'Catch and Release' Continues As An Estimated 7,000 Illegal Aliens Have Been Dumped Into Tucson In Past Eight Months

Timothy Meads / Townhall Tipsheet

Authorities in Pima County, AZ warn that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are straining public resources by releasing individuals and migrant families into Tucson, AZ in absence of proper facilities to detain thousands of illegal aliens. The problem has become exacerbated now that Customs and Border Patrol have begun releasing illegal aliens into the already overburdened city as well.

According to Rafael Carranza, Arizona Republic, "Pima County officials estimate that ICE has released about 7,000 migrants in Tucson in the past eight months." This is because ICE physically does not have the space needed to keep illegal aliens in custody while they are processed for asylum claims as well as other background checks. Border Patrol typically hands illegal aliens over to ICE. But, due to ICE's over capacity, Border Patrol has simply started released migrants into Tucson as well. During a Friday meeting between Border Patrol and city officials, the two sides discussed proper ways to remedy the situation while ensuring public safety and efficient management of resources.

via Arizona Republic:
The number of migrant families released in Tucson has surpassed the ability of local nonprofits to house them. This past week, the city of Tucson and Pima County opened temporary overflow shelters to house migrants, although those shelters are once again empty, at least for now.

The goal of Friday's meeting is to "alleviate some of the stressors that we've been seeing with this increase in people," said Pete Bidegain, a special-operations supervisor for the Border Patrol. 

"One of the major concerns that was brought up numerous times in the meeting really comes down to better communication between federal officials, county officials, city officials," he added.

Bidegain and Border Patrol have not said how many illegal aliens have been released into Tucson. These families are dumped into the city, given orders to show up for a court appearance later on, and are simply trusted by the government to come for their hearing. This practice, otherwise known as "catch and release," continues a year after President Trump signed a memo ordering the policy to stop.

Bidegain told Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild that remedies such as giving city officials a heads-up when a new busload of illegals would be shipped there could assist the city and non-profits in housing the families.

Mayor Rothschild also said that if the buses could simply go directly to the non-profit, that would help as well. "If the loaded buses from Border Patrol can go not to the bus station, but to the site of where the (nonprofit) is located, that would be a big help because that saves us a lot as a community," Rothschild said.

This report comes as President Trump told Fox News Mario Bartimoro today that the immigration crisis is so bad because "...our laws are so bad. The combination of having a great economy and having the weakest immigration laws anywhere in the world by far, and we have catch and release, and we have chain migration, and the visa lottery, we have things that nobody in their right mind would have. We're trying to get rid of them, the Democrats won't do it. We need some Democrats votes, we're unanimous with the Republicans but we need some Democrat votes and they go out of their way to allow these people to come in."