The mass invasion of criminals crossing the southern border has tasked U.S. attorneys with prosecuting a record-breaking number of offenses in fiscal year 2019.
The federal government’s fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, and prosecutors brought 115,000 charges against illegal immigrants for trying to elude Border Patrol agents. That number included 25,426 felony charges in 2019, the most ever in U.S. history.
The second and third highest number of illegals charged with felonies were 24,676 and 24,589 during the Obama Administration. More than 80,000 were charged with misdemeanors, and 4,300 with human trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“These record-breaking numbers are a testament to the dedication of our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the nation, especially our Southwest border offices,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen stated. “In addition to the usual workload of each case the Department prosecutes, this effort was made possible after our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices restored essential partnerships with national, state and local law enforcement partners.”
The number of prosecutions has skyrocketed by upwards of 420 percent since the George W. Bush Administration. The lure of free health care, taxpayer-funded welfare, and the promise of sanctuary cities have brought an avalanche of violent offenders into the country to the detriment of hard-working Americans. In response to the epidemic of border incursions, Democrats have proposed a variety of policies that would only increase the number of non-citizens slipping into the country.
Democrat presidential hopefuls including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Obama-era housing secretary Julián Castro have pushed to decriminalize unauthorized border crossings.
Although the Trump Administration has brought a record number of prosecutions, the majority of illegals do not face criminal charges. Many have slipped through the cracks by leveraging former “catch-and-release” loopholes and never showed up at their immigration or criminal hearings. America’s sons and daughters have also been subjected to violence perpetrated by murderers, sex offenders, and others, who penetrated the border.
Since taking office, Pres Trump has shined a spotlight on the heinous crimes the biased media refused to cover. Forcing their hand, everyday Americans are now seeing headlines about deadly Central American gangs such as MS-13, who infiltrated the country during the Obama years. The now-international gang has made headlines for brutal murders of teenagers in American communities. The criminal charges range from stabbing minors repeatedly to cutting out one youth’s heart who resisted MS-13. Law enforcement also reports MS-13 gangs are well known for importing and selling drugs.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the MS-13 gang is “aggressively recruiting the youngest and most vulnerable community members into the gang.” Customs and Border Protection reports that MS-13 gang arrests increased during the last fiscal year. Those numbers will only go up unless the U.S.-Mexico border is fully secured, and illegal immigration is put in check.
According to reports, the U.S. Justice Dept. completed approximately 275,000 court cases against immigrants in border-related offenses in fiscal year 2019. That ranks as the second-highest rate in the country’s history.
