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Murrieta Mayor Alan Long hopes the community will keep things constructive

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Murrieta Mayor Alan Long stood in solidarity with other city and local officials at a press conference Monday addressing the arrival and their disapproval of undocumented immigrants beginning Tuesday.

Through the month of June the city and local Border Patrol were told the detainees from Texas would be heading in droves to the community but three times the plans were rescinded…until Friday, June 27.

Late last week officials from the Customs Border Patrol informed the San Diego and Murrieta stations detainees from Texas will arrive on Tuesday in San Diego.

Long said the Murrieta Border Patrol Station on Madison Ave. will receive 140 partially processed illegal immigrants every 72 hours for possibly weeks for further processing.

“This is the result of the failure of federal government enforcing the federal law at the federal level,” said Long. “We deport illegals we don’t disperse them across the country.”

At the beginning of June, the city was told they could receive 500 detainees at once resulting in local law enforcement stepping in and educating Customs Border Patrol Agents about the risk to public safety.

Long said at the press conference the city will be safe and they remain firmly against the processing of illegal detainees in their community. He referenced the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 212(a) (6) (A), which limits the ability of illegal entrants to be admitted to the country.

“We are tracking the expense this is having on our city and maybe we should send the bill to President Obama,” said Long in an interview after the press conference. President Barack Obama also gave a press conference on the illegal immigration situation Monday asking for more than two billion dollars in funding to fight what he calls a humanitarian crisis.

This current threat to our national borders and security is fueled by coyotes in Central America who advertise according to Long for up to $2,000 a head for a pathway to citizenship in America.

“How we are currently handling illegal immigration as a country is showing those in Central America the coyotes are telling the truth, their kids and family members are finding a way to stay,” said Long.

Long said he was told the detainees who are expected to arrive by 3 p.m. Tuesday will be families either a mother or father with children no criminals or unaccompanied children.

Supervisor Jeff Stone worked with the Country of Riverside’s Health Department to provide a health mobile so border agents can provide more health screenings if needed.

“The undocumented immigrants will not be released into our community, they will be transported across the country to awaiting family and friends,” said Long.

Community activist Diana Serafin spoke at the conference claiming she heard the detainees were already in Murrieta.

“I am not spewing lies but they are here right now,” said Serafin.

Long reported he investigated Serafin’s allegations and visited the Murrieta Border Patrol Station and found no one was being processed. Long encouraged the public to not spread rumors.

Watch Valley News and myvalleynews.com for updates.

Murrieta’s local government will be sending updates to local residents via the website (www.murrieta.org) and through social media. A Town Hall meeting is scheduled for 6:30 pm on Wednesday at Murrieta Mesa High School in Murrieta. The public can call (951) 837-4343 to get updated information about the transfer of the immigrants to Murrieta. The public can also send an email to [email protected] for more info.

“We need to collaborate as a region and take our demand for change to Washington D.C. I cannot make a change as one single Mayor. We need to collaborate with a clear and concise message that we are not going to stand for our countries laws to be violated,” said Long.

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MURRIETA - Murrieta’s Border Patrol Station is bracing for an influx of undocumented immigrants to arrive on Tuesday. Many of the detainees will be unaccompanied minors who have surged across the United States borders into Texas and Arizona.

According to reports from the Customs Border Patrol 52,000 people have crossed the border illegally by mid-June this fiscal year with three quarters migrating from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.

The Murrieta station on Madison Ave. is reportedly not equipped to handle hundreds of people at once.

Local law enforcement, city and state leaders have been educating officials with Customs Border Patrol on the limited resources available and the risks involving public safety.

“We don’t have the infrastructure and support to handle hundreds of illegal immigrants,” said Murrieta’s Police Captain Rob Firmes. “It would make them transients.”

Lt. Ron Driscoll from Murrieta’s Police Department said in an interview today detainees would not roam the streets of local communities.

“It is my understanding the undocumented immigrants will be processed here and then transported by Greyhound or to local airports to be united with family members across the country,” said Driscoll.

The decision to have detainees of various ages and genders processed in San Diego and Murrieta was rescinded three times in June.

Groups of undocumented children and adults are scheduled to arrive Tuesday in Murrieta every 72 hours from south Texas, where a massive influx of Central Americans crossing the border has created what President Barack Obama has described as a “humanitarian crisis.” Many of the migrants are unaccompanied children.

San Diego Border Patrol Agent Timothy Hamill said the term processing means, a detainee is fingerprinted and their background is checked.

According to a statement by Hamill, “Once the family groups arrive in the sector, CBP will assist with processing the apprehended immigrants by interviewing and processing them for removal. At which point, the family groups will be transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), where appropriate custody determinations will be made on a case-by-case basis, prioritizing national security and public safety.”

The surge of unaccompanied minors is fueled by false rumors that minors and women with young children will be welcomed.

Temecula’s Senior Management Analyst, Betsy Lowrey, said city officials have been in communications with Congressional representatives and Murrieta officials to determine accurate information regarding Border Patrol plans for transporting/processing illegal immigrants at the Murrieta Border Patrol Station.

Lowery reported Congressman Ken Calvert’s Communication Director also received information from the CBP office in San Diego Monday, June 23.

Rep. Calvert addressed his outrage with a statement in response to an announcement by Paul Beeson, chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego Sector, that detained illegal immigrants from Central America will likely be processed at the Murrieta Border Patrol Station this week.

Calvert questions in the press release how taxpayer’s money is being used to fly undocumented children around the country, “My constituents expect our federal government to enforce our laws, including the deportation of illegal immigrants caught crossing our borders. On Monday morning, I will be contacting Customs and Border Patrol to convey my strong opposition to their actions and to express the concerns of my constituents in Murrieta and the surrounding communities. Instead of flying these illegal immigrants to southern California, we should be flying them back to their country of origin.”

Earlier in June, Rep. Calvert signed on as a cosponsor to H.Res. 442, the Stop This Overreaching Presidency Resolution, which directs the House to institute legal action to require the President to comply with immigration laws.

Marie Waldron who represents California's 75th Assembly District, which stretches from Temecula to San Marcos, and includes the communities of Bonsall, Escondido, Fallbrook, Hidden Meadows, Rainbow, Valley Center, and Vista accuses the federal government in being derelict in its duty to the people of the United States through its failure to secure the borders.

Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson released a statement last week, “Our strategy is three-fold: (1) process the increased tide of unaccompanied children through the system as quickly as possible; (2) stem the increased tide of illegal migration into the Rio Grande Valley; and (3) do these things in a manner consistent with our laws and values as Americans.”

Hamill reported today the movement of detainees would allow the U.S. Border Patrol in less congested areas to assist in processing family units from South Texas where they are seeing an influx of migrants crossing the border. The transfer of immigrants between Border Patrol sectors occurs on a regular basis to allow CBP to manage flows and processing capability.

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