<p>Illegal immigration is at a peak. In fact, 2016 marks the record for most attempted border crossings by families. ;This week, the ;Obama Administration told a federal appeals court that illegal immigrants are kidnapping children so they can show up at the border as a &#8220;family unit.&#8221; ;</p>
<p>Much attention has gone to the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors that have arrived at the border in recent months. According to the <em>Flores Settlement</em>, these children must be processed quickly and handed over to social workers for placement with families or other sponsors. ;But how should we treat entire families of illegals? ;<em>Certainly we cannot separate parent from child.</em></p>
<p> ;How to deal with these families is just one of many uncomfortable questions that have risen to a head as the situation in Central America pushes more and more individuals northwards. ;Obama responded to the problem by opening several new detention facilities (that have since been criticized as &ldquo;jail-like&rdquo;) where families of illegal immigrants could await deportation. ;He sent messages to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras warning them not to attempt such crossings. ;</p>
<p>Still, &ldquo;family units&rdquo; are more able to take advantage of today&rsquo;s lax enforcement policies than are individuals. Take last year, for example, when Federal Judge Dolly M. Gee ;ordered that all mothers be lumped into the Flores Settlement for quick processing and release. Her decision has ;enticed others to try the same thing. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;When people now know that when I come as a family unit, I won&rsquo;t be apprehended and detained &ndash; we now have people being abducted so that they can be deemed as family units, so that they can avoid detention,&rdquo; claimed Deputy Assistant Attorney General Leon Fresco to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. ;</p>
<p>US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which handles deportation and detention, along with Customs and Border Protection, which guards the physical border, refused to comment on ;Fresco&rsquo;s claim. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We know zero instances of that, and there&rsquo;s zero support for that anywhere in the record,&rdquo; argued Peter Schey, the lawyer supporting the families involved in the lawsuit. &ldquo;If they know of any such instances, I would think they would bring the actual instances to the attention of the court.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>Last year, the Obama Administration warned that giving families special treatment ;would lead to a ;surge in immigration &ndash; and now we&rsquo;re seeing that surge. ;</p>
<p>Whether or not the <em>Flores Settlement</em> should apply to mothers and fathers crossing with children is still hotly debated. Fresco slams ;the ;idea that the agreement should extend to parents as a new and false ;&ldquo;interpretation&rdquo; invented by immigrant rights activists. ;Judge Dolly M. Gee&rsquo;s ruling to release mothers along with their children is going far beyond the agreement&#8217;s wording, he argues.</p>
<p>&ldquo;Our only concern, and the court&rsquo;s only concern, was that they were treating mothers in a way that they weren&rsquo;t treating anybody else in the United States,&rdquo; explains Mr. Schey. Such treatment is exactly what leads to kidnapping. ;</p>
<p>Judge Hanen, presiding over the case, has scheduled a new hearing for August in which the issue will be revisited. By then, the Supreme Court will likely have ruled on the legality of Obama&rsquo;s 2014 amnesty program (Deferred Action). ;</p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong>  ;This is a tough situation to deal with, and a smart (if sociopathic) tactic by immigrants.  ;All the more reason to build the wall and cut way down on this activity.</p>