Checks at the border limited during heavy traffic

So…the more people we have coming across from Mexico the legal way, the less scrutiny they get?

An Aug. 16 memorandum from CBP El Paso field office Director Luis Garcia directs agents to limit inspections of vehicle and pedestrian border crossers as wait times escalate. The document, obtained by The Washington Times, sets new guidelines that border inspectors say undermine efforts to prevent terrorists and other criminals from entering the United States.

The memo says:

• If wait time is 45 minutes or less, officers are required to query all drivers and passengers older than 18 and ensure that the license plate is correct.

• If wait time is 45 to 60 minutes, customs officers are to query only the driver and 50 percent of the passengers. Also, the officers are not to conduct compartment checks and density-meter readings used to find contraband.

• If wait time is 60 to 120 minutes or more — the average wait at the numerous crossings — they are to query only the driver and ensure that the license plate is correct.

“At 30 to 40 minutes of ‘wait time,’ we were querying the driver only at the request of our supervisors,” said an El Paso customs agent, who spoke with The Washington Times this month on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

“Basically, we were only running the documents of the driver every fifth vehicle, so everyone else was coming in without being checked to the same standards. Even if you stick with the letter of this memo, it still falls short for national security purposes.”

And the best part is, this directive appears to be illegal.

Rosemary Jenks, immigration lawyer and government relations director for Numbers U.S.A., said the directives in the El Paso memo violate federal law.

And so does this.

Other documents obtained by the paper also show that customs officers in the El Paso sector have been told to “not deny permits” of entry to any person entering the United States, regardless of indicators that they’ve overstayed their visa in the past.

CBP Chief George Carpenter, shift commander, sent a memorandum to all border inspectors informing them never to deny I-94 forms, which allow non-immigrants extended stay in the United States, even if those people failed to turn in previous forms required by law. All the El Paso inspectors were required to sign the memorandum.

Gee, why doesn’t anyone trust the government to enforce immigration law, when Border Patrol shift commanders and bigwigs send out memos that violate the law?

Update (AP): Meanwhile, a few hundred miles north of Tijuana, San Francisco’s getting ready to follow New Haven’s lead by granting city IDs to illegal aliens.

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