Number of Illegal Border Crossings Now 6 Times What Obama Team Considered ‘Crisis’
There is a catastrophic crisis that could add another quarter of a million to the population of illegal aliens in this country in less than a year.
According to former officials in the Obama administration, the standard for a border crisis was 1,000 attempted crossings a day. Who was on the team that set that standard? President Joe Biden—then vice president—and Alejandro Mayorkas, then deputy secretary, and now secretary, of homeland security.
When the Trump administration ended, the U.S. was deporting more people than were illegally coming into the country. In less than a month under Biden, the number of people illegally coming into the country is more than 6,000 per day—that’s six times the crisis level as set by the Obama team.
According to a source with knowledge of what’s happening at our southern border, the Border Patrol, in one day, encountered 4,700 people trying to illegally enter the U.S. About another 900 were observed but not detained. In addition, another 400 were detained and sent back. This volume is straining resources at the border.
And it is not just the numbers. This is fueling a public health crisis. One source in the Department of Homeland Security estimates 15%-25% of people who illegally cross the border are COVID-19-positive. According to a recent press report, asylum-seekers, which the president has also let in in record numbers, are testing positive for COVID-19 after being released by the Border Patrol.
And the numbers are fueling a public safety crisis. According to one report, human traffickers are so overwhelmed with business they are using wristbands to keep track of their clients.
The cash that flows into the pockets of cartels and transnational gangs, in turn, fuels their opioid business, which poisons and kills our neighbors and children, as well as many other nefarious activities that make our communities less safe.
At a time when state and local governments are stretched to provide services to their citizens and unemployment reminds high, the federal government is dumping the flood of illegal immigrants into communities across the country.
Finally, this flood is feeding a humanitarian crisis. Encouraging illegal immigration fuels a number of dangers that put the lives of migrants at risk. A dramatic example of that just happened in California, where over a dozen illegal immigrants were killed in a traffic accident, having been unsafely packed in a van driven by smugglers.
If these dramatic consequences don’t add up to a crisis, then the Titanic is still just running late. Yet, the secretary of homeland security has said there is no crisis. On camera when asked by a reporter, the president of the United States said there is no crisis.
In fact, in one week, the administration said there is no crisis, reportedly drafted a supplemental appropriation request to deal with the crisis, and blamed the crisis on former President Donald Trump.
The president should be honest with the American people. There is a crisis. The crisis was caused by a raft of open border policies rapidly implemented by this administration (such as stopping construction on the border wall and promoting amnesty for illegal aliens), which in effect are advertisements to attract more illegal immigration.
The president should immediately put a stop to implementing initiatives that proactively attract illegal immigration.
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This article was first published on March 3, 2021 in The Daily Signal and is reproduced with permission from The Heritage Foundation.
