Border Officer Said They Were Told To Lie About Not Having Enough Space...

[Edge-]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...asylum-seekers

A Customs and Border Protection officer said supervisors instructed them to lie about not having space to process asylum-seekers at the border and turning them away, according to court documents.

In a Nov. 19 deposition, a CBP officer at the Tecate, California, port of entry said that despite having space to process asylum-seekers most days, they didn't.

"So you were instructed to lie to people when turning them back; is that right?" said the plaintiff's attorney Stephen Medlock.

"We were instructed, yes," the unidentified CBP officer said.

CBP said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.

The deposition is a federal case filed in the Southern District in California by Al Otro Lado, a binational legal service provider, and other groups challenging the Trump administration practice of telling asylum-seekers the agency doesn't have the space or officers to process them. The deposition was taken in November and filed in court on Jan. 6.

Asylum-seekers wait for weeks or months for their turn to ask the US for protection. The practice, known as metering or queuing, was started by the Obama administration and expanded by President Donald Trump.

Advocates and attorneys at the border maintain that making asylum-seekers wait for months along the border was essentially denying them asylum and a violation of US laws.

The CBP officer said a manager would come up to the international border crossing where asylum-seekers presented themselves and turn them back.

"And when they said the port was at capacity, you knew that was a lie, right?" Medlock asked the officer.

"Yes," the CBP officer said.

"And it would have been obvious to those supervisors that it was a lie as well, correct?" Medlock said.

"Correct," the CBP officer said.

"In fact, it was obvious to everybody who was implementing this policy at Tecate that the capacity excuse was a lie, right?" Medlock said.

"Correct," the CBP officer said.

The Tecate port of entry has come under scrutiny before. In September, a government watchdog report found that contrary to federal law and agency policy, CBP officers at that location sent asylum-seekers already on US soil back to Mexico.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General report stated that a CBP officer told investigators that in late 2017 or early 2018, a supervisor verbally instructed officers they would no longer process asylum-seekers and send them back to Mexico.

No other officers investigators spoke with recalled receiving any instruction to return asylum-seekers from Tecate to Mexico, the report added.

The officer was asked about that in the deposition and said it didn't surprise him because some of them just want to be left alone and not draw attention to themselves.

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that many holding cells at border crossings were less than half full, some even empty, when large numbers of asylum-seekers were asking CBP for protection and were being told to turn back and wait. However, the agency has also said that space isn't the only issue — having enough officers to process asylum-seekers is also a factor in telling people to wait.

Todd Owen, CBP assistant commissioner for the Office of Field Operations, in another deposition in the case, said the agency doesn't pull officers to process asylum-seekers over counterterrorism and narcotics missions.

"There are certain priority missions within CBP that we do not pull officers off of to process the migrants," Owen said. "We will not sacrifice the counterterrorism mission. We will not sacrifice the narcotics mission."

So, the Trump administration directed CBP officials to lie to the US public and put asylum seekers at-risk because...

Let's just cut to the chase. Because this administration is deeply racist and has its immigration policy being run by a known white supremacist sympathizer, Stephen Miller.

[Zaydin]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...asylum-seekers



So, the Trump administration directed CBP officials to lie to the US public and put asylum seekers at-risk because...

Let's just cut to the chase. Because this administration is deeply racist and has its immigration policy being run by a known white supremacist sympathizer, Stephen Miller.

Sympathizer? That's sugar coating it. Stephen Miller is a white supremacist and his own family have called him such. He's also a sexist pig if the story about him jumping into the middle of a womans track meet to prove men were athletically superior to women is true.

[Breccia]

That said, there is a backlog of over one million cases in the immigration courts. "Not enough space" is a lie, but there's a grain of truth in it. It's just millet or barley or one of the other shitty grains.

[GreenJesus]

Wait.. I thought people were being stuffed into cages with thousands of people piled on top of each other? Are they full or are they not?

[Xeones]

Wait.. I thought people were being stuffed into cages with thousands of people piled on top of each other? Are they full or are they not?

That is people caught on US soil.

Asylum seekers are people who go to legal ports of entry and apply.

[GreenJesus]

That is people caught on US soil.

Asylum seekers are people who go to legal ports of entry and apply.

I see. But like above: They are backlogged by 1 million cases and were only able to complete 250,000 all of 2019. To me that sounds like they are currently at capacity. Maybe the facility can physically hold them, but they would just be waiting there for months if not years right?

[Edge-]

Wait.. I thought people were being stuffed into cages with thousands of people piled on top of each other? Are they full or are they not?

It's almost like they could both be packed into some facilities leading to unsafe conditions, while being kept out of other empty facilities because CBP was directed to lie.

There is no contradiction, and I'm not sure where you'd even get this from.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

So sabotaging the systems weren’t enough there just flat out disregarding them and breaking the law doing so? I wonder how people who are against illegals because they broke the law feel about this I’d be surprised if it was ever actually about the law at all and hey would stand against this.

[Breccia]

Wait.. I thought people were being stuffed into cages with thousands of people piled on top of each other? Are they full or are they not?

I want you to think very hard about the point that you're trying to make: that your two choices are
1) government officials are intentionally being ordered to lie, or
2) government officials are mistreating people including allowing them to die, or
3) both.

There is no good way out of this for a Trump defender.

[GreenJesus]

I want you to think very hard about the point that you're trying to make: that your two choices are
1) government officials are intentionally being ordered to lie, or
2) government officials are mistreating people including allowing them to die, or
3) both.

There is no good way out of this for a Trump defender.

Who said I'm a trump supporter? I just didnt understand how there can be all this news of facilities being jam packed full and then now I am hearing of them not being full but in fact have plenty of room. Thanks to Edge it turns out there are 2 different types of facilities.

