Over 1,000 migrants with criminal histories have traveled to the US-Mexico border since October: DHS

The way the media tells it, the mostly Central American migrants who have traveled in caravans to the U.S.-Mexico border since last year are helpless “refugees,” mostly women and children, fleeing poverty and crime.

But according to newly released data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), over 1,000 caravan migrants who traveled to the U.S. since October 2018 had “criminal histories,” and hundreds had convictions for crimes like murder and sexual assault.

The data was provided to Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee in May.

Criminal caravans?

As migrant “caravans” have become a feature of American discourse on immigration, the left has strained to downplay any threat they may pose to national security. For months, mainstream media outlets and Democrats have pushed the narrative that the caravan migrants are innocents fleeing poverty and crime, and there is, in fact, no border “crisis.”

But it looks like President Donald Trump’s instincts were right. According to the DHS data, at least several hundred of the caravan migrants in the last nine months had criminal histories, including some with charges of sexual violence and murder.

The big caravan of 8,000 that left Latin America in October and made landfall near Tijuana, Mexico around the holiday season included 660 migrants with criminal convictions, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Forty of those convictions were for assault or assault with a deadly weapon, and three were for murder.

Another caravan in January 2019 of 3,300 that departed from Honduras included 860 with criminal histories, including “over 20 convicted of assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, nearly 30 convicted of sexual offenses, two convicted of violence against law enforcement, and one convicted of attempted murder.”

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is tracking several caravans moving through Mexico, each more than 1,000 strong, according to the data.

The data was revealed in a letter to acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan by Republicans who viewed it, including Oversight Ranking Member Rep. Jim Jordan (OH) and Rep. Mark Meadows (NC). In the letter, the Republicans asked for the migrants’ arrest warrants and court records, as well as information about current efforts by the DHS to track criminals in current caravans heading for the border.

Crisis at the border

According to immigration authorities, illegal immigration is reaching crisis levels. Authorities apprehended 133,000 migrants in May, a 13-year record that is especially troubling given the DHS data, which undercuts the Democrat talking point — repeated continuously over the last year or so — that the caravans consist mostly, if not entirely, of peaceful migrants.

The Trump administration has struggled to respond to the ongoing crisis at the border, as an influx of illegal migrants and asylum seekers, especially migrant families, have overwhelmed the ability of the federal government to house and process them. With nowhere to keep incoming migrants, thousands have been dumped into the interior, leaving volunteer groups in border cities scrambling to provide food and shelter.

To get control of the crisis, President Trump has urged reform to eliminate frivolous asylum cases from backlogged immigration courts. The president has often complained that current policy enables “catch and release,” in which migrants waiting for their cases to be processed enter the interior of the country and remain indefinitely.

Trump made some inroads earlier this month after inking a deal with the Mexican government to boost border enforcement. The deal dropped tariffs that Trump had threatened against Mexico in exchange for expanding the “Remain in Mexico” policy, in which asylum seekers are brought to the Mexican side of the border while their claims are processed. Mexico also agreed to crack down on human trafficking and drug smuggling.

The DHS report comes amid a flare-up in the immigration debate after freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) claimed this week that the Trump administration is holding immigrants in “concentration camps.” For his part, Trump has threatened to deport “millions” of illegal immigrants starting next week.

….long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement. The only ones who won’t do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of the loopholes, and fix asylum! If so, Border Crisis will end quickly!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2019