Congress must act now amid reports of surging numbers at the border: ex-ICE acting director

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Over 100,000 migrants apprehended or turned away at southern border in April

Former ICE Acting Director Tom Homan reacts to the latest numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Former acting ICE director Tom Homan said on “Fox and Friends” Thursday morning that Congress needs to get its act together amid the news that over 100,000 migrants were apprehended or turned away at the southern U.S. border with Mexico in April.

“First of all, Congress needs to act. Look at those numbers, two thirds of those numbers are family units or Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC). Family units are coming because the word is out you bring a child you won't be detained,” he said.

“Over 80 percent don't show up in court and they are going to remain in the United States illegally until the next DACA comes up because this is your next DACA population, these children are brought into the country no fault of their own. If you look at the numbers, this all started in FY2012 and DACA was awarded by the Obama administration. That's when the surge even started,” he added.

“Over 80 percent don't show up in court and they are going to remain in the United States illegally until the next DACA comes up because this is your next DACA population, these children are brought into the country no fault of their own."

— Tom Homan

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In the figures released by immigration officials, 109,144 people were encountered trying to enter the U.S. illegally last month. Of those trying to cross, 58,474 were with families, and 8,897 were unaccompanied children.

Another 31,606 were single adults, according to border patrol figures. Of the nearly 110,000, 10,167 people were turned away at ports of entry, as they were deemed "inadmissible" by immigration authorities.

Homan says the reason there were nearly 9,000 children trying to enter the U.S. is due to the laws that provide incentives for parents to leave the fate of their children with smugglers.

“When the FY19 budget was signed, remember, the president shut the border down, put the committee together, came up with a bill. They put language in that bill, Democrats put language in the bill that clearly said ICE cannot take action against a parent responsible for UAC, they couldn't do any enforcement action at a household of UAC,” Homan said.

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“When that happened, I was screaming that week a lot on this program that that's going to result in an increase of children being smuggled into the United States because now parents and sponsors who hire a criminal organization to smuggle their child into the country can't be held accountable. It was ridiculous addition to the bill.”

“When that happened, I was screaming that week a lot on this program that that's going to result in increase of children being smuggled into the United States because now parents and sponsors who hire a criminal organization to smuggle their child into the country can't be held accountable."

— Tom Homan

He added: “I'm not surprised all the UACs are increasing. They put these children in the hands of criminal organizations. Parents and sponsors are here illegally. Their children are in Central America.”

The former ICE Director also said that if Congress isn’t going to its job, “we need to do operationally what Congress has failed to do legislatively.”

“ICE needs to do a nationwide operation. Look for family units and single adults who had their day in court or didn't show up in court and ordered removed by a federal judge. If those orders don't mean anything, if those orders aren't executed there is no integrity to our system,” Homan suggested.

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“I did this three and a half years ago and took a lot of heat from the democratic administration but it worked. Numbers on the borders dropped dramatically almost immediately. We have to show a consequence. Central Americans need to see families coming home. Brian: “