CBP Keeps Apprehending ‘Undocumented’ Aliens with Documents

There's no one more documented than an undocumented alien

By Robert Law on September 16, 2021

Thanks to President Joe Biden’s promise to not enforce U.S. immigration law and push for a mass amnesty, Southwest border apprehensions have skyrocketed. As my colleague Andrew Arthur noted, incredibly the border crisis got worse in July, exceeding 200,000 apprehensions for the first time in 21 years. Apprehensions in August were down slightly, but not enough to make much difference, so the border crisis continues.

But something far more interesting is occurring down in the Laredo, Texas, border sector. There, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers keep apprehending “undocumented” aliens with documents. A September 15 CBP press release titled, “Laredo Sector Border Patrol Arrested Undocumented Individuals with Fraudulent Documents” reveals that “agents discovered three undocumented individuals who presented fraudulent U.S. passport cards.” The press release goes on to identify the three illegal aliens as Jesus Ayala-Cano, a 30-year-old Mexican; Leabardo De Lira-Cruz, a 32-year-old Mexican; and Lucas Mancia, a 24-year-old Guatemalan. While the press release does not explain how CBP was able to definitively identify these illegal aliens by name, age, and country of origin, a plausible explanation is that they were also in possession of identity documents from their home countries. This would amount to at least six documents that these three illegal aliens were in possession of: three fraudulent and three legitimate.

CBP apprehending the documented “undocumented” in Laredo is no one-off either. In a similarly titled June 4 press release, “Laredo Sector Border Patrol Arrested Undocumented Individuals with Fake Documents”, we learned that in four separate incidents a total of eight illegal aliens presented a total of 11 fraudulent documents. This earlier announcement was similarly silent on how CBP was able to identify the name, age, and country of origin of these apprehended illegal aliens. If they were also in possession of legal identity documents from their home countries, that would amount to at least 19 documents. You almost wonder if someone in the press office is trolling the Biden administration’s "immigration newspeak".

As these befuddling press release titles show, the notion of an alien being “undocumented” is preposterous. In fact, every illegal alien in the country is very much “documented”, even if they disposed of said documents in the course of their unlawful entry or overstaying a visa. A non-exhaustive list of documents that an illegal alien in the country might possess (or possessed at some point in time) includes: (1) a birth certificate from the home country; (2) a passport, driver's license, or some other form of identity document from the home country; (3) a notice to appear (NTA) issued by U.S. immigration officials upon detaining the alien; (4) a visa permitting the alien into the U.S. of which he or she subsequently violated the terms of admission; (5) a fake U.S. passport, driver's license, or other identity document; (6) a stolen U.S. passport, driver's license, or other identity document; (7) an arrest record; or (8) a conviction issued by a U.S. judge.

There is no one more documented than an “undocumented” alien. That seems especially true in the Laredo border sector.