a firearm during the commission of a felony and illegal re-entry after removal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement to Fox 5.

Last month, a 17-year-old and 18-year-old werecharged with rapeafter investigators said a 14-year-old student was attacked in a high school bathroom in Rockville, Md. Officials said both suspects were in the U.S. illegally. A lawyer for one suspect claimed the sex was consensual.

Click for more from Fox 5.

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Virginia illegal immigrant charged in sex abuse case involving 12-year-old girl - Fox News

Last month, we saw a 64 percent reduction in illegal immigration on our southern border. President Trump, weekly address, April 7, 2017

My administration is just a matter of weeks, literally, a short period of time has brought record reductions to illegal immigration. Record reductions. Down 61 percent since inauguration. General Kelly is doing a fantastic job. Trump, remarks at North Americas Building Trades Unions conference, April 4, 2017

You see whats happened: 61 percent down now in terms of illegal people coming in. Way, way down in terms of drugs pouring into our country and poisoning our youth. Way down. General Kelly has done a great job. Trump, remarks at CEO Town Hall on Unleashing American Business, April 4, 2017

I go to these arenas that have signs all over the place Hes kept his promise, hes kept his promise because Ive done a lot of work. The border is in the best shape its been in, in decades. Down 61 percent since the inauguration. Trump, remarks at National Republican Congressional Committee dinner, March 21, 2017

President Trump is repeatedly touting reductions in apprehensions at the Southwestern border, attributing the decline to his administration and the leadership of Department of Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly.

Trump also claimed that drugs pouring into our country and poisoning our youth areway, way down. We dont know if that is accurate. We repeatedly requested 2017 data of drug seizures at the border from Customs and Border Protection since Trump made the claim, but still have not received a response. The White House didnt provide data, either. We will return to that claim when CBP provides us the data.

So for now, we dug into Trumps use of the 64 percent and 61 percent figures. The figure is correct, but it requires some caveats. Heres what we found.

First, some context. Southwest border apprehensions have steadily declined since their peak at more than 1.6 million people in fiscal 2000. There have been temporary spikes since 2000 most recently, there was an uptick in apprehensions of unaccompanied children and their families in 2016, after a significant drop in 2015. Those apprehensions in 2016 were back to 2014 levels, during the height of the flow of Central American migrants illegally crossing the border.

These families and children are fleeing rampant violence and crime in a region called the Northern Triangle, comprising Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Many of the Central American migrants turn themselves in to Border Patrol once they reach the southwest border, seeking asylum status.

This represents a shift in border migration. The number of Mexicans caught trying to cross the border illegally is dropping (more than 400,000 in fiscal 2010 to about 177,000 in 2016), The Washington Post reported. The number of migrants from the Northern Triangle nearly quadrupled in the same period to almost 179,000.

March 2017 total apprehensions were, indeed, very low. Its the lowest monthly number CBP has reported since at least 2000. The 64 percent figure he uses is the total number of people apprehended or deemed inadmissibleat the southwest border in March 2017 (16,600), compared to the total number in March 2016 (46,150).

The 61 percent figure Trump is referring to is the drop in just the Southwest border apprehensions from January 2017 (31,577) to March 2017 (12,193). A 61 percent drop over three months is dramatic, as Trump indicates. But the January data is a total for the month, not since Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 so the majority of the months data predated his presidency.

Actually, the best apples-to-apples measure would be to compare the number of people apprehended or deemed inadmissible for February and March of 2016 with February and March of 2017. That calculation shows there was a 52.4 percent (40,170) decrease in 2017 compared to 2016 (84,466).This would be a more accurate look at the impact of Trumps policy changes to date, rather than focusing on just the month of March.

Still, experts caution against putting too much emphasis on the annual, quarterly or monthly numbers, because immigration trends are about flows, not raw numbers. But what is notable about recent apprehensions is that it doesnt fit the seasonal trends. Usually, theres a seasonal lull through winter months, before apprehensions start climbing back up. Apprehensions tend to peak from March to May, before coming back down in the late summer and through the fall.

But in fall 2016, there was an increase in apprehensions, despite the seasonal norm. You can see this increase in the bright blue line of 2016 apprehensions in the graphic below. Apprehensions start to increase in July 2016, and through October (see the red line for fiscal 2017), and peak in November 2016. Then apprehensions start falling from November to March. Looking at the red line in the graphic, its clear that the downward trend in 2017 so far is different and more drastic than any other year since 2002.