[TEHPALLYTANK]

Who said I'm a trump supporter? I just didnt understand how there can be all this news of facilities being jam packed full and then now I am hearing of them not being full but in fact have plenty of room. Thanks to Edge it turns out there are 2 different types of facilities.

That you weren't already aware of the fact that detention centers aren't the same thing as ports of entry is somewhat alarming.

[Powerogue]

So sabotaging the systems weren’t enough there just flat out disregarding them and breaking the law doing so? I wonder how people who are against illegals because they broke the law feel about this I’d be surprised if it was ever actually about the law at all and hey would stand against this.

Maybe we should deport these people who instructed them to lie to Mexico! Two-for-one problem solving.

[Endus]

That said, there is a backlog of over one million cases in the immigration courts. "Not enough space" is a lie, but there's a grain of truth in it. It's just millet or barley or one of the other shitty grains.

Of course, the reason there's a backlog is, again, systemic opposition to resolving these issues in a timely and dedicated manner. It's deliberately created, to make immigration more irksome and difficult, to hopefully convince many to not even apply, or to pull their application due to the delays.

It's entirely manufactured and deliberate. These kinds of systemic permanent backlogs don't arise by accident, they arise by deliberately shortchanging the system so they can't process the demand effectively.

[PosPosPos]

Who said I'm a trump supporter?

You aren't a Trump supporter, just someone who conveniently apologizes for him and his administration with every post you make....oh wait, that makes you a Trump supporter.

[announced]

The practice, known as metering or queuing, was started by the Obama administration

Just another one of those things we can thank Obama for. That guy was full of some good ideas.

Perhaps we should just use the migrant protection policy and have them wait back in Mexico or one of the other countries?

Also, why didn't the media cover this issue as extensively back then when they did now? I remember them providing about 2 minutes of coverage for Obama, and around 20 hours for Trump.

[Egomaniac]

The practice, known as metering or queuing, was started by the Obama administration

Just another one of those things we can thank Obama for. That guy was full of some good ideas.

Perhaps we should just use the migrant protection policy and have them wait back in Mexico or one of the other countries?

Also, why didn't the media cover this issue as extensively back then when they did now? I remember them providing about 2 minutes of coverage for Obama, and around 20 hours for Trump.

I like how you conveniently cut off your quote just before the "and expanded by President Donald Trump."

[Xyonai]

The practice, known as metering or queuing, was started by the Obama administration

Just another one of those things we can thank Obama for. That guy was full of some good ideas.

Perhaps we should just use the migrant protection policy and have them wait back in Mexico or one of the other countries?

Also, why didn't the media cover this issue as extensively back then when they did now? I remember them providing about 2 minutes of coverage for Obama, and around 20 hours for Trump.

I like how this doesn't refute anything but, rather, just dredges up the same 'Obummer Started the Cages!' tripe that's been argued to death already. But to reiterate for the folks in the back:

Obama might have started these policies, but Trump's administration has only made them worse. And, fuck, at least Obama actually deported people instead of keeping them in deliberately over-packed internment camps for the lulz.

[PosPosPos]

I like how you conveniently cut off your quote just before the "and expanded by President Donald Trump."

I liked it too, but more for the reason how every time something like this happens it just further proves my theory that dishonesty and bad faith is a hard requirement for being a Trump supporter.

[Dontrike]

The practice, known as metering or queuing, was started by the Obama administration

Just another one of those things we can thank Obama for. That guy was full of some good ideas.

Perhaps we should just use the migrant protection policy and have them wait back in Mexico or one of the other countries?

Also, why didn't the media cover this issue as extensively back then when they did now? I remember them providing about 2 minutes of coverage for Obama, and around 20 hours for Trump.

You know why the focus on Trump, because he has only expanded what has started, used it more, and made it worse.

By your logic we shouldn't blame those that use guns for murder, but instead the inventor of guns.

[announced]

I like how you conveniently cut off your quote just before the "and expanded by President Donald Trump."

I like it too. High 5 good buddy.
I knew someone in the thread would remind me, it's not like you really have to search hard to find that information and I just wanted to bring up the fact that is often overlooked. Most of these policies weren't started by Trump.

I like how this doesn't refute anything but, rather, just dredges up the same 'Obummer Started the Cages!' tripe that's been argued to death already. But to reiterate for the folks in the back:

Obama might have started these policies, but Trump's administration has only made them worse. And, fuck, at least Obama actually deported people instead of keeping them in deliberately over-packed internment camps for the lulz.

You do bring up a good point, Obama did a way better job of deporting people. This is something Trump can learn from, and that's why I'm suggesting that we use the Migrant protection policy so we can empty out most of the holding facilities and that takes care of the crowded issue.

You know why the focus on Trump, because he has only expanded what has started, used it more, and made it worse.

By your logic we shouldn't blame those that use guns for murder, but instead the inventor of guns.

This may come as a surprise to you, but Obama didn't invent guns either. Gun crime has existed since guns were invented, and so far it's been at a record low.
Don't believe me? That's okay, because I have this link https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...se-not-better/ to help explain things better. The TLDR version is the media is constantly reporting on shootings. If the shooter is white or of a similar skin color, they can pass him off as a white supremacist and cover the story for weeks. If he's black, it's gone in less than 24 hours. Poof. Like magic. They also don't seem to cover any gang related shootings or whatever happens in Detroit because, reasons.

Honestly I think the problem with gun violence is related to mental illness, and we need to do more to address that.

Back to my first point, it's hard to say if they did not have enough space or they did, and this guy was just given the wrong information or what happened. We'll have to wait till the story develops before jumping to conclusions.