Obama Administration orders border patrol sectors across the country to stand down

11/18/11 Cary Rapini Tea Party Patriots Citizen Journalist
cary.rapini@tppjournalism.org

The order was received by Border Patrol Sectors in September, 2011, soon after the Obama administration announced that it would allow many undocumented people to remain in the U.S. while it focused on deporting those who have committed crimes.
The Northern Border, shared with Canada, is the longest in the world, 5,525 miles.

The order had not been made public when the Associated Press, on 10/28/11, reported that the US Border Patrol had stopped routinely searching buses, trains and airports for illegal immigrants at transportation hubs along the northern border and in the nations interior.
Two agents described the order to the AP, on condition of anonymity, stated:
“…checks of transportation hubs and systems located away from the southwest border of the United States will only be conducted if there is intelligence indicating a threat.”
“Those who have received the orders said agents still may go to train and bus stations and airports if they have specific “actionable intelligence” that there is an illegal immigrant there who recently entered the country. An agent in Washington State said it’s not clear how agents are supposed to glean such intelligence, and even if they did, under the new directive they still require clearance from Washington, D.C., headquarters before they can respond.”
The AP reported that an agent in upstate New York stated that last month he received the new directive from a senior manager. Instead of checking buses or trains it was said that agents have spent shifts sitting in their vehicles gazing out at Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where few illegal immigrants cross.
Jack Barker, the manager of the Greyhound and Trailways bus station in Rochester, N.Y. said that for the past six years Border Patrol agents boarded nearly every bus in and out of the station looking for illegal immigrants. The day after the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the agents stopped coming.
Gene Davis is a retired deputy chief in the Border Patrol’s sector in Blaine, Washington. He believes the checks are effective. He stated to the AP that a check of the Bellingham bus station in 1997 resulted in the arrest of Palestinian Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer. Abu Mezer paid a $5,000 bond and then disappeared. He was later shot in Brooklyn by New York police where he was preparing to bomb the city’s subway system. Davis stated: “We’ve had two terrorists who have come through the northern border here — to put these restraints on agents being able to talk to people is just ridiculous,” Davis said. “Abu Mezer got out, but that just shows you the potential that’s there with the transportation checks.”
Doug Honig is a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington. He stated that: “If the Border Patrol is indeed not boarding buses and trains and engaging in the random questioning of people, that’s a step in the right direction,” he said. “People shouldn’t be questioned by government officials when there’s no reason to believe they’ve done anything wrong.” http://doiop.com/Obama-admimistration-scales-back
On 10/30/11 the stabbing death of a 45 year old woman, Kathleen Byham, outside a Wal-Mart parking lot, in Albion NY, has again raised questions regarding US border security. Charged with second degree murder was an illegal immigrant and Honduran national and on 11/09/11 the Orleans NY County Sheriff’s Department charged two other men, both illegal immigrants from Mexico, with first degree attempted robbery and fourth degree conspiracy in connection to the Wal-Mart stabbing.” http://doiop.com/two-more-charged
Bob Lonsberry is a radio personality on WHAM radio, in Rochester, NY. In an article he wrote on 11/1/11, regarding the stabbing death of Kathleen Byham, he wrote the following: “…She didn’t know the attacker and his friends, and they didn’t know her. ..Nor do we know if any of the three would have been apprehended by the Border Patrol if the Obama Administration hadn’t shut down bus and train screening. But while you can’t be certain if doing something would have caught them, you can know without a doubt that doing nothing certainly didn’t catch them…And the politicians, people and agencies who facilitate the presence of illegal aliens in Orleans, Monroe, Erie and adjoining counties have blood on their hands…Ditto for the politicians. Local Congresswoman Louise Slaughter has one of the most illegal-alien friendly voting records in the House of Representatives. She has repeatedly voted against securing the border and giving local and state law-enforcement officers the power to question suspected illegal aliens. Senator Chuck Schumer, for his part, is a repeated promoter of massive amnesty plans for illegal aliens. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has publicly ripped Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for doing their jobs.”

http://doiop.com/Lonsberry/Albion

Schumer, Charles E. – (D – NY)
322 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-6542
Web Form: www.schumer.senate.gov/Contact/contact_chuck.cfm

Gillibrand, Kirsten E. – (D – NY)
478 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
Web Form: www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/

Louise M. Slaughter
Washington D.C. Office 2469 Rayburn HOB Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3615
Fax: (202) 225-7822