Border security of great importance
Increasing threats along the southern United States border should be of concern to all Americans, and especially to Louisianians considering our close location to that border.
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., was recently quoted as saying that at least 10 known terrorists are being arrested every day trying to cross the border into our county.
And according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, criminal aliens have spread throughout the nation.
ICE reported recently that four individuals in the country illegally and who have Interpol — International Criminal Police Organization headquartered in Lyon, France — warrants based on crimes committed in their home countries, were among 105 criminal aliens arrested in New Jersey.
The operation, which was spearheaded by ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, targeted at-large criminal aliens, illegal re-entrant and other immigration violators and was supported by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s New Jersey Field Office.
Of those arrested during the operation, 80 percent had prior criminal convictions and/or pending criminal charges.
These suspects had a wide range or national origins, including Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Eduador, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Korea, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, Trinidad and Venezuela.
ICE also reports that worksite enforcement investigations surged in fiscal year 2018, including criminal investigations, business audits and arrests by ICE.
During 2018 there were 6,848 worksite investigations compared to 1,691 in fiscal year 2017. There were also 5,981 audits, compared to 1,360 the previous year; 779 criminal and 1,525 administrative worksite-related arrests compared to 139 and 172, respectively; and all of these categories surged by 300 to 750 percent over the previous fiscal year.
We clearly have a president who has the will to seal off our borders to illegal immigration. Now Congress needs to do its job, stop the partisan bickering, and give him the tools he needs to effectively execute our immigration laws.