By: Jeffrey Klein, Political Buzz Examiner
Examiner.com
As Gov. Ronald Reagan famously said to President Jimmy Carter, during the Presidential debate in 1980 … “There you go again…”
Although compellingly titled, “Arrests of Illegals on the Border Drops to Lowest Point in 40 Years,” this Associated Press article today simply trotted out the same, smoke and mirrors “arrest statistic,” given to them by Homeland Security Secretary.
However, it appears to be a “manufactured” statistic.
As recently as April 19, 2011, FOXNews Jana Winter filed an exclusive article, which named and quoted Arizona sheriffs, their deputies, along with numerous current and retired Border Patrol agents, and even their labor union, who illustrated how this figure has been manipulated for nearly as long as it has been in use.
Larry Dever, Sheriff of Cochise County Arizona, said he had received about 100 messages from both active and retired border agents, relating their own ‘first-hand knowledge and experiences regarding how they were ordered to reduce arrests to decrease ‘apprehension statistics.’
“Upper management has advised supervisors to have agents ‘turn back South’ (TBS) the illegal aliens (aka bodies) they detect attempting to unlawfully enter the country … at times you even hear supervisors order the agents over the radio to ‘TBS’ the aliens instead of catching them.”
“This only causes more problems as the aliens, as you know, don’t just go back to Mexico and give up. They keep trying, sometimes without 10 minutes in-between attempts, to cross illegally. This makes the job for agents more dangerous. Not only are the aliens more defiant, they also begin to feel like they can get away with breaking our federal laws.”
“This is nothing new, during my career with the border patrol, this was done regularly,” said another email to Dever reviewed by FoxNews.com. “By assigning agents to different tasks, locations, etc., the apprehensions can be increased or decreased dramatically,” wrote Dan McCaskill Jr., a retired Border Patrol agent who worked in the Anti-Smuggling Unit.
McCaskill went on to describe how, he said, apprehension numbers were regularly manipulated to achieve various budget, equipment or manpower goals.
Paul Babeu, Sheriff of Pinal County, also testified at a Senate Homeland Security Committee last week, and said that his top lieutenant, Matt Thomas, reported … ‘Sheriff, I have heard that myself directly from border agents in the Tucson sector.’
Babeu said he’s been told by Border Patrol officials that an average of 2.7 succeed in crossing into the U.S. for every one apprehended–causing Babeu to be concerned that paramilitary or terror cells equipped with more sophisticated support and training could easily get through.
Why would President Obama and Democrats want to manipulate these numbers?
Because they view illegal aliens as future, compliant Democrat voters–who need to be converted, by whatever means, as soon as possible.
So, in order to help in the “public relations” of that task, the Associated Press layed out the Democrat strategy clearly, beginning in the first paragraph of the article … ‘The [lower number of arrests] development could change the debate on illegal immigration from securing the border to handling the people who are already here.’
Then, they set the political table for their debate argument … ‘Attempts to pass immigration reform legislation have repeatedly failed, with Republicans saying they will not support any bill that provides a path to legalization for illegal immigrants who are here and won’t consider other reforms until the border is secure.’
And finally, the ‘border is secure’ declaration by Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano (former Governor of Arizona) … “and it is clear from every measure we currently have that this approach is working.”
It sure is working–especially with Democrats in control of the measuring, and the Associated Press willing to report without the veracity of an investigation into the numbers.
Copyright (c) 2011 by Jeffrey Klein