What does this all mean? Why was there an increase in apprehensions leading up to November 2016, the month of the U.S. presidential election? Why did it start to decline after the election, and so drastically into March? Experts say Trumps rhetoric on immigration made a difference.

On-the-ground reactions to federal level immigration policies, such as Trumps executive orders cracking down on illegal immigration, take some time to materialize. But the apparent rush to enter the country before the election indicates people sensed immigration attitudes and policies could drastically change if Trump were elected, said Christopher Wilson, deputy director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center.

Theres been a clear and marked decrease in unauthorized border crossings. Thats really undeniable, Wilson said. How much of that is due to policy changes versus rhetoric? Its not really easy to answer that question. My sense is that what weve really seen so far, the big change, has been around rhetoric, communicating. Its been about messaging, and thats worked, essentially. Potential migrants are convinced that this is a difficult time to come to the United States, and they have not been coming.

Still, violence continues to escalate in the Northern Triangle in Central America. In the past two years, Mexico and the United States have both turned away comparable flows of northbound Central American refugees and asylum seekers. That means its unclear how long this downward trend will last. Our friends at PolitiFact found that smugglers may be waiting to find a new route into the United States.

In 2015, then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson declared apprehensions were at record lows because of measures his agency had taken to respond to the 2014 influx of Central Americans. (We gave him Two Pinocchios at the time.) As weve seen, the Central American crisis continued to persist, leading to a spike in apprehensions the following year. So the reductions in 2015 under Johnson didnt last long.

Trump is citing a documented figure that the total number of apprehensions and people deemed inadmissible at the Southwest border declined by 64 percent in March 2017 compared to March 2016, and that there was a 61 percentreduction in Southwest border apprehensions from January 2017 to March 2017.

The number of people apprehended or deemed admissible tend to start climbing in March, yet the number continued to decline in March 2017. That showshow uncharacteristically low the flow over the border has been in March 2017. The 61 percent figure also isunique because such a reduction over three months is quite dramatic and bucks seasonal trends. Total apprehensions in March 2017 were the lowest monthly total since at least 2000.

But his use of the data still lacks some context. Trump says the 61 percent reduction began since Inauguration Day, or Jan. 20. But the January data is a total for the month, so the majority of the data predates his presidency.

As we noted, the most accurate figure would compare February and March of 2016 with those months for 2017. That shows a decrease of 52.4 percent, which is still substantial. Trumps rhetoric during the presidential campaign against illegal immigration and border crossings likely resonated with northbound migrants, experts say.

Yet its unclear what role Trumps immigration actions as president had, or what role Kelly (who was confirmed on Inauguration Day) had in bringing those figures down. And its too early for Trump to declare he kept his promise; we dont know whether this is the new normal, or a temporary change.

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Last month, we saw a 64 percent reduction in illegal immigration on our southern border.

Donald Trump

President of the United States

in a weekly address

Friday, April 7, 2017

04/07/2017

Continue reading here:
President Trump's claim that illegal immigration is down 64 percent ... - Washington Post

The first 100 days of the new administration is approaching and President Trump is facing backlash on implementing many of his early promises. He has yet to follow through on his promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare, or implement a tax reform plan, but he has delivered in one area specifically; the border.

Whether you lean left, right, or youre in the middle you have to be a fan of what hes done for the border patrol, for the border security. Hes done more in first 100 days than the last two administrations have done in 16 years, Brandon Judd, Border Patrol Union President and active border patrol agent told Stuart Varney during an interview on the FOX Business Network.

In March, there were more than 16,000 undocumented immigrants apprehended and illegal border crossings as a whole saw a 30 percent drop in February, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

And on Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited the U.S.-Mexico border to reiterate Trumps tough stance on immigration.

I am issuing a document to all federal prosecutors that mandates the prioritization of these immigration enforcement. Starting today, federal prosecutors are now required to consider for prosecution all of the following offenses often not prosecuted in the past, Sessions said.

Judd, who has been a border patrol agent for 20 years said he has never seen such a quick drop in illegal immigration, and believes it is due strictly to president Trumps policies.

