American in fact, the experiment has been so successful, that much of the rest of the world would like to come here and be a part of it, and thats at the root of the Immigration Crisis at the southern border which once again dominated headlines. On monday a delegation of democrats including alexandria ocasiocortez went to visit the official Detention Centers housing many wouldbe americans at the southern border. Now, ms. Ocasiocortez who has famously described these facilities as concentration camps didnt find any gas chambers or evidence of torture, but she did claim to find conditions. She described as indefensible. They put them in rooms with no running water, and these women were being told by officers to drink out of the toilet. They were Drinking Water out of the toilet. Gerry now, border officials deny these allegations, and they say the people are being treated as humanely as possible, but no one denies the facilities are absolutely overwhelmed. Now, theres a simple reason for that, a surge in people seeking asylum to come and live in the United States. There are, essentially, two legal ways to get to live and work in the u. S. The first is the regular immigration process. Its long and complex and costly. Hopeful migrants must either have family connections here or be able to demonstrate that the country needs them for economic reasons. The other route is by seeking asylum. To achieve this under international law, you must be able to show that you cannot stay in your own country because youre being persecuted there for one or more of five very specific reasons. Thats because of race, religion, nationality or political opinion or, and this is crucial, because youre a member of what are called particular social groups. Now, this last criterion is impossibly vague, and its the reason given by many of the Asylum Seekers from Central America who claim they are being victimized by gangs or organized crime. But the data show that murder rates in those countries are actually declining. Now, number of Asylum Seekers has surged in the last few years from a steady 40,000 or so a few years ago to more than 160,000 last year, and its still rising. So what can be done about this continuing crisis at the border . Well, here to discuss all this and more is former acting immigration and Customs Enforcement director Thomas Health care oman who joins me from homan from joins me from washington, d. C. Thank you very having me. Gerry ms. Alexandria ocasiocortez has described these places as concentration camps. Whats the real situation . Well, lets just cut to chase real quick. Alexandria ocasiocortez is lying to the american people. No ones drinking out of a toilet. If you look at the detention facilities including the i. C. E. Facilities and the detention cell theres a stainless steel apparatus where theres a commode about 4 foot tall, and on top theres a sink with running water. Is so no ones drinking out of the toilet. Its ridiculous to think a Border Patrol agent is making a lady get on her hands and knees and drinking out of the commode. She lost all credibility. Shes called them concentration camps, she has no idea what shes talking about. She doesnt know the difference between fact and fiction. Lets put her aside. The detention facilities are overwhelmed. The Border Patrols been asking congress for months, hhs has been asking congress for months, the administration, the president s saying weve got that have help. The administration asked for more money so health and Human Services can purchase more beds in facilities that are bullet and set up built and set up for vulnerable populations like women and children where theyd have the care and facilities they need. However, congress didnt address it. Just last week they finally through a supplemental bill, it will help. The i. G. Report wasnt a surprise to anybody, especially the Border Patrol agents who have been dealing with this for months. We all know the conditions were bad, but when you put 500 people in a building designed for 100, its not going to be good. Gerry and you mentioned the i. G. Report which talked about these conditions and the facilities being overcrowded. So isnt, though, the fundamental problem problem theres been this tremendous surgery in people coming up true mexico surge in people coming up through mexico . Yes. The asylum laws, loopholes each back when i was director for last year and a half, i was up on the hill asking congress to address the loopholes and the flores agreement and the trafficking victims act. Those three laws are being used against us. The loopholes come to United States, get released, and many dont ever show up in court. And, of courseing right now the biggest problem on the border is two groups, the unaccompanied alien children and the family groups. The words out, you bring a child with you, and you wont be detained, and if you are, its just a few days gerry and thats important because, obviously, thats whats happening, theyre being released in the United States, supposed to appear for a court date, and they dont show up for the most part. Good point. They just came ot with data that 90 of final orders of 90 of the judges decisions order removals are issued in absentia which means people didnt show up to court. Gerry so what should be done . You said Congress Needs to authorize more money to increase facilities. Isnt though, in a sense and i dont want to sound inhumane here, but the more spacious you make these facilities, the better able to deal with these number, isnt that in a funny way going to encourage people to come as well . Right now if people are getting the impression that its a terrible kind of hell, they might think of not coming. If you make it better theyre too cold, theyre overcrowded, they think its too cold because the people coming up probably never experienced airconditioning, and theyre coming from very bad circumstances anyway. Three things you need to have, change the flores agreement. You bring a child apart, we should be able to detain them in a Family Residential center with childcare, pediatricians, dentists, child psychologists, proper medical attention, psychological attention and supplying them meals and care. The flores Settlement Agreement says you can only keep them for 20 days. Well, it takes about 40, 45 days to initially see a judge. If we can hold them long enough to see a judge, again, 90 will lose their case. We can put them on an airplane, and we send them home. And the reason i say that will work, because we did it back in fy14 and 15, Families First gerry right. Interestingly, the obama administration, which is a democrat criticizing the Trump Administration; but a lot of this happened in the obama administration. Yeah. We held them long enough to see a judge, we sent them home and, guess what . The border numbers went down because we showed the deterrence. The ninth circuit issued a agreement saying, no, you can only keep them for 20 days. The number skyrocketed. Gerry tom, weve got to take a quick break, and well be right back with more on limu emu doug look limu. A civilian buying a new car. Lets go. Limus right. Liberty mutual can save you money by customizing your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Oh. Yeah, ive been a customer for years. Huh. