Thread by @CIS_org

Our #BorderCrisisPanel with Tom Homan and Sheriff Andy Louderback will begin at 9:30am EST. We will be live-tweeting the event here.

cis.org/Press-Release/…

"This is an imperative humanitarian, security, and sovereignty issue at the southern border. People in Congress are talking past each other, so we have here some authorities to discuss the issue." -@MarkSKrikorian introducing guests Tom Homan and Sheriff @AndyLouderback.

"Nothing happens on the northern border of Mexico without the blessing of the cartels. For aliens to be smuggled through, they have to pay them off. What's happening at our southern border is making these cartels very rich. We're bankrolling them." -Tom Homan

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"People talk about deaths in ICE custody. The city of New York has eight times the number of deaths in custody than ICE does. ICE's rate is lower than nearly every penal system in this country. The problem is that when people come into ICE custody, many are in bad shape." -Homan

"The people in Congress complaining about the conditions of people in custody are the very same people who are not giving the funding to make those facilities better. What have they done to address the crisis at all? What has Congress done?" -Tom Homan

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"We need to end the Flores settlement so we keep these families long enough to see a judge. When we did that, 90% of them lost their cases, and we sent them right home on planes. And guess what? The numbers dropped." -Tom Homan

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"Geographically I sit on a Texas corridor out of Mexico. I partner with the government to try to stop the flow to the #1 human trafficking hub in the US, which is Houston. What's being done to my state is terrible. This has been created by Congress." -Sheriff @AndyLouderback

"In Texas, we make very few arrests for methamphetamine cooks. We used to arrest thousands. Why? Today, pharmaceutical grade meth out of Mexico is what we're catching. Meth and fentanyl is making its way into Texas and across the US." -@AndyLouderback

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"We have a situation in America where Congress won't fund CBP, but then they complain loudly that the people whom CBP is responsible for aren't being taken care of. I'd implore people to check the facts, not just the rhetoric." -@AndyLouderback

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"First I'd like to quantify this issue. Since reaching a low in the number of aliens apprehended in April 2017 of 15,798, the number has skyrocketed to over 144,000 last month. If current trends continue, over 1 million will be apprehended this year." -Art Arthur

"People say apprehensions are still lower than the all-time high of 1.6 million. But back then, the aliens were single Mexican men who could be quickly turned around, and most of them would come back up to seven times. So it was more like 300,000-400,000 people." -Art Arthur

"Most aliens turned themselves into officers. Why would they do that? Because they knew they could take advantage of the loopholes that would allow them to successfully enter the US." -Art Arthur

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"HHS has to take custody of those children before they can be placed with sponsors. That's by law, which was introduced by Zoe Lofgren and amended by Democrats in 2008. HHS doesn't have the money to take custody of those kids because Congress hasn't given it to them." -Art Arthur

"Families are held for ransom. Smugglers know that they have the parents when they have the kids, and they can demand anything they want. You can imagine what the worst criminals on the face of this earth demand--and they do." -Art Arthur on child smuggling

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Art Arthur lists the three loopholes that are driving the current crisis:

- Flores settlement
- TVPRA
- Low credible fear standards

The crisis won't abate until those loopholes are closed.

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"The primary loophole migrants are exploiting is Flores...Under a July 2016 decision interpreting Flores, it said DHS can only detain alien minors for 20 days regardless of whether they're accompanied. Flores encourages parents to hire smugglers to bring their children here."

"Parents bring their children on this perilous journey because they know, due to Flores, that their kids will be released within 20 days.

So every time you hear about a child dying on the border, know where responsibility lies. This is drawing children to the U.S." -Art Arthur

"There have been 37 injunctions against the Trump administration in the first two years. There were just 2 against Obama. Activist judges are stepping in to an area of the law they know nothing about, and creating unintended consequences they don't care about." -Art Arthur

"The next loophole is TVPRA. Under TVPRA, aliens from non-contiguous countries have to be transferred to HHS within 72 hours. This encourages these aliens to pay smugglers. How do I know that? Because 78% of those children are released to parents without status." -Art Arthur

"The final loophole is aliens claiming to have credible fear...Credible fear is found in 75 - 90% of all cases, yet only 12% of aliens who claim credible fear actually get asylum. It's no wonder that even gang members are claiming credible fear now." -Art Arthur

"Congress should raise the standard for credible fear to ensure that the number of cases in which aliens claim credible fear more closely matches the aliens who actually get asylum. Until that's done, more aliens will exploit this loopholes." -Art Arthur

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Q: If you were the moderator for the Democratic debates, what would you ask the candidates?

Tom Homan: 'How will you address this crisis?'
Art Arthur: 'Do you agree with Barbara Jordan that those who should get in get in, and those who should be kept out are kept out?'

