Radio Recap: AG Barr Takes Action on Illegal Immigration

With so much speculation and anticipation about the Mueller report which is set to be released tomorrow, it’s easy to lose sight of other important issues happening at the Department of Justice – even when they play a major role in our national security.

On today’s show, we discussed a new ruling issued by Attorney General Bill Barr denying bail to some asylum seekers at the southern border. That overturns a previous ruling that declared that illegal migrants seeking asylum were eligible to be released on bond, as long as they could exhibit credible fear of persecution or danger from their home country. In other words, the AG ended catch and release.

Currently, if asylum-seekers cross into the U.S. illegally, they are released on bond awaiting a hearing. And many of them disappear never to be heard from again. It’s enabled illegal immigrants to fade into the crowd before we even know who they are. This “catch and release” policy created a convenient way for criminals, drug dealers, and gang members to game the system. 

Now, they will be held until their hearing.

This ruling is a clear message to Congress that we have to get tough on immigration. Our detention centers are flooded. Our immigration officials cannot keep up with the influx of migrants.

Senator Lindsey Graham has announced he plans to introduce a new legislative package to change our existing asylum laws. Sen. Graham expressed his own frustration with the lack of action in Congress.

“I'm tired of talking about this problem. I want to fix it. I think all Americans should want both parties to fix this problem,” Graham told Fox News. “The president has correctly identified the crisis at the border, now it's time to have a legislative solution. You need to change our laws for this to stop, so I'll be introducing a package — and hopefully with Democratic support — that will change our asylum laws. Ninety percent of the people apply for asylum never make it, so the standard needs to change.”

Just because you show up and make an asylum claim, it doesn’t automatically grant you the right to be released and free to join the general populace. Regardless of whether a claim of persecution is valid or not, migrants need to be properly vetted by our immigration officials before they’re granted entrance into our country.

And that’s for the protection of the immigrants and those with legitimate asylum claims who deserve to be here, as well as for current citizens and legal residents.

You can listen to the entire episode here.