At CPAC, Republican lawmakers said cartels have “operational control” of the southern U.S. border. That’s an exaggeration and disregards Border Patrol’s enforcement actions, experts said.
In one panel, moderator Todd Starnes asked Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., to describe the situation at the southern border.March 2."The cartels have operational control of the United States-Mexico border."
Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., the chairman of the House’s Homeland Security committee, repeated the claim during another panel that day about border security.Green’s office did not respond to our request for comment. Perry’s campaign team pointed PolitiFact tofrom Brandon Judd, the National Border Patrol Council union president. The union represents about 16,000 Border Patrol agents and support personnel.
"Each and every day along the entirety of our southwest border, criminal cartels dictate when, where and how illegal border crossers enter our country," Judd told the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 15.But that’s an exaggeration and disregards immigration authorities’ enforcement actions, experts said.‘Operational control’ is a legal term defined by Congress
The term"operational control" refers to the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to stop illegal entries — of people and contraband — into the U.S., according to the 2006. That law said that to have operational control of U.S. borders, DHS must prevent"all unlawful entries into the United States, including entries by terrorists, other unlawful aliens, instruments of terrorism, narcotics, and other contraband.
By that definition, no administration has ever achieved operational control of the border. Immigrants and illicit drugs have entered the U.S. illegally since the law’s enactment. The human rights advocacy nonprofit Washington Office of Latin America described the definition as"a tremendously unrealistic standard" in a 2015Although the government has not achieved operational control as defined, it would be inaccurate to say the cartels have achieved it.
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