Texas Gov. Greg Abbott advises tighter restrictions on asylum seekers and ending catch and release

NEWS AND OPINION:

Let us pause to consider a recent summary from the Department of Homeland Security which revealed that between May and the end of the year, the agency “removed or returned over 400,000 individuals” from the southwest border region.

“The total is also nearly the number removed and returned in all of fiscal year 2019 and exceeds the annual totals for each year 2015 – 2018. Daily removals and enforcement returns per day are nearly double what they were compared to the pre-pandemic average (2014-2019),” the summary said.

So now what?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has some recommendations on ways to defuse this untenable situation.

“We need to stop the magnet that is enticing people to cross our border illegally coming from more than 150 countries across the entire globe. And the way that you do that is to deny asylum to anybody crossing between a port of entry. If you have a valid asylum claim, you can go to one of the port of entries of which we have 29 just in the state of Texas alone,” Mr. Abbott told Fox News Sunday.

“You must make them seek asylum from either the country they are fleeing or from Mexico or some of the safe countries to go into. That would dramatically cut down on the number of people that you see coming across the border every single day,” he continued.

“The same thing that must be done is they must end the catch-and-release policies that the Biden administration has put into place. Candidly, the law already prohibits the mass allowance of people getting out and wandering the country for years before they ever have to go to court. The Biden administration simply is not enforcing that. They must hold the Biden administration responsible and deny them the ability to have catch-and-release,” Mr. Abbott told the network.

He has already provided eight letters to the Biden administration outlining ways to bring U.S. borders under control.

“I personally handed a letter to President Biden and to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas when they showed up in El Paso, Texas, outlining five things that they could do that would eliminate the crisis at the border,” the governor told host Shannon Bream during their conversation.

“Shannon, in response to all eight of those letters, I’ve heard absolutely nothing from the Biden administration,” Mr. Abbott advised.

‘Bobby on the ballot’

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not giving up on his campaign to win the White House. He is, in fact, upping the ante.

“Kennedy has launched a massive grassroots effort to get him on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” his campaign said in a written statement shared with the Beltway.

His destinations this month include North Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia and Hawaii. Yes, that’s right. “Aloha” will be part of the candidate’s lexicon very soon.

Mr. Kennedy will appear at the Ko’olau Ballroom and Convention Center in Kaneohe, Hawaii, on Jan. 18.

“We have begun signature collection in many open states,” Press secretary Stefanie Spear wrote in a statement.

“We’re ready for whatever comes our way. We have the field teams, volunteers, legal teams, paid circulators, supporters, and strategy ready to get ‘Bobby on the Ballot,’” she said.

Maher has a say

Long-time HBO “Real Time” host and political gadfly Bill Maher has a new book arriving in June — his first in a decade. It’s titled “What This Comedian Said Will Shock You.”

The new book arrives June 4.

“Free speech, cops, drugs, race, religion, the generations, cancel culture, the parties, the media, show biz, romance, health — Maher covers all of it without pulling punches to please either side of the aisle,” advises publisher Simon & Schuster in advance notes for the book.

“We’re not investigative journalists — we don’t break stories, we break new ways of looking at stories,” the author writes.

“As the 2024 election approaches, this book will offer readers hilarity, sanity and the perspective we need,” said Jonathan Karp, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster, Inc. — who also noted that the forthcoming book will reflect the writing style and tradition of Mark Twain, Will Rogers and H.L. Mencken.

Foxified

Fox News is offering a trio of back-to-back town halls featuring Republican presidential hopefuls Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. Here’s the schedule:

Ms. Hayley is first up on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET.  Mr. DeSantis follows on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET as well. Mr. Trump steps on the stage Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

“Emanating from Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, the town halls will be co-moderated by Bret Baier, chief political anchor and executive editor of Special Report, and Martha MacCallum, executive editor and anchor of The Story,” the network said in a statement shared with the Beltway.

Each candidate will take questions from Mr. Baier and Ms. MacCallum in front of a live audience.

It’s of note that the two anchors also co-moderated the first Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee which featured Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley, as well as Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, and Asa Hutchinson.

That event was viewed by 13 million people and was the “highest-rated non-sports telecast of the year,” according to Fox News in a statement.

Poll du jour

29% of U.S. adults say inflation is the most important problem facing the U.S. today.

21% say immigration and border issues are the most important problem.

18% cite the “state of democracy.”

10% cite gun violence.

7% cite health care.

6% cite crime.

4% cite unemployment.

3% cite the war between Israel and Hamas.

2% cite the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Source: A CBS News poll of 2,157 U.S. adults conducted Jan. 3-5.

Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @Harperbulletin, on Facebook @HarperUniverse.