The Border Patrol, the INS and John Malvo

This is a partial transcript from The O'Reilly Factor, October 29, 2002. Click here to order the complete transcript.

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BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Now for the Top Story tonight. The man that arrested John Malvo was Border Patrol agent Keith Olson. The Border Patrol has ordered him not to speak with us.

But joining us from Seattle is Daryl Schermerhorn, the senior agent with the U.S. Border Patrol in Linden, Washington, and a friend of Agent Olson.

Everything I say true, agent?

DARYL SCHERMERHORN, SENIOR U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENT: That's correct. He was arrested in Bellingham, Washington, sent to Seattle for detention and removal. They took it upon themselves to change the entry status from stowaway to entry without inspection, therefore allowing...

O'REILLY: Have you ever seen that happen before? Is that unusual?

SCHERMERHORN: It's not necessarily unusual for charges to be changed or modified in plea bargain-type situations. However, in this case, they changed the charge simply so they could release him, in my opinion. Under the stowaway laws they have no right to deportation. They should have been put on the next plane and sent back to Jamaica.

O'REILLY: Right. Now, we saw just today in Miami about three or four dozen Haitians coming across after being dropped off in south Florida by an illegal boat. These people are Haitian immigrants. Now, this is exactly what happened to John Malvo and his mother, according to his mother. They were dropped in south Florida. These are stowaways, correct? They should be deported right back to Haiti.

SCHERMERHORN: Well, in this case, with the Haitians coming in, they're being smuggled in on rafts and boats. In the Malvo situation, they came in on a cargo ship unbeknownst to the ship captain, jumped ship at night. That's what makes them stowaways.

O'REILLY: But I think these people here are classified that they don't get a hearing. They just, they catch them and they send them right back, just... as they do across the Mexican border, they catch them, they send them right back. They're not entitled to due process.

SCHERMERHORN: The Haitians are classified as entry without inspection, and there are different procedures for that. They can take a...

O'REILLY: But they won't be released...

SCHERMERHORN: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

O'REILLY: ... as Malvo was to roam the country for 10 months. They'll be put in Krome Detention Center and sent back, I believe.

All right, look, that's neither here nor there. What happened here is a clear violation, and the Border Patrol is very angry about it, because you guys were pressured to change the designation, and you would not. Correct?

SCHERMERHORN: The arresting agent was pressured to change the charge within a day or two. He refused. While in Seattle, they had a month to be contacted by several different immigrant rights groups. Their story changes once they learn the loopholes or the changes, differences in the law. They tell the INS, Hey, we came in EWI, not as stowaways.

The INS is happy to take that story so they can release them.

O'REILLY: Why? Why were they happy to keep Malvo and his mother in the country? Why?

SCHERMERHORN: Well, what's the price of a airplane ticket from Seattle to Jamaica? That's why. The cost of housing them in jail until that time, that's why.

O'REILLY: OK, so it's money...

SCHERMERHORN: They're trying to save a few dollars.

O'REILLY: ... it's money. How does Mr. Olson feel about this?

SCHERMERHORN: Well, Keith has been pretty much told not to talk to me as well. He's upset about...

O'REILLY: Why? Why, why don't they want him to talk? Well -- who's shutting him up?

SCHERMERHORN: The Border Patrol management, of course, we're part of the INS, and it's damage control now. Therefore, now the Border Patrol is protecting the rest of the INS management.

O'REILLY: OK, so it's damage control all the way up to the attorney general. He's not talking about it either. They just want it to go away. Right?

SCHERMERHORN: It's not going to go away.

O'REILLY: Now, when you say that, I mean, I'm pretty much the only television commentator on this story. The Washington Times is reporting it. But very little media. Why do you say it's not going to go away?

SCHERMERHORN: Well, we're going to keep beating the drum. This is -- unfortunately, in this situation, there were several people killed. It's nothing new for the INS to release criminals onto the streets and for them to commit murder. There's been hundreds murdered in the United States at the hands of illegal aliens.

It's -- you know, what do we say? Border Patrol agents, every Border Patrol agent I talk to, and every Border Patrol conversation, it's always, What's it going to take for this to change? My answer is, it won't change until people are willing to talk about it, and there's very few of us in the Border Patrol willing to talk about it. I represent the Border Patrol agents through the National Border Patrol Council. We're willing to talk about it.

O'REILLY: Right. But most of the Border Patrol guys, like Mr. Olson, the arresting officer, are afraid they're going to get fired if they talk about it. Correct?

SCHERMERHORN: The arresting agent, Keith Olson, would be fired if he came on this show and talked about it.

O'REILLY: That's right, that's right. So what we have here, just summing up, and correct me if I'm wrong, is a massive cover-up of the Malvo thing by the INS and by the attorney general of the United States at this juncture. They want, they don't want to say a thing about it because they know they were wrong and they know that what they did led partially to the murder of 10 Americans.

SCHERMERHORN: Appears that way to me.

O'REILLY: All right, Mr. Schermerhorn. Thank you very much for speaking up...We need more Americans like you to do that. And of course we'll see on the story.

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