Sen. Hoeven: Illegal immigrants being given court dates 'three to four years' away, as crisis worsens

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Illegal immigrants given court dates 'three to four years' away: lawmaker

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., sounds off on 'Your World' after touring Biden border facilities.

Senate Appropriations Committee member John Hoeven, R-N.D., told Fox News on Tuesday that illegal immigrants who are given notice-to-appear tickets by federal immigration authorities are receiving court dates that are several years into the future, as the border crisis overwhelms government resources.

Hoeven told "Your World" that the flow of illegal immigrants has increased so exponentially, little is known about most of those coming across the Rio Grande river from Mexico.

He said that those illegally entering the United States from near Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico are being processed in a makeshift area under the Anzalduas International Bridge, which connects that city with Mission, Texas.

"What is happening is in some cases they were being processed under the bridge. We saw hundreds and hundreds of children and mothers and they essentially didn't go to the processing center," said Hoeven, who toured the border with 17 other Republican senators hosted by the border patrol union.

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"They were actually -- they go into town and like I said, are given a bus ticket and off they go. They're given a notice that they're supposed to appear in court, but in many cases that's not for three or four years," the North Dakota lawmaker continued.

Hoeven said giving illegal immigrants such a long gap between their entry and the adjudication of whether they are qualified to receive formal asylum essentially incentivizes more migrants from all over the world to come illegally.

"So think about it. They're being sent into the interior of the country. They may have a contact, may be a family member -- or maybe even the cartel because the cartels are operating in our country as well as on the border...Of course they don't come back for that."

Host Neil Cavuto noted, in that regard, that as the crisis continues, migrants from outside the so-called Central American "triangle countries" are attempting to enter the United States as well. 

He said some migrants have come from as far as Eritrea, on the Red Sea in East Africa.

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During his trip, Hoeven told Cavuto, he and the other lawmakers viewed things the Biden administration "wouldn't [show]", he claimed.

"We were in the Rio Grande Valley and saw the trails where minors were coming over the border illegally. They're processed for 8 or 9 hours ... and sent into McAllen. They're turned over to NGO's and they get on a bus and they go a off to wherever in the country.

"So once they're here and they go into the country, that's it. They're here. That's why they're coming. They know that's what's going on."