I Prayed have prayed
Lord God, we pray for solutions for the border. We pray that this is a reasonable step in bringing order to our immigration process.

Legislation being introduced into the Senate is aimed to close the legal loopholes that allow hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to enter and stay in the United States without a valid asylum claim.

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-S.C.) bill, titled “Secure and Protect Act of 2019,” outlines four main fixes. The first is that asylum must be claimed in either the individual’s home country or in Mexico. That will prevent illegal immigrants from gaining access to the United States unless their claim is approved.

Under the current system, if an adult brings a child illegally into the United States and claims asylum, there is a 98 percent chance they will stay indefinitely. In some areas, where the Border Patrol is overwhelmed, fewer than 10 percent of illegal aliens claim asylum, but are still released after 48 to 72 hours.

The bill also provides a fix to the Flores Settlement Agreement, which was expanded by a judge in 2015 and has, in part, contributed to the surge in family units since then. In 2015, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of the Central District of California said no minor can be held in detention longer than 20 days. Previously, that rule only applied to unaccompanied minors, not those who were part of family units. The result is that families are released within a few days.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen estimated that 1 million illegal immigrants will be apprehended this fiscal year. The largest increase of illegal border crossers are family units. More than half of the 460,000 Border Patrol apprehensions so far this fiscal year are individuals within family units—a 400 percent increase over the same time period in fiscal 2018.

Graham’s bill would increase the time in detention to 100 days, which would allow for the adjudication of an asylum case, and a quick deportation if status is not granted.

“I’m trying to turn the faucet off. These loopholes are creating a humanitarian crisis,” Graham said in a press conference on May 15. “If we do nothing, what’s it going to look like next year?”

In conjunction, Graham wants an additional 500 immigration judges hired to help adjudicate the cases and clear the almost 900,000-case backlog that exits.

Lastly, the bill aims to even out the disparity in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), under which currently a minor from Mexico or Canada (a contiguous country) may be quickly returned to that country if they are not a victim of trafficking; minors from any other (noncontiguous) country cannot be returned.

“If you think this is a Trump-created problem, you really just hate Trump. Because this problem has been long in the making before Trump got here,” Graham said.

He said he will hold a hearing to discuss the bill and then a markup session. He expects Democrats to add amendments to the bill, including for more aid to Central American countries and some type of amnesty for a population of illegal immigrants in the United States, probably Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

He intimated he was open to adding both.

“To any Republican who doesn’t want to find a solution, then you own the problem,” he said. “The Democratic Party has marginalized this issue—they have told you this is not a problem, [that] Trump created this problem. When President Trump made his State of the Union speech, every Democrat said ‘This is just Trump hysteria, Trump demagoguery.’

“To my Democratic colleagues, your credibility on this issue is pretty low right now. You need to understand that you were wrong. This was a real problem.”

(Excerpted from The Epoch Times, article by Charlotte Cuthbertson)

You can continue to pray specifically about the immigration issues and our border crisis with the IFA Special Report, Crisis at the Border. Click below to download your free copy!

Comments (1) Print

Comments

Leave A Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Laura Nguyen
May 16, 2019

Lord, please bless this start to immigration reform. There is much to be done but stemming the flow is a good place to start. I pray that our government looks around to how other countries handle immigration and adopts the policies that would work in the US. Other countries do not grant the baby born to an illegal automatic citizenship. I pray that our government will see through the lies and tricks of undeserving immigrants and see the need for merciful asylum for the genuine applicants. Please bless the administrators working on these reforms with divine wisdom and tenacity. Let this issue become a point of unity for our country instead of division. We are a bountiful nation, Lord, and we thank You for that. Show us the right way to share what we have as we safeguard our resources and our citizens. In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Partner with Us

Intercessors for America is the trusted resource for millions of people across the United States committed to praying for our nation. If you have benefited from IFA's resources and community, please consider joining us as a monthly support partner. As a 501(c)3 organization, it's through your support that all this possible.

Dave Kubal
IFA President
Become a Monthly Partner

Share

Click below to share this with others

Log in to Join the Conversation

Log in to your IFA account to start a discussion, comment, pray, and interact with our community.