OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A narrow Republican majority in the House has managed to attract a growing number of Democrats to oppose a Biden administration initiative to house illegal migrants on federal lands.
On Friday, Breitbart News reported that six Democrats joined with Republicans “to prevent President Joe Biden from turning federal lands into migrant camps for tens of thousands of illegal aliens who have been released into the United States interior.”
The outlet added: “Joining House Republicans to pass the legislation were Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D-TX), Mary Peltola (D-AK), and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA).”
On Thursday, the House passed Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’s legislation known as the “Protecting our Communities from Failure to Secure the Border Act” to prevent Biden from using federal lands to house illegal aliens.
The New York Republican introduced the legislation just as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, both Democrats, “got approval from the Biden administration to move hundreds, and potentially thousands, of border crossers and illegal aliens onto Floyd Bennett Field,” Breitbart added.
“Turning our federal parks into encampments for unvetted migrants from all over the world is unfair to surrounding communities and the taxpayers who are being forced to foot the bill while our Mayor bankrupts our city and slashes services from our citizens,” she said in a statement.
The news outlet continued: Under Biden, an unprecedented number of illegal aliens are being released into American communities every day. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) estimates the agency is freeing more than 60,000 illegal aliens into the U.S. interior every month. Over a year, this amounts to Biden releasing more than 720,000 illegal aliens into the U.S. interior.
The number of migrants flooding illegally into the U.S. has set records month after month under Biden, leading to new criticisms after he pledged in September to begin beefing up security and building a new section of border wall.
“There were 269,735 migrant encounters in September, of which 218,763 were encountered entering illegally by Border Patrol agents. That brings the yearly total for migrants at the southern border for FY 23 to 2.48 million, higher than the 2.38 million in FY 22 and 1.73 million in FY 21. There were just 458,088 encounters in FY 2020,” Fox News reported, citing the CBP data for the month.
“Of those who entered, 43,000 individuals were processed in through ports of entry via the controversial CBP One app, which allows migrants to schedule an appointment to be paroled into the U.S.,” the outlet continued. “Meanwhile, there were 18 encounters of people on the terror watch list between ports of entry at the southern border, taking the total for FY 23 up to 169 — a new record and more than the last six fiscal years combined.”
Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said he ordered a surge of personnel and resources to the border “in response to high rates of encounters.” He added that beginning last week, there was an increase in deportation flights back to Venezuela, where a significant number of illegal migrants came from.
“We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequences, including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” Miller said. “CBP will continue to remain vigilant, making operational adjustments as necessary and enforcing consequences under U.S. immigration law.”
“The supplemental funding request announced yesterday would provide critically needed additional resources, including additional CBP agents and officers to support our essential missions: from border and migration management, to countering fentanyl and keeping dangerous drugs out of our communities,” he said.
