Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Michael Bonfigli/The Christian...Ninety percent of the mostly teen illegal immigrants flooding over the Mexico-U.S. border won’t show up for their immigration court hearing, meaning at least 135,000 of the youths will simply vanish into the country this year alone, according to a key House committee chairman.
House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, who on Wednesday held a hearing to raise national security concerns about the new wave of illegals, revealed Thursday that many of the teens are placed with relatives, including parents who are in the U.S. illegally, and then ignore court orders to appear for immigration hearings.
Once they are picked up by immigration officials, “they are given a court date, expected to return, a year or more later,” said the Virginia lawmaker. “The overwhelming majority of them, more than 90 percent, do not return for their hearings and as a result we have a problem,” he added.
Goodlatte estimated that 150,000 of the youths will cross the border this year, 10 times last year’s number, and virtually all are claiming to be crime victims in their home countries. He spoke with reporters at a media breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
The congressman will join several others next week in a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border to size up the situation. But he said that the president must begin enforcing the border and institute a zero tolerance on illegal immigration. “They should be required to leave,” he said.
Several Republicans have charged that President Obama is ignoring laws on the books that require tighter control of the border. As a result, said Goodlatte, illegals think they have the green light to enter the United States.
“It’s causing even more illegal immigration to occur,” he said.
“Many of them show right up at the border stations and say, ‘Here I am, let me into the country,’” said Goodlatte. “Others who are apprehended crossing the border imediately pull out of their pocket what to say,” he added.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted atpbedard@washingtonexaminer.com.
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