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Arizona Lawmaker Aims to Send Border-Crossing Children Home Faster

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Photo Credit: Will Seberger / ZumaPress / Newscom By Josh Siegel.

Legislation proposed by an Arizona congressman would give federal officials authority to quickly screen and deport unaccompanied children from Central America who have crossed the Mexican border into the United States.

The bill from Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., would change a provision in a 2008 human-trafficking law that requires U.S. Border Patrol agents to turn over the children to the federal Department of Health and Human Services and guarantees those minors hearings in immigration court — a process that can take years.

Salmon, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, is part of a group assembled by Speaker John Boehner to address the border crisis.

“This is an issue he has been working to address for awhile,” said Tristan Daedalus, Salmon’s communications director, adding:

Basically, the crux of the bill is a small legal change that would give CBP [Customs and Border Patrol] agents the authority to immediately repatriate them back to their countries.

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Photo Credit: CBS 8Third group of migrants sent to San Diego

By Gene Kang, Shannon Handy and CNS.

Another group of undocumented Central American migrants arrived Monday in San Diego, continuing a process that has prompted intense opposition as well as widespread compassion for the plight of the exiles.

The group of about 140 immigrants, who entered the United States illegally in Texas, were flown into Lindbergh Field late this morning and then bused to a U.S. Border Patrol facility in San Ysidro for processing.

On Tuesday, an initial group of the same size arrived in San Diego and were driven to Murrieta, where crowds of angry protesters blocked their entrance to a USBP facility, prompting authorities to take them instead to San Ysidro.

The departure of the migrants from the Riverside area marked a victory for the roughly two dozen protesters who had gathered to decry the foreigners’ arrival there, many waving flags and others carrying signs reading “Stop Illegal Immigration” and “Return to Sender.”

Protesters have continued gathering at the Border Patrol facility in Murrieta. Some clashed with police on Friday while waiting to see if more migrants would be arriving.

San Diego, California News Station – KFMB Channel 8 – cbs8.com

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Krauthammer: 'If Fences Don't Work, Why Is There One Around The White House?'

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Photo Credit: TownHall The illegal immigration problem at the Southwest border is worse than it has ever been—tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors are coming into the U.S. at unprecedented rates. Border Patrol is overwhelmed and lacking adequate resources to handle the influx, and the administration’s proposed solutions to stem the tide are underwhelming to say the least…

BILL O’REILLY: How do you secure the border, Charles?

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Alright, here’s what I’ve been on for years. You start with a fence. It’s very simple. People say, ‘Oh, fences don’t work. You make a ladder.’ Well, then you build two fences, triple strand fences. San Diego did that in the mid 90’s and within a decade, the illegal immigration rate at that point was reduced by 90% and people ended up going through other places like Arizona.

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Town Won't Welcome Illegals Without a Fight

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Photo Credit: WNDBy Drew Zahn.

They’ve already turned the buses away once, and they’re prepared to do it again.

Murrieta, a booming city in Southern California that has grown from only 2,000 residents in 1980 to over 100,000 residents today, has unwillingly become a microcosm of the nation’s struggle to process the tens of thousands of illegal immigrant minors streaming across the U.S. border.

On July 1, when U.S. officials sought to bus illegal immigrants into Murrieta for processing to relieve the overcrowded centers in Texas, a reported 200 to 300 Murrieta residents stood in the roadway and effectively blocked the buses from delivering their passengers. The buses were forced to turn around and drive to a Border Patrol station instead.

But the feds aren’t relenting, promising more buses will come and setting up police tape and barricades to keep the roads clear.

Many of the residents, however, are not surrendering so easily.

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Photo Credit: AP / The Press-Enterprise, Sarah BurgeProtesters turn back busloads of illegal immigrants, as border stations overwhelmed

By William La Jeunesse.

America’s border crisis reached Main Street, as flag-waving protesters in a San Diego suburb turned back three busloads of illegal immigrants after the town’s mayor warned Tuesday that federal officials were using the community as a safety valve for facilities swamped by a tide of Central American refugees.

Fears of disease, crime and already-strained government services prompted Murrieta, Calif., Mayor Alan Long to rally residents against plans by the Department of Homeland Security to bus the children and families to a processing center in the city of 106,000 residents. Confronted by the protests, the buses were rerouted to San Diego.

“These people are fleeing a less desirable area — we all understand that, we’re compassionate for that, but those are concerns,” Long told Fox News. “We’ve asked a lot of questions, we wanted to make sure no stone went unturned so that we had certainty on what exactly we were getting. And when you start asking about the health screening that they claim they get — there’s a lot of gaps. They could not answer a lot of questions we had to give us certainty that the people on those buses were healthy.”

