President Barack Obama’s porous Southern border along with virtually non-existent immigration enforcement are attracting illegal immigrants from all over the globe.
China recently passed Mexico as the top country for immigration to the United States. However, as the word circulates about the easy illegal immigration policy of the United States, illegal immigrants from all corners of the globe a flocking toward the U.S..
The U.S. cannot expect help from the impoverished nations of Central America:
The circuitous Panama route has become more attractive, say migration experts, thanks to the easing of visa and asylum requirements in some South American countries and an unwillingness by some governments on the route to carry out mass deportations.
That has opened the door to migrants arriving in South America by plane or cargo ship who head overland toward the isthmus from Brazil. Then, facing miles of dense, roadless jungle, they have a choice: cross on foot or pay gangs to ferry them around it on flimsy coastal-fishing boats.
Boats are quicker but more expensive. And while Panama turns back anyone who disembarks without a passport, it allows in those emerging from the jungle route without documentation because there isn’t a nearby Colombian outpost to return them to. There also aren’t direct flights from Panama to Africa and Asia.
For example, Panama basically has the same catch-and-release policy as the Obama Administration.
In the first three months of 2015 alone, Panama processed about 3,800 migrants on the route, roughly 1,000 of whom came through the jungle.
Most migrants crossing through the jungle turn themselves in, knowing they can receive temporary refuge and be sent on their way if they pass criminal checks. Panama says it releases most, offering paperwork to apply for asylum or refugee status. Most slip away and continue north, police say.
Crossing the dangerous Panamanian jungle would seem to be a deterrent to illegal immigrants but according to them, the risk of snakebite, dehydration or disease pales in comparison to the reward they can receive courtesy of Barack Obama once they reach the U.S.
African migrants interviewed in Panama said they head to the U.S., rather than Europe, because they believe they are more likely to get a job and refuge there.
The great influx of illegal immigrants have created support systems which have figured out the best way to scam the system and get illegals into the U.S. For example, the human smugglers know the magic word at the U.S. border is asylum.
Many Africans and Asians who make it to Paya have ditched their passports long before, often on the advice of people smugglers in Brazil who warn that they will be deported if they have documents showing their visas have run out; others never had legal travel documents. Authorities transfer them to holding centers like the one in Metetí, fingerprint them and cross-check with U.S. and other databases for criminal history and terrorist links.
Most continue toward America. U.S. policy allows Cubans to seek residency. People who can claim political, religious or other persecution in their home countries—such as Somalis fleeing a militant group—are more likely to be allowed to remain and seek asylum.
It appears American immigration policy acting as a magnet for illegal immigrants from all over the globe including countries which sponsor terrorism.
There can be no doubt Obama’s increasingly lax illegal immigration policies are contributing to the misery of the human trafficking trade and to the sorrow of reckless treks through inhospitable terrain.