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Who used expedia to book the Vacation Rental that led to the ride which took them to the place where they discovered that sometimes a little down time can lift you right up. Flights, hotels, cars, activities, Vacation Rentals. Expedia. Everything you need to go. Expedia. With tough food, your dentures may slip and fall. Fixodent ultramax hold gives you the strongest hold ever to lock your dentures. So now you can eat tough food without worry. Fixodent and forget it. Gerry im back with former acting i. C. E. Director tom tom homan. Tom, what about mexico in particular . Are they doing enough . These people are coming through mexico, the Trump Administration just struck a new deal with mexico recently. Are they doing enough to, essentially, to deter some of these people from coming or to restrain them . They started, theyre doing more than they ever have done. I think this past month the numbers are down 25, 28 . And they deserve some of the credit, because they are stepping up enforcement of their own immigration laws. What they committed to also is sending resources, National Guard to try to dismantle the criminal organizations that are orchestrates orchestrating this whole thing, attacking their transportation and financial infrastructures. If they can dismantle the criminal organizations that make this happen, theyll do wonders to control this surge on the border. So theyre doing more than theyve ever done, i think they can do more, but whats most important, it needs to be a sustained operation. Theyre done in the past for a couple weeks here, if they can step up on the cartels, itll be a gamechanger. Gerry criticism of Border Patrol this week, weve seen some things and stories and rev rations about some revelations about some thing, facebook groups and stuff like that. Do you think that is casting doubt on the trustworthiness of the Border Patrol, something needs to be done to make sure that those kind of behaviors are dealt with . Oh, absolutely. I mean, ive seen that story, and from what i understand, theres only three or four possible Border Patrol agents that are involved in posting bad things. If thats true, they need to be dealt with, because its a distraction from the overall work the men if women for the Border Patrol are doing. These men if women come to work every day, theyre changing diapers, making formula, dealing with sick kids, theyre taking sicknesses home to their own families, and these men and women are bringing toys from their own kids to centers so the migrant kids have toys to play with. And no one talks about the Border Patrol last year rescued over 4,000 migrants that were in dire straits. They found them and rescued them. These are people that would have died if not rescued by Border Patrol agents. Theyve pulled women and children out of rivers. 31 of women end up being raped. Children are dying. These men and women at Border Patrol, theyre doing a fantastic job in difficult circumstances, and they deserve our praise and respect, and thats just not being were not talking about that enough. Gerry let me ask you something directly about you. You stepped down from i. C. E. Exactly a year ago, i think just a year ago this week. President trump was interviewed on fox just a couple of weekses ago, and he had this to say about you. Lets just listen. Tom homans coming back, yeah. Tom homans coming back. I would say that would be announced next week, except id rather announce it now. [laughter] so tom homans coming back, and hes going to be very much involved with the border. Thats what he really wanted to be involved with. Gerry is that right . What are you going to be doing . Look, i came back once from retirement, i became a director, they contacted [inaudible] to bring me back as directer. I will never say never. If i can help this president , i certainly will, but i have not accepted a position yet. Well see what happens. Im not going to second guess it, but never say never, especially in the middle of a national crisis. Gerry we should watch out for your impending return, should we . Well see. [laughter] gerry thank you very much, indeed, tom homan. Coming up, well have a former state Department Official whats next for immigration in this country if a democrat were to be keep it down there. I have a system. Keith used to be great to roadtrip with. But since he bought his house. Are you going 45 . Uh, yes. 55 is a suggestion. Its kind of like driving with his dad. What a sign, huh . Terry, can you take a selfie of me . Take a selfie of you . Yeah. Can you make it look like im holding it . He did show us how to bundle home and auto at progressive. Com and save a bunch of money. Oh, a plaque. He later navigated northward, leaving. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents. But we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. But we can protect your home and auto [what about him . Lets do it. [ sniffing ] come on. This summer, add a new member to the family. Hurry into the mercedesbenz summer event today for exceptional offers. Lease the glc 300 suv for just 419 a month at the mercedesbenz summer event. Going on now. We like drip coffee, layovers and waiting on hold. What we dont like is relying on fancy technology for help. Snail mail we were invited to a y2k party. Uh, didnt that happen, like, 20 years ago . Oh, look, karolyn, weve got a mathematician on our hands check it out now you can schedule a callback or reschedule an appointment, even on nights and weekends. Todays xfinity service. