The Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" enforcement at the border has caused all kinds of controversy in recent days, with critics claiming it is ripping children away from parents at the border. Now, the White House is releasing new data to show the reason for the increased enforcement at the border. White House policy advisor Stephen Miller reports that there was a 315 percent increase in the number of illegal aliens trying to cross the border with minor children between October 2017 and February 2018.
Homeland Security Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen, in a White House briefing this week, explained how many of these so-called "families" crossing the border are not, in fact, families at all. "Ten thousand of those (minors) currently in custody were sent by their parents with strangers to undertake completely dangerous and deadly travel alone," said Nielsen.
Breitbart reporter Brandon Darby echoed that sentiment when he spoke to KTRH's Michael Berry this week. Darby told Berry there is no way for law enforcement to vet whether these family units crossing the border are legit. "When it comes to infants you can't tell, we don't know...that's one of the issues here, is we just don't know that they are actually the parents of the children whom they are bringing," said Darby.
Just as difficult as vetting whether these families are related is vetting where they are coming from. "They're coming from countries where there is inept record-keeping, there's immense amounts of public corruption...anyone can pay any official to have any official document signed that they want," said Darby.
The bottom line, according to Darby, is that if the U.S. doesn't crack down on these crossings, it will only encourage more of them which will make the problem worse for everyone. "You're not helping the host nations, you're not helping the birth nations, and you're not helping (the immigrants)," he told Berry. "You're actually perpetuating the very same thing they're trying to get away from in the first place."