Dem congresswoman's staff going to Mexico, coaching asylum-seekers

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico has been in the news a lot lately. Two Democrats running for president have created some interesting headlines for appearing to pander to asylum-seekers during stops on their campaign trails, actually crossing the southern border to court them. Now Congresswoman Victoria Escobar’s staff is reported to be coaching asylum-seekers held in Ciudad Juarez under the Remain in Mexico program.

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The staffers are coaching those trying to re-enter the U.S. to exploit a loophole in current immigration law. They are being told to lie about their ability to speak Spanish. No, really. Under the Migration Protection Protocols, a.k.a. Remain in Mexico, those being returned to Mexico must speak Spanish because they may be living in Mexico for as long as five years waiting for their asylum claim to be decided. The staffers are re-escorting people back to the port of entry and telling Border Patrol officers that the Central Americans cannot speak Spanish. Just days before, though, these same individuals were speaking fluent Spanish.

“What we’re hearing from management is that they’re attempting to return people, and the story was changed in Mexico, where a person who understood Spanish before now doesn’t understand — where a person who didn’t have any health issues before now has health issues,” the union representative said.

Escobar’s team has sought interviews with 6,000 people who were returned last month, according to one CBP official. The union learned from an intelligence unit within CBP that those doing the interviews are wearing recording devices during the interviews to tape conversations and possibly listen back later.

“They went through and interviewed everybody, cherry-picked them, brought them back, and now are using them as tag lines. They’re going over there and manufacturing a lot of these issues,” said the union official.

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One former federal immigration judge during the George W. Bush administration gives the Congresswoman and her staff the benefit of the doubt, saying it is all probably just a stunt instead of actually diluting the integrity of the process. He did say, though, that a criminal case would exist if Rep. Escobar was complicit in perpetuating a fraud. The fraud would be “knowingly injecting false statements during interviews, follow-up conversations, and documents presented to U.S. officials.”

Department of Homeland Security officials are aware of this development. They want a full review of any efforts by Democrats with an open borders political agenda who are insistent on obstructing the law.

Rep. Escobar represents the El Paso area in the seat previously held by Beto O’Rourke. Not to put too fine of a cynical point on this story but who thinks this is anything other than promoting fraudulent asylum claims? One case involves a 17-year-old male who was walked across the bridge by an Escobar staffer and a diocese official. They asked that he be allowed into the U.S. instead of remaining in Mexico citing “cognitive disabilities.” There was a form in his file, a Constituent Information and Privacy Release Form, with Escobar’s House of Representative seal on it. Border Patrol officials say this form had to have been added in Mexico and proves the congresswoman’s involvement. The ultimate goal is to end the Remain in Mexico program.

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The boy has since returned to Mexico because the medical condition was not diagnosed by a medical professional but by an aide of the congresswoman, one official said Friday.

“Management saw that form and was like, ‘What is this?’ and reached out to our International Liaison Unit. And ILU said, ‘Yes, Veronica Escobar and several other politicians are in Mexico trying to defeat the MPP program,'” the union said.

Officials only discussed one port of entry in El Paso but said they knew of three other incidents where Escobar’s aides had walked back a “Remain in Mexico” program recipient.

That boy wasn’t diagnosed by a doctor, but by an aide of the congresswoman.

This story of attempts to obstruct and game the system comes after the stories on Cory Booker escorting five women across the border and Beto O’Rourke meeting with asylum-seekers in Mexico. Escobar’s staff is carrying out the natural progression of such unprecedented political behavior from those who demand an open southern border. To normalize this behavior as though it is not what it is – immigration fraud – is a slap in the face to every immigrant who asked to come to America through the legal process. It is particularly disturbing that actions like this are at the hands of Democrats who are running for president.

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