GAO Report that Crime, Economic Uncertainty Fuels Illegal Immigration at Odds with Intel Assessment

Homeland Security Today: A new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the "rapid increase in the number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) apprehended at the US-Mexican border" from Central America was triggered primarily by crime, violence and economic distress, contrasts substantively with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) El Paso Intelligence Center’s (EPIC) July 7, 2014 intelligence assessment, Misperceptions of US Policy Key Driver in Central American Migrant Surge. The EPIC assessment stated the surge of UACs and families into Texas' Rio Grande Valley that began in 2012 had much more to do with human traffickers promoting false information that anyone who could get to the US would be allowed to stay.

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