Let’s call it what it is…it isn’t a “migrant surge”...it’s an invasion.
As the southern border’s revolving door spins ever faster, it is now being reported by CNN that a number of “pseudo-legitimate travel agencies and organized transportation networks” advertise travel to the US-Mexico border while “ultimately connecting migrants to smugglers,” according to a US Customs and Border Patrol official.
The official said those crossings now number between 500 to 1,000 people at a time.
“These smugglers are recklessly putting migrants into harm's way; in remote locations across the border, onto the tops of trains, or into the waters of the Rio Grande River,” Troy A. Miller, CBP’s senior official acting in the capacity of commissioner said in a statement.
The official identified one particular nationality as being targeted, the Senegalese. “Travel agencies” emerging in the capital city of Senegal, Dakar, offer visa-free travel to Europe and then to the United States. The “travel packages” also include a connection to smuggling operations that help “migrants” get to the US southern border. They are aided by large bus lines operating in Mexico’s northern state of Sonora, which operates dozens of buses daily to random spots along the border, Miller said.
CNN reported that last week, a team of their people in Lukeville, Arizona, saw dozens of Senegalese men who just entered the US illegally and were waiting for transportation for immigration processing. Note they said, “Senegalese men.” These were not families of “migrants” with children entering the country illegally. They were likely military-aged men who have been entering the US in large numbers, as witnessed by personnel from Law Enforcement Today.
Earlier this month, CBP said they would be “cracking down on smuggling transportation networks,” CNN reported, “including ‘bus and van lines’ used to facilitate illegal migration.”
“The measures include specific law enforcement operations focused on transportation companies and their employees who are facilitating migrant smuggling activities,” Miller said in a December 2 statement.
The current version of “Invasion USA” has overwhelmed Border Patrol agents, which has forced the government to suspend operations at crossings in San Ysidro, California, Lukeville, Arizona, and El Paso and Eagle Pass, Texas. This has also forced the Department of Homeland Security to remove federal air marshals from commercial flights and redirect them to support law enforcement at the southern border.
The closure of the above points of entry has allowed the reassignment of 100 personnel and other law enforcement personnel outside of CBP to the impacted areas; the federal Bureau of Prisons is also providing transportation support, Miller said.
Current and former Homeland Security officials told CNN the situation at the southern border is nearing a “breaking point,” with federal resources being brought “to their limit.”
In October, Fox News reported that since Biden took office in January 2021, some ten million illegal aliens have entered the country. That number does not include unknown “got-aways,” which would place that number at a much higher total.
In addition, Fox reported that 169 illegal aliens on the FBI’s terror watch list were also apprehended this year, which also does not include gotaways.
According to CNN, the Department of Homeland Security had “game-planned” scenarios for surges at the border as high as 16,000 to 18,000 arrivals per day before Biden lifted Title 42, the COVID-era restrictions on those crossing the border, concerned that would result in a spike of illegal crossings.
“We could have–and we could sustain–a couple of days at 12,000 encounters, a former DHS official told CNN.
“But the reality is that a sustained flow of 12,000 to 14,000 is what we determined would buckle the system. Anything beyond that started a significant strain of resources and detention. Ultimately, we knew we were surpassing the capabilities of DHS,” the former official said. “It will break.”
What is different with the current surge, officials said, is that it is more spread out than what they have previously dealt with, saying multiple sectors along the border have been impacted, spreading out resources. A DHS official said personnel are being moved around to absorb the flow of “migrants,” and thousands of people await processing.
Over recent days, the border has seen over 10,000 illegals per day crossing the border, the highest such number since May, just before Biden lifted Title 42. That number dropped significantly after Title 42 expired.
CNN reported that last week, there were over 26,000 illegals in CBP custody, over double the capacity. A DHS official said CBP processed 10,500 migrants who crossed the border illegally on Tuesday.
The first fourteen days of December say 37,000 illegals were apprehended in the Tucson Border Patrol Sector, which includes Lukeville, chief sector patrol agent John Modlin said.
Many reasons are being cited for the latest surge in illegals, but officials believe so-called misinformation spread by smugglers, along with limited resources in Mexico, are responsible. DHS officials say lessons were learned from previous surges. Still, the current unprecedented situation is straining federal resources, resulting in the necessity to pull assets from agencies within the department and other federal agencies.
In October, the White House sent a supplemental request to Congress, which included $14 billion for border security, however, it is currently being held up in Congress as Republicans push to change asylum requirements and place additional limits on so-called “humanitarian parole.” That money is part of an overall $106 billion supplemental aid request for Israel and Ukraine.
House Republicans say the White House proposal would do little to stem the tide of illegals storming the border but instead would “grease the skids” for those who enter the country illegally to remain here. Instead, they want the package to mirror Trump-era immigration policies, including the resumption of building a border wall, stripping funding from NGOs that aid illegals, beefing up staffing of CBP agents, and restricting humanitarian parole programs which have allowed illegals from Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Ukraine and Venezuela to remain in and work in the United States. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, oppose any such provisions.
Meanwhile, officials with CBP say the agency’s current resources can only handle about half the volume of apprehensions currently being encountered. They said that agents are tasked with establishing security and responding to major medical emergencies.
“CBP and our federal partners need additional funding from Congress so that we can continue to effectuate consequences for those who do not use the established pathways,” Miller said.
That’s a diplomatic way of saying CBP needs more funding so illegal aliens can be removed from the country and sent back to where they came from.
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