The migrant crisis under President Joe Biden has gotten even worse than it was before, hitting the highest single-day number of encounters at the border on Tuesday.
As reported by Fox News, multiple Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources told the outlet “that there were over 12,000 migrant encounters on Tuesday, adding that “over 10,200 of those were Border Patrol encounters of illegal immigrants coming between ports of entry.”
“That Border Patrol number is among the highest number of encounters ever recorded for the agency by itself but breaks a record when combined with the encounters by CBP’s Office of Field Operations at ports of entry,” the outlet noted further.
As of Wednesday morning, the agency is grappling with an excess of 22,000 migrants in custody, and multiple prominent Border Patrol sectors are significantly surpassing their capacity, according to sources. Fiscal Year 2023 has established a new record with 2.4 million migrant encounters, with September registering the highest monthly total ever recorded—exceeding 260,000 encounters. Although October recorded a slightly lower figure, with over 240,000 encounters, it still marked a record for the month, Fox News noted.
Meanwhile, Republicans and Democrats in Congress can’t agree on a border package.
The GOP wants limits on admissions and parole after blaming President Joe Biden’s reversal of then-President Trump’s immigration and border enforcement policies for the current crisis. Democrats, meanwhile, say they will only agree to policy changes if they can get amnesty for all illegal migrants currently in the country. And the Biden administration is requesting $14 billion more for border operations in a supplemental measure.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is essentially just carrying out the White House’s policies, told CNN Wednesday that the administration is open to some GOP proposals but not others.
“We’ve presented proposals that address the situation, that provide real practical solutions, and also do not do violence to our fundamental values. We are a country of refugees. We do have asylum laws. We do have refugee laws. We abide by our international obligations that are longstanding,” he said. “And so that is my response to that. Some of the proposals are reasonable and worthy of discussion. Others are, frankly, not.”
Biden, meanwhile, has echoed a familiar Democrat talking point, claiming that the country’s immigration system is “broken.” Republicans have countered that it is not broken, arguing that all Biden needs to do is ensure the current laws are enforced.
For a time in October, the White House floated restarting construction of Trump’s border wall, and a survey released that month found a majority of Americans agreed with that.
Rasmussen Reports noted in a survey published late in the week that fully 73 percent of likely voters back restarting border wall construction, a decision that was announced by Mayorkas.
“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,” Mayorkas said.
Of course, all of this comes after several million migrants have been allowed to illegally cross the border and remain in the country.
And, naturally, the decision to restart wall construction comes as a growing majority of Americans are fed up with rampant illegal immigration and as Trump begins to lap Biden in several major national polls.
The Washington Times reported that month that Mayorkas is waiving “26 federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Eagle Protection Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act” to facilitate new wall construction.
In the Rasmussen poll, 61 percent of respondents said yes when they were asked whether “the Biden administration’s decision to allow border wall construction proves that Donald Trump was right about the need for a border wall.”
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