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Id rather not. Never gerry joining me now from washington, d. C. Is roger noriega, former assistant secretary of state for western Hemisphere Affairs under president george w. Bush. Thank you for joining us. My pleasure, thank you. Gerry everybodys focused on the crisis at the border with the United States and mexico, but the roots are somewhere away from that, arent they . So many of these refugees coming from Central America. What can we do about tell us about how bad it is, first of all, and what can be done about the ongoing crisis in those countries. Well, ten years ago we passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement and spoke of these countries in Central America as economic partners. And accurately so. These were countries with stable governments more or less, growing together in every sense of the word, good partners, economies moving forward. The problem we have is that they are in this vise, in that Central American isthmus between mexico for drugs and protection areas in the andes, and both governments in those countries began serious antidrug efforts and squeezed these gang syndicates into Central American territory, into fertile turf this where the governments were unable, were overwhelmed by the level of violation, the criminality and corruption, unable to resist that, literally outgunned. And so you saw gradually the disintegration not only of the institutions, but the Economic Situation because people didnt want to invest in places that were unsafe. So you see the people that are migrating from the northern triangle countries gerry so they are, theyre applying for asylum, most of them, in the United States. Do they have a case for asylum . There are very specific criteria about, essentially, youre being persecuted for one of a number of reasons, claiming, obviously, they belong to particular groups. Is that a legitimate asylum claim . Well, frankly, it isnt. And facts bear out that eventually when these cases come to judgments, 80 of them are found to be ineligible for aa sigh lumbar in the traditional sense asylum in the traditional sense. So in the meantime the, theyre able to stay in the country, they establish a presence here because the coyotes, the human smugglers realize that if you make a claim of asylum are because we have a 300,000case backlog, that you essentially are dismissed into the United States until your case can be attended to, and that becomes kind of a ticket gerry so its an incentive for the smugglers to actually intensify, to grow their business. Its a part of their business model, quite frankly. And, you know, we have people across the political spectrum very concerned about human trafficking. But because these traffickers figured out how to overwhelm our enforcement efforts and essentially get their clients, you know, over the border into the United States, weve become part of their business model. Gerry what can we do for those countries in Central America to help alleviate this crisis . You probably heard the democratic debate last week, julian castro, one of the candidates, actually proposed what he called a Marshall Plan for Central America where the United States would give huge amounts of lending and aid to europe, something similar to Central America. Do you think thats wise . Well, i think throwing money at the problem is not going to so it. These are cupsed countries governed by, frankly, crooked politicians, and pouring money in is a recipe for disaster. Its a waste of resources. But we have to engage. I think we have a moral obligation to stay engaged, and these are our neighbors. We can, you know, we have to address the root cause of, causes of instability, of Economic Opportunity, you know, working with governments to expand Economic Opportunity to people in all walks of life including the very poor, maybe some aid programs administered by those countries to their own people and certainly to security assistance, to help them reist these gangsters resist these ganger thes gangsters. Gerry the Trump Administrations policy seems to be, at least in part, to at least make it seem so unpleasant there, to make you know, theyre not necessarily being cruel, but at least to make life difficult and complicate process, and its separating families to try and deter people from coming. Is that a wise policy in. No, i dont think it for one thing, we now know that it hasnt worked. Since the time when they were talking about breaking up families and zero tolerance and if all of that with the express purpose of telling people dont come if you dont want to be separated from your child, dont come. That kind of policy, all it actually did was discredit the enforcement efforts by the Trump Administration among policymakers in the congress. Gerry now, conversely, the democrats want to extend benefits to illegal immigrants, make life, in a sense, easier for people who are here in the United States illegally. What would that do, if you could be brief because were running out of time. Absolutely. Its also a recipe for disaster. Quite frankly, you know, we need to Work Together to address these problems. The tactics that both sides are using have undermined the confidence that we need to find some practical solutions; changing the law, addressing the longterm root causes in Central America, restoring the aid cuts that President Trump has adopted and working with congress to find some longterm solutions. Gerry my thanks to roger noriega, thank you very much, indeed. And up next, my thoughts on fact is, every Insurance Company hopes you drive safely. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Gerry this week the journal reported that nike had canceled the launch of a new sports shoe because colin kaepernick, one of its leadest sponsored leading sponsored athletes, had objected to the design. The offense, apparently, was that the shoe featured the socalled betsy ross flag, the original flag that became the founding of the United States. Mr. Kaepernick felt this was somehow dishonoring africanamericans because the flag dated back to era of slavery. This is a novel grievance. The implication seems to be we shouldnt honor any aspect of anything associated with the original United States. Well, you can argue that if you like, but whats striking to me is how mitt sized the corporate world has now become. It used to be you could buy a pair of shoes without having to get a lecture from a companys marketing department. Now it seems were going to have to take sides. Were going to have liberal sneakers, whats next . Perhaps a conservative toothpaste . Well, thats it for us this week. Be sure to follow me on twitter, facebook and instagram. Ill be back next week with more indepth intervi [narrator] the following is a paid advertisement for the Hoover Onepwr floormate jet. 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