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However, Trumps signature campaign promise of building a wall along the southern border has hit a potential roadblock.

Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has suggested that Congress may delay the funding of the border until 2018.

The big chunk of money for the wall, really, is...next fiscal years appropriations because they literally cant start construction even this quickly, he said during an interview on CBS This Morning.

But Judd disagrees with Speaker Ryans position.

President Trump promised the American public that he was going to secure the border, and part of securing the border is putting in place the proper technology and resources that allows us to be successful and a border wall in strategic locations is one of those things we must get done.

The Border Patrol Union President noted the differences between the previous administration's approach to immigration enforcement, and because of Trumps policy changes the handcuffs are being taken off of the law enforcement agents and were putting the handcuffs back on the criminals.

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Border Patrol Union President: Illegal Immigration Decline 'Strictly' Due to Trump - Fox Business

On Friday, the Mexican government announced it would begin to regularize the status of 588 Cuban illegal aliens in Nuevo Laredo (including a grant of work permits). After the Obama administration ended the "wet foot, dry foot" policy the Cubans passing through Mexico on their way to the U.S. refused to return to the island.

It should be noted that the press release published by Mexico's National Institute for Migration (INM) erroneously equates the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA) to the wet foot, dry foot policy. The wet foot, dry foot policy, which stemmed from the CAA and allowed all Cuban nationals who reached U.S. soil to be paroled into the country and receive legal status (those intercepted at sea were returned), was suspended in January. However, the CAA, which allows Cuban nationals to adjust to permanent residence after being in the United States for at least one year, remains in place. While repeal of the CAA would require congressional action, it has been rendered largely irrelevant by the executive branch decision to stop paroling into the U.S. Cubans who lack visas.

Previously, Cuban migrants illegally crossing Mexico's southern border with Guatemala would be given a 20-day safe transit permit by the Mexican government, allowing the islanders that much time either to leave the territory or regularize their stay. Then, the Cubans would use this permit to make their way north through Mexico to the U.S. border, where they would present themselves at a port of entry and be paroled into the country. Now that the United States is no longer a viable destination, the islanders have moved to regularize their stay in Mexico to avoid deportation.

Consequently, per Mexico's immigration law, the INM has moved to grant the islanders "visitor status for humanitarian reasons" and work permits. This condition of stay, under Article 52, section V (c) of Mexico's immigration law, is authorized for foreigners in the process of petitioning for political asylum, refugee status, or "complementary protection" (a different category of humanitarian status). The government may also grant this status to foreigners who do not fall under the aforementioned conditions when there is a humanitarian cause or public interest that makes it necessary for foreigners to be interned or regularized in the country, in which case they will also be granted work permits.

Friday's announcement noted that the first 273 of 588 Cubans in Nuevo Laredo would be given this status (which includes a visitor's card) within the following days. The visitor's card may be renewed for periods of 180 days at a time. As foreigners with visitor status for humanitarian reasons, the Cuban migrants may remain in this status as long as the reasons for the original grant of status continue, and in the meantime they must file the necessary renewals for their immigration document. By granting work permits to Cuban illegal aliens, the Mexican government has created another incentive for Cuban nationals to stay and may possibly attract others who might have been deterred by the policy changes in the United States and reports of Cuban deportations from Mexico's southern border.

The press release also emphasized that while the immigration law empowers the INM to carry out, in some cases, the regularization of foreigners who are located in Mexican territory and show interest in residing in the country temporarily or permanently, INM has not granted the islanders refugee status or political asylum because they are not facing persecution of any kind. However, the condition of stay offered by the Mexican government makes it possible for the Cubans to remain in the country in a legal manner.

Still, some Cuban nationals continue to hope that President Trump will welcome them into the United States. On Saturday, approximately 300 Cuban nationals protested in front of the Nuevo Laredo pedestrian bridge, asking for Trump's help. Images from the day's event show an array of signs in English and Spanish that included the following pleas:

According to INM statistics, there have been 385 Cuban repatriations in 2017, as of February. Of the 385 repatriations recorded, 287 were categorized as deportations, 95 as assisted returns, and three as assisted returns of minors.

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Cuban Illegal Aliens Allowed to Stay in Mexico - Immigration Blog (blog)