illegal immigrants surging to us-mexico border in race against election day william la jeunesse, fox news, november 3, 2016 




americans aren<u+2019>t the only ones motivated by tuesday<u+2019>s election. the presidential race has immigrants from around the world racing to the u.s.-mexican border, as the cartels exploit a powerful narrative: get into the u.s. while you still can. 




<u+201c>smugglers are telling them that they need to come across now while there<u+2019>s a chance,<u+201d> said art del cueto, a border patrol agent in tucson, ariz., whose views were echoed by another agent in texas. 




<u+201c>people think if one candidate wins, certain things will happen, like a giant wall being built and then they can never get through,<u+201d> said chris cabrera, an agent in the rio grande valley. <u+201c>another faction believes that if the other candidate wins, they<u+2019>ll get amnesty if they<u+2019>re here by a certain date.<u+201d> 




those two competing narratives<u+2013>triggered by the rhetoric of donald trump and hillary clinton, respectively<u+2013>are driving immigration numbers the border patrol hasn<u+2019>t seen in years in some sectors. 




<u+201c>we are overwhelmed,<u+201d> said a veteran agent in mcallen, texas. <u+201c>we are seeing 800 to 1,000 apprehensions every night.<u+201d> 




in fiscal 2016, the border patrol apprehended 117,200 immigrants from central america, almost one-third of all apprehensions border-wide<u+2013>and 5,000 more than during the so-called surge of 2014. the agency also apprehended 5,000 haitians, up from just 700 last year. the number of immigrants claiming to be from africa and asia also is up. 




{snip} 




the poverty and violence plaguing many of these countries helps push immigrants north, beeson said. pull factors include available and good-paying jobs in the u.s. and immigration policy that provides work permits and freedom for immigrants while the courts adjudicate their <u+2018>asylum<u+2019> claim. 




<u+201c>when you stop somebody, you ask their name and the first thing they tell you is<u+2013><u+2018>i<u+2019>m here for asylum, i can<u+2019>t go home because they<u+2019>ll kill me.<u+2019> . . . when it takes a good five or six minutes just to get their name out of them, they have a rehearsed story,<u+201d> said cabrera. <u+201c>once they get those papers saying they can pass through our checkpoint, we<u+2019>ll never see them again.<u+201d> 




del cueto said the agents are <u+201c>not getting any backing<u+201d> from d.c. and <u+201c>we need to start enforcing every single immigration law we have on the books.<u+201d> 




del cueto and cabrera belong to the national border patrol council, which represents the border patrol<u+2019>s 18,000 field agents who are prohibited from talking openly to the media.
illegal immigrants surging to us-mexico border in race against election day
henry wolff