As illegal immigration surges again, the Trump administration has reinstated a catch-and-release policy for those people caught crossing the border in Texas, The Washington Times reported.
Border Patrol agents have reportedly been told not to turn the illegal immigrants over for deportation because there is no bed space available to house them while they await hearings, according to the website, which attributed its information to a top agent. Those agents who transport those caught crossing the border to Immigration and Customs Enforcement are being turned away, the agent said.
"We're going to have to release them out our front door," said Brandon Judd, an agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council said. "Even if we try to turn them over to them, they're just not going to take them."
He claimed ICE's San Antonio office is refusing to accept any families who agents try to turn over and will soon turn down non-family individuals. And ICE's El Paso office said it was also at capacity, he said.
"The moment we start releasing them out our front door, you're going to see a huge increase take place in the numbers coming across," Judd said.
He maintained the policies are interfering with President Donald Trump's agenda.
"The people that are supposed to be enforcing President Trump's policy, they're just not," Judd said. "They're not following through on the promises he made."
The reported surge in illegal crossings comes after months of declines.
"This is the Trump era,'' Attorney General Jeff Sessions was quoted by USA Today earlier this year. "The lawlessness, the abdication of the duty to enforce our immigration laws and the catch-and-release practices of old are over.''
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