In a new and interesting twist on the ever-escalating immigration crisis, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) alleged during a House Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday that many illegal aliens crossing the U.S. border unlawfully “are not engaging in an illegal act” at all, but are actually following federal law.
Huh?
Yep. A supporter of President Obama’s unilateral (and highly disputable) declaration that Central American migrants fleeing long-standing high crime rates in their home countries qualify as “refugees” under federal law, Conyers argued during a hearing on the ongoing border crisis that family units who cross into the United States from Mexico without authorization are actually acting in accordance with U.S. immigration law.
From Conyers’ statement:
“Mothers and children requesting protection in the United States are not engaging in an illegal act. Rather, they are following our well-established asylum laws.”
Conyers then repeated the riff so often touted by amnesty supporters, claiming that “deporting Central American refugee mothers and children to a region struggling with a major humanitarian crisis is, in my view, simply, un-American.”
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency apprehended about 45,000 unaccompanied alien children (UACs) and family units at the Southwest U.S. border between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31. One CBP report read aloud during Thursday's hearing by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) estimates the agency could apprehend as many as 177,000 UACs and family units at the border by the end of the year.