"People talk about 'kids in cages.' I was there when it was built. It was under Obama and Jeh Johnson. They were built in 2015. As far as 'for profit detention centers', they do it a hell of a lot cheaper than the government can. The private facilities are our best." -Tom Homan

"A lot of the misunderstanding is that ICE facilities are one thing. Border Patrol is holding some of these kids until they can be transferred. They're two different things. So these 'cages', which are fences--those are just Border Patrol holding facilities." -@MarkSKrikorian

"By the way, the only purpose of these chain-link fences, which they're calling cages, is to protect the kids by keeping them separated from unsafe strangers and adults." -Tom Homan

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"With respect to refusing to sell beds to detention facilities, what will that do? Just keep kids from having beds? And the same people complaining about the facilities are doing this? Agents are already stuck paying for diapers and formula for the migrants." -Art Arthur

"We literally cannot, by law, release these kids into the country and to sponsors until we've vetted them with HHS. So if you don't like the law, change the law! Only Congress has the ability to do that." -Art Arthur on complaints from Democratic congressmen

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"Mexico is stepping up enforcement. They're attacking the cartels' transportation infrastructure and financials. ICE, through HSI, can certainly assist in that. That's one thing Congress must understand--they are bankrolling the cartels." -Tom Homan

"Trump said aliens can't claim asylum if they cross between ports. Then activists stopped him from doing that. Well, congratulations! You just took a bunch of people who would've shown up legally at ports, and threw them right back in the cartel's hands." -Tom Homan

"When marijuana got legalized, the cartels tore up their marijuana fields and started growing poppy for heroin. I see people in Baltimore nodding off on heroin because they can't stand up. That heroin is coming from Mexico." -Art Arthur

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"Cartels charge around 1,000 bucks a head for each alien crossing over. So 144,000 aliens cross in a month? That's $144 million dollars going to drug cartels in just one month, for doing nothing. Just for letting the aliens pass through." -Art Arthur

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"This whole thing started after DACA. Families come across and figure, 'Well, I'll be in the next DACA.' They hide out and wait for the next amnesty giveaway, rather than listen to our laws." -Tom Homan

"I have little faith in the Mexican authorities to control their side. And the federal government can't do this alone. This has to be coordinated--federal, state, and local, all working against cartels. The travel routes are the main hub. Choke those routes.' -@AndyLouderback

"When I was ICE Director, I made news saying we'd increase work-site enforcement 400%, and we did. If Congress passed E-Verify, that would certainly help. We gotta take away the magnet. People hire illegal aliens for one reason: to undercut their competition." -Tom Homan

"There is no downside to securing this border. Give me one. What's one downside to making it more secure? Less illegal immigration, less drugs, weaker criminal organizations. If we really, really need the people, have them come legally." -Tom Homan

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Tom Homan on DHS shakeup: "He hit the reset button. As far as the new replacements, I think they're good people...As far as the Border Czar job, I haven't yet taken it. I'd never say never, because I love this president."

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"Right now, we have DOJ, HHS, DOL, DHS, all of which have control over immigration in one way or another. All of those functions need to be coordinated. So yes, we do need a border czar, who has jurisdiction over all those departments." -Art Arthur

"I just beat a lawsuit from the ACLU trying to stop me from having the only sheriff's 287(g) program in Virginia. We've gotten so far in the attacks on law enforcement that they don't even want cooperation to get criminal aliens in jails." -Sheriff Jenkins of Culpeper, Virginia

"287(g) lets local agencies assist with enforcement of the federal laws. It's something many sheriffs in this country support." -Sheriff @AndyLouderback

"It amazes me that we get any push-back on 287(g). It only affects criminals." -Art Arthur

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"We had a case in Maryland where a girl was forced into prostitution by MS-13, so they beat her with a baseball bat. Twelve miles from the White House. How can that happen? Well, because it was in a sanctuary county." -Art Arthur

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"The left tells us people are coming here from the Northern Triangle because they're fleeing violence. Who commits the violence? MS-13. And where does MS-13 get their money? Well, mostly from their members who are in the United States!" -Art Arthur

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"Democrats are saying, 'ICE is out of control! Focus on the criminals!' Then, right after, they promote sanctuary cities so we can't keep the criminals in jail. How can you have it both ways? They're the ones forcing us into the immigrant neighborhoods" -Tom Homan

"I've been called every name in the book. My public affairs officer asked me if I had a Facebook and Twitter, I said nope. And she said, 'You should keep it that way.'

But I don't care. Call me any name. If people saw what I saw on the border, they wouldn't argue." -Tom Homan

"I once saw an alien drunk, carrying around a human leg with him, after the traffickers got to him. I've seen the dead bodies stranded along the trails. A five-year-old boy who died from suffocation locked in the back of a tractor trailer. We have got to stop this crisis." -Homan

"When you've seen what I've seen for 34 years, you realize there's another side to the story. Horrific cartels. I'll never forget the things they've done to these people. Children dying, women raped. We need to stop bankrolling these people. That's why I do what I do." -Tom Homan

And that concludes our #BorderCrisisPanel. The transcript will be up tomorrow.