Over a million illegal migrants are anticipated to enter the United States by way of the country’s vast and porous land border with Mexico in 2021, a top official from the US Customs and Border Protection agency told members of the press last week.
That is not the only dramatic figure raising questions about the Biden administration’s immigration policies at the border. Over two million illegal migrants are expected to successfully arrive at the US-Mexico border by the end of this — a number never seen before in the county’s history, according to internal government statistics which have been reviewed by US media outlets.
Prominent officials inside the US Border agency say that the sheer number of migrant arrivals poses a growing humanitarian challenge for President Joe Biden and his administration, who have yet to be tested in a real way at the southwest border. Just last month, the Mexican government placed much of the blame for the border crisis on Biden’s administration, with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrado labeling Biden a “migrant president” and with Mexican officials telling Reuters that US policies at the border were enriching cartels and human smugglers.
In February, agents working for the US Customs and Border Patrol Agency arrested some 100,000 migrants who were unlawfully attempting to cross the US-Mexico border — an increase of 28 percent from January, and the most in a single month since mid-2019.
“We’re already starting to see some higher days of 6,000-plus apprehensions,” Deputy Chief of the US Border Patrol Raul Ortiz told reporters. “So I fully expect our border patrol agents to encounter over a million people this year.”
According to Ortiz, migrants tend to cross between April and June.
Last week, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas issued an official statement which sharply criticized the human smuggling attempts from Mexico into the United States.
“The inhumane way smugglers abuse children while profiting off parents’ desperation is criminal and morally reprehensible,” Mayorkas said. “Just this month, a young girl died by drowning, a six-month-old was thrown into the river, and two young children were dropped from a wall and left in the desert alone.
“There can be no doubt that children are exceptionally vulnerable when placed in the hands of smugglers. There is grave risk that they will be exploited and harmed. I applaud our heroic Border Patrol agents who have saved this week and every week, while putting their own lives at risk for the greater good of the country.”
Mayorkas words come after disturbing video footage surfaced showing human smugglers dumping two sisters from Ecuador, aged three and five, over a 4-meter-high barrier at the border of New Mexico — in the middle of the desert, many kilometers from the nearