The Biden administration’s claim its policies have been working at the southern border have been drowned out by a renewed surge in illegal immigration.
After the end of Title 42, the Trump-era expulsion policy, in May, the Biden administration began increasingly relying on legal pathways they created to mitigate an expected influx of migrants and threats of removal. After a brief dip in illegal migrant encounters at the southern border, the numbers are up and the policies aren’t working, former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan and a current Border Patrol agent working along the southern border told the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Probe Mayorkas, Wray On ISIS-Tied Individual That Smuggled Migrants Across Border)
Don’t listen to smugglers!
The U.S. enforces #immigration laws with dozens of removal flights every week ▶️ https://t.co/kMyS2Xhztb pic.twitter.com/aLDj3gV8Ol
— ICE (@ICEgov) August 31, 2023
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Joe Biden is “stopping the flow at the border” during an Aug. 30 press conference.
Morgan calls the Biden administration’s claims of victory “complete bullshit.”
US President Joe Biden speaks with US Customs and Border Protection officers as he visits the US-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on January 8, 2023. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)
In the days leading up to Title 42’s end, migrants crossed the southern border in large numbers. That declined as the Biden administration saw illegal migrant encounters dip from more than 171,000 in May to roughly 99,000 in June, which is still historically high, according to federal data.
Then, illegal migrant encounters at the southern border surged from roughly 132,000 in July to more than 177,000 in August.
As illegal crossings dropped in May, a historic number of migrants entered the country through ports of entry using the CBP One phone application. Office of Field Operations (OFO), which manages ports of entry, saw their migrant encounters reach a new high of 45,026 in June after hitting 35,000 in May as the Biden administration has increased entry appointments via the CBP One, according to CBP data.
“They’re wanting to convince the American people because for a 30-day period they saw a momentary dip in time and they were going out there professing how successful they are because they have momentary decline in only one demographic, and that was only on the southwest border and that was only for Border Patrol apprehensions,” Morgan said.
Border Patrol Chief of Law Enforcement Operations David BeMiller testified during a Wednesday Senate hearing that agents are currently recording an average of 6,500 illegal migrant apprehensions per day,
“The Biden administration post-Title 42 border policy has been nothing more than open season for anyone in the known world hoping to exploit the system,” the Border Patrol agent working along the southern border, who requested anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly, told the DCNF.
“Before Title 42 ended, Border Patrol could essentially remove illegal aliens from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala & Honduras, immediately after they crossed. They would be brought into the station, have their fingerprints taken, served their paperwork. Then be taken back to the nearest port of entry and deported. Now, everyone is either claiming asylum or credible fear,” the agent said.
Migrant families are increasingly coming across the southern border knowing that they will likely get released into the U.S. interior, especially if they come from Latin America or countries not considered to be of “special interest” to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to the agent. CBP flagged 74,904 illegal migrants nationwide for potentially posing risks to national security between October 2022 and August, according to internal agency data obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The number of migrant family members crossing the southern border illegally increased more than 90% in July when Border Patrol recorded roughly 60,000 encounters, which went up from roughly 31,000 in June, according to federal data.
“Family units that cross illegally from those Spanish speaking countries, now know that they’ll be released with an NTA [Notice to Appear] that they’ll never show up to. The same goes from single adults from the Spanish speaking countries. They’re claiming cred fear but getting released as well. The reason why is – they know that we have to hold bed space for all of these Special Interest Aliens that we’re catching,” the agent said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
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