The three buses were trailed by a half-dozen news crews during the two-hour trip from the border to Murietta. After the buses were blocked, federal authorities rerouted the vehicles to a freeway and then to a customs and border facility in San Diego within view of the Mexico border.

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Obama to Pitch Immigration at Citizenship Ceremony

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Photo Credit: Getty Images By Darlene Superville.

President Barack Obama plans to highlight a positive side of the immigration debate by presiding over an Independence Day citizenship ceremony for service members who signed up to defend the U.S. even though they weren’t American citizens.

A total of 25 members of the Armed Forces will spend the Fourth of July as American citizens after the deputy secretary for homeland security delivers the oath of allegiance at a White House ceremony on Friday.

The group includes 15 active-duty service members from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, along with two veterans, one reservist and seven spouses, the White House said. They represent 15 countries.

The politically divisive immigration issue is earning renewed attention after the influx of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America who, under U.S. law, must be sent back across the border to their home countries. That has upset advocates of overhauling U.S. immigration policy who want Obama to allow the children to stay.

At the same time, Obama blames House Republicans for delaying action on an immigration overhaul. A comprehensive measure the Senate passed last year has been blocked by House leaders who also have done little to advance legislative proposals of their own.

citizenship ceremony

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Photo Credit: Gina Ferazzi, Los Angeles TimesProtesters gather at Murrieta to await buses of immigrants

By Tony Perry and Matt Hansen.

Protesters have gathered near the entrance to a Border Patrol facility in Murrieta, Calif., on Friday to await buses of undocumented immigrants, but whether those buses will arrive is unknown.

Unlike Tuesday when shouting, flag-waving protesters blocked three busloads of immigrants, Murrieta police Friday morning cleared the entry road.

The estimated 100 demonstrators, including those favoring the immigrants, were being restricted to a “safety zone” away from the road. Many had remained all night at the site, vowing a repeat of Tuesday’s blockade.

Authorities kept the road to the processing center clear and the protesters in check, although scuffles did break out. In total, Murrieta police arrested six people for obstructing officers including five who were detained during an afternoon altercation,

On Friday morning, one 56-year-old protester was cited for interfering with police, authorities said. Local police officers also had to step in and separate two groups of protesters who were arguing, but no one appeared to be injured or arrested following that confrontation.

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Rick Perry Calls for National Guard to Defend the Border

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreThe situation at the Texas border is getting worse by the day, and the federal government, who should be providing adequate resources to solve the issue is nowhere to be found.

Texas has seen an astronomical increase in unaccompanied children flooding across the border since October. Emergency stations have been converted to house the kids and resources to provide care are starting to dwindle.

In response to the situation, Texas created their own border security patrol units that have been working tirelessly to prevent illegals from coming across the border, but more help is needed.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling on the government to send National Guard troops down to the border to militarize the area in order to reduce the number of illegals entering the country.

Read more from this story HERE.

Ranchers Told "Look the Other Way or Face the Consequences"

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Photo Credit: KRGVRanchers along the Rio Grande say immigrant smugglers threaten them constantly.

One Cameron County rancher said smugglers ordered him to look the other way or face the consequences.

The landowner said smugglers are using trails on his property to bring illegal immigrants into the country.

The rancher said he fears for his safety.

“You don’t see anything; you don’t talk to anybody,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Buses With Migrant Families Rerouted Amid Protests (+video)

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Photo Credit: myfoxla.comBy Hal Eisner.

Mayor Alan Long stands before a packed auditorium at Murrieta Mesa High School to talk about what he says is a “very controversial” subject. The audience is filled with those who are upset that migrants are illegally crossing the border in Texas and being flown to Riverside County for processing in, among several places, Murrieta.

He tells those assembled that “Wside you’re on we can agree there must be change.” There is applause. He says the fact is that the Federal Government wants to bring 140 people every 72 hours… indefinitely. And, as he told me earlier at City Hall, that is a concern for the city.

Supervisor Jeff Stone tells the audience “We have a lack of political will to protect our borders which is a Federal responsibility. He says the Federal Government needs to “stop this action of exporting frightened and traumatized women and children from Central American countries for nothing more than satisfying a political agenda.” He says “these are human beings. We do not make border policy. We have a responsibility to make sure those who come into our country are free of communicable diseases. We have always been humanitarian and must provided social services. But, must react in a peaceful and orderly way and, demand the Congress immediately secure our borders. They must enforce current immigration laws.

Los Angeles News | FOX 11 LA KTTV

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HHS Bars Congressman from Seeing Immigrant Children

By Joel Gehrke.

A Health and Human Services official refused to allow a member of Congress to enter a facility in his district where some of the unaccompanied immigrant children are being housed.

Representative Jim Bridenstine (R., Okla.) was told he could schedule an appointment for July 21. “​What are they trying to hide?” Bridenstine said after the incident. “​Do they not want the children to speak with Members of Congress? As a Navy pilot, I have been involved in operations countering illicit human trafficking. I would like to know to whom these children are being released.”

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Medical Staff Warned: Keep your Mouths Shut About Illegal Immigrants or Face Arrest

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Photo Credit: Fox News By Todd Starnes.

A government-contracted security force threatened to arrest doctors and nurses if they divulged any information about the contagion threat at a refugee camp housing illegal alien children at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, sources say.

In spite of the threat, several former camp workers broke their confidentiality agreements and shared exclusive details with me about the dangerous conditions at the camp. They said taxpayers deserve to know about the contagious diseases and the risks the children pose to Americans. I have agreed to not to disclose their identities because they fear retaliation and prosecution.

“There were several of us who wanted to talk about the camps, but the agents made it clear we would be arrested,” a psychiatric counselor told me. “We were under orders not to say anything.”

The sources said workers were guarded by a security force from the Baptist Family & Children’s Services, which the Department of Health and Human Services hired to run the Lackland Camp.

The sources say security forces called themselves the “Brown Shirts.”

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: 10NewsControversy awaits as immigrants arrive in SD

By 10News Digital Team.

A plane carrying 140 undocumented immigrants, including lone children, landed at Lindbergh Field in San Diego Tuesday afternoon amid a brewing crisis over a surge of Central Americans crossing the U.S. border to escape poverty and crime in their home countries.

The charter jet from Texas left McAllan International Airport Tuesday morning. The immigrants were set to be bussed to Murrieta, where they would be processed at a Border Patrol office.

Awaiting them in Murrieta will be protesters.

This comes after President Obama in a news conference Monday called the spike in immigrants crossing into the U.S. through Texas a “humanitarian crisis.” On Monday, he asked for more than $2 billion to help with the situation. The president said he will go around Congress and shift resources to the border by the end of summer.

The U.S. is seeing a surge of immigrants from Central America due to rampant crime there, with a large number of those being unaccompanied children who are seeking to join their families.

Read more from this story HERE.

Protesters Force Buses Carrying Immigrants to Leave Murrieta: Buses Diverted to San Ysidro

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Photo Credit: Twitter A group of 140 Central American migrants who entered the United States illegally were flown from Texas to Lindbergh Field on Tuesday and then bused to a U.S. Border Patrol facility in Murrieta, where crowds of angry protesters prompted authorities to take them instead to San Ysidro.

The drivers of the three Department of Homeland Security coaches backed away from the Riverside County USBP facility and got onto southbound Interstate 15 in the late afternoon, re-entering San Diego County about 3:30 p.m.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack declined to disclose where the migrants were being taken, but by late afternoon, the buses were seen pulling into a Customs and Border Protection facility in San Ysidro.

According to Ron Zermeno, who is with the National Border Patrol Council, less than a dozen EMTs were conducting health screenings on the immigrants Tuesday evening. Paramedics are on scene supervising the screenings.

He told 10News two to three children were taken to the hospital for “unknown illnesses.” Their conditions were unknown. Zermeno says they are anticipating more could be taken to the hospital because many are unhealthy.

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Boy's Death Highlights Danger of Border Crossings

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Photo Credit: APWhen authorities found an 11-year-old Guatemalan boy’s body about a mile from Texas’ southern border, they also discovered his brother’s Chicago phone number scribbled on the inside of his belt buckle.

The boy, wearing “Angry Birds” jeans, black leather boots and a white rosary around his neck, had apparently gotten lost on his way north from his native country and was found about two weeks ago, alone in the brush less than a mile from the nearest U.S. home, a South Texas sheriff said Monday.

While hundreds of immigrants die crossing the border each year, the discovery of Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez’s decomposed body in the Rio Grande Valley on June 15 highlights the perils unaccompanied children face as the U.S. government searches for ways to deal with record numbers of children crossing into the country illegally.

“Down here finding a decomposed body … we come across them quite often,” Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said, adding that this was the first child immigrant his office has found since he became sheriff in April. “It’s a very dangerous journey.”

More than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended entering the U.S. illegally since October, creating what President Barack Obama has called an “urgent humanitarian situation.” On Monday, Obama asked Congress for more money and additional authority to deal with the surge of youths, mostly from Central America. Obama wants flexibility to speed the youths’ deportations and $2 billion to hire more immigration judges and open more detention facilities.

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