Immigration

Texas border forced to suspend routine patrols due to overcrowded facilities

Published

1 month ago

August 22, 2022

All field operations for the Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector have been suspended “due to overcrowding at processing facilities, according to a source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection” reports Breitbart.

“The absence of agents performing their border security mission was noticeable as migrants crossed the Rio Grande and searched for authorities to surrender to on Sunday” the report adds.

Breitbart Texas posted “along several of the busiest crossings along the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass where migrants continued to surrender to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and soldiers with the Texas Army National Guard.”

Breitbart reports on the information gathered while posted:

In one instance, three migrants forded the river and attempted to surrender to Breitbart Texas. The three Nicaraguan migrants were directed to state authorities more than one-half a mile from their crossing point.

Several other migrants crossed the Rio Grande on Sunday unabated by authorities. Immigration and police entities staged in Mexico attempted to stop several migrants from fording the river but were unsuccessful.

One migrant attempting the crossing struggled with the river’s strong currents but ultimately reached the United States safely. There were no law enforcement officers nearby to receive the migrant who later searched the banks for authorities where he could surrender.

The CBP source, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told Breitbart Texas “all agents received a radio broadcast early on Sunday removing them from the field. Management advised the agents to report to their respective stations to address the more than 2,500 migrant detainees awaiting processing and, in many cases, release them into the United States.”

At one non-government shelter in Eagle Pass, “multiple busloads of processed migrants were released by the Border Patrol throughout the morning.”

“Each bus carried approximately 50 migrants. The migrants lined up outside the shelter as employees performed intake duties. The migrants will travel to their final destination in the United States once the shelter staff coordinates transportation arrangements” adds Breitbart.

Until the overcrowding issue is resolved, “the agency will only respond to emergency distress calls involving migrants and to receive migrants that surrender to state and local law enforcement authorities.”

Immigration

IG Audit shows nonprofit wasted $17 million taxpayer dollars on hotels to not house illegal foreign nationals

Published

3 days ago

September 27, 2022

Sara Carter Staff

An audit report by the Inspector General shows enraging information as to exactly how millions of dollars from the American people were completely wasted.

One doesn’t need to read past the IG report’s headline to become furious: “ICE Spent Funds on Unused Beds, Missed COVID-19 Protocols and Detention Standards while Housing Migrant Families in Hotels.”

In summary, an unbelievable $17 million was wasted on not housing illegal foreign nationals. At the heart of the story is Endeavors, a nonprofit which has received half a billion dollars in taxpayer money “through no-bid government contracts to house foreign nationals who illegally entered the U.S. and were released by the Biden administration instead of being deported” reports The Center Square.

The audit evaluated the process used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to grant no bid contracts to Endeavors and their compliance with federal law, the article explains.

The report evaluated an $86.9 million sole source contract first awarded to Endeavors earlier this year. The contract was awarded for six months to provide “temporary shelter and processing services for families who have not been expelled and are therefore placed in immigration proceedings for their removal from the United States,” The Center Square previously reported.

Months after it received its first no bid contract, Endeavors received a second $530 million contract and hired former Biden administration official Andrew Lorenzen-Straight as its senior director for migrant services and federal affairs, Axios reported.

The Center Square explains:

Sole source contracts are used when an agency can demonstrate the contract meets specific and justified criteria. If contracts don’t meet one of the criteria, they must be awarded through an open competitive process.

Endeavors has no professional history of providing housing services and has never provided beds or all-inclusive emergency family residential services, OIG auditors found. Those critical of DHS’ contract process argue the agency should be awarding contracts through an open competitive process to ensure that those bidding for funds can offer the services they claim they can provide.

Under the contract in question, for six months between March and September 2021, Endeavors was responsible for providing 1,239 beds and other necessary services in hotels. It used six hotels and repurposed them as Emergency Family Reception Sites to accommodate families staying less than three days while ICE considered conditions of release, including alternatives to detention.

The IOG made four recommendations for ICE to improve its contracting and oversight of hotel facility management and operations. “ICE concurred with one recommendation and didn’t concur with three. Based on information ICE provided in its response, the IOG said it considered one recommendation resolved and closed, and three recommendations administratively closed.”