Is There a Crisis at the Southern U.S. Border?

            The Biden administration has proclaimed for months that there is no crisis at the southern U.S. border. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently claimed that the southern border “is secure” when he spoke at the Aspen Security Forum. He was asked about the southern border and the more than 200,000 migrant encounters per month for the past four months. Even though Border Patrol agents are dealing with the greatest number of migrants in history, Mayorkas considered the situation to be a “historic challenge” – but not a crisis.

            Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz recently admitted under oath that there is a crisis at the border. According to Chris Enloe at The Blaze, the State of Florida acted to stop illegal immigration last year when attorneys for the state filed lawsuits against the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies. 

In March 2021, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sued the Biden administration over its immigration policies. A second lawsuit was filed in September 2021, this time over the administration’s catch-and-release policy. And last December, Florida sued the Biden administration for not complying with FOIA requests.

            Ortiz was questioned under oath for a deposition related to the lawsuits on July 28. He testified that there are “no consequences” administered to migrants entering the United States illegally since Joe Biden became President of the United States. The lack of “consequences” encourages migrants to come across the border illegally.

Attorney: “Why is it important to detain and remove demographics that are amendable to the Border Patrol?”

Ruiz: “You want to make sure you have consequences.”

Attorney: “OK. And if you don’t have consequences, what is likely to happen?”

Ruiz: “In my experience, we have seen increases when there are no consequences.”

Attorney: “OK. So, if migrant populations believe that they’re going – there are not going to be consequences, more of them will come to the border. Is that what you’re saying?”

Ruiz: “There is an assumption that if migrant populations are told that there is a potential that they may be released, that yes, you can see increases.”

Attorney: “So, it will increase at an exponential rate. Is that what is being suggested here?”

Ruiz: “Well, I do think it will increase, yeah.”

            According to Enloe, Ruiz admitted other highlights during the deposition. He agreed that there is a “crisis” at the southern U.S. border and that “unprecedented numbers of aliens are illegally entering the United States right now.” He also admitted that the numbers of migrants coming to the southern U.S. border have increased under Biden. He also stated that America is “less safe” because of the border crisis.

Ruiz is the first member of the Biden administration to admit that there is a crisis at the border. Will the dam of denial break with more administrators admitting a crisis, or will Ruiz lose his job?

Why Did the Biden Administration Take So Long to Admit to a Border Crisis?

             After weeks of denying that there was a crisis on the southern border of the United States, the Biden administration is finally facing the facts. At first, they called the masses of people crossing the border “a challenge.” Then they called it a “seasonal phenomenon.” Now, they are being hit in the face with facts.

            After much work and against much opposition, the Trump administration brought the illegal immigration over the southern border under control. Border agents have admitted that they have not been able to stop every person crossing the border illegally. However, the Trump policies worked – build a secure barrier along the border, remain in Mexico while seeking refuge in the United States, and work with governments in Central America to force migrants to claim asylum in the first country that they enter after leaving their home countries. The southern border was more secure than it had ever been. Then President Joe Biden signed executive orders within the first week of his administration ending the policies that worked.

            According to Kaylee Greenlee at The Daily Signal, the immigration experts at The Heritage Foundation said last Friday that Biden’s policies “undeniably contributed” to the record number of migrants arrested during March. “Customs and Border Protection reportedly encountered over 171,000 illegal migrants in March 2021, a 400% increase compared to March of 2020.” These were the preliminary numbers reported by The Washington Post. 

            Researchers at The Heritage Foundation criticized the reluctance of the Biden administration to call the flooding horde of migrants a “crisis.” Researchers Lora Ries and Mark Morgan – who happens to be the former acting director of Customs and Border Protection during the Trump administration – made the following comment in a joint statement.

We have a crisis on the border, even though the Biden administration still refuses to acknowledge it. Today’s numbers are just more evidence of this undeniable reality – and proof that President Biden’s policies are driving this crisis.

The crisis will only end when the Biden administration reinstates strong and sound immigration policies – policies that were working prior to the new administration taking office and ending most of them.      

            Greenlee included several figures in her article. The 171,000 migrants taken into custody in March 2021 is the highest number since 2006. The 19,000 unaccompanied migrant minors are several thousands more than the last high of 11,800 in May 2019. There were 53,000 migrants traveling in family units in March compared to 19,200 in the previous month. These figures were confirmed by a current Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official and a former CBP official, both of whom had reviewed them.

            Why are so many migrants coming to the United States? They are escaping violence and poverty in their nations, but they admit that they are coming because “Biden wants” them here.

Besides ending the policies listed above, the Biden administration also “ended Title 42 restrictions against allowing unaccompanied migrant minors into the U.S.” However, “the public health order is still in place for rapid expulsion of most migrant adults and some family units.”

Ries and Morgan concluded, “Today’s numbers should be a wake-up call to this administration – Biden’s border crisis is unsustainable and is drowning our Border Patrol agents in a flood of lawlessness.” Slowly, Americans are waking up to the fact that there is a crisis!

Many Americans were relieved to have the Trump policies stop because they thought they were too harsh. They thought that America needed to have more compassion on the poor migrants who made such a dangerous trip to improve their living conditions. The U.S. needed to be more humanitarian.

What I would like to know is where is the compassion in parents who send their children on such a long, dangerous journey with strangers? Why do they entrust these precious children to people who look at the children as ways to make money – or worse. I have heard reports that 60 percent to 70 percent of young girls and women – as well as some boys and young men – are raped and sexually abused by their so-called guides. Girls as young as twelve are on birth control because their “guardians” suspected that they would be raped. Where is the compassion and humanitarianism for these sexual assault victims?

There are news reports of children being used and abused. A six-month old baby was thrown in the river to distract border agents from stopping a boat full of migrants being smuggled into the U.S. Two toddlers – ages three and five -- were dropped over a fourteen-foot fence into the United States and left to fare on their own. Fortunately, Border Patrol rescued them. A nine-year-old boy was traveling with a group, got separated, and left behind. He was frightened and crying when he was found by an agent on his way home from duty. Where is the compassion and humanitarianism in the treatment of these children?

Trump haters and/or Biden supporters do not want to admit it, but President Donald Trump was right about the border. The border fence does not stop all illegal immigration, but it slows down the drug smugglers and human traffickers and allows agents to catch them. The remain in Mexico policy took away much of the incentive for people to take the journey. Parents and other guardians stopped sending children and teens to the border when they realized that they would not be admitted into the United States. The truth is that Trump was right!

There is some discussion about Biden walking back his action on the border fence. The talk is that more construction will take place to fill in the “gaps.” I suppose the gaps that are mentioned are the spaces left in the fence for construction purposes and which are being used by drug smugglers and human traffickers to bring their goods into the U.S.