The Trump administration has released the names of 607 people detained by immigration agents, and whose arrests might have violated a court order, and only 16 – or 2.6% – of them have been identified by the federal government as a “high public safety risk” because of their alleged criminal histories, according to court documents.
Eric Balliet, a retired special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, worked for the department until last year after 25 years on the job, said the data regarding the ICE arrests erodes trust in the federal immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, in particular the Trump administration’s repeated claims that they are targeting the “worst of the worst.”
Also worth noting that you need to be on US soil in order to apply for asylum. It’s common for migrants to cross the border without permission and immediately turn themselves in, because it’s the only reliable way to initiate an asylum review.
If they are later granted asylum, would you still consider that illegal?
You are correct that this is a legal means of entry. This falls under a designated portion of US code. An asylum seeker must turn themselves immediately in to border enforcement. They are then processed and released into the country, pending a hearing. People with this status are not “illegals”, despite what this administration is trying to say. They are grabbing US citizens, legal status asylum seekers, legal residents with misdemeanors(like driving offences), and a very small percentage of actual criminals that need to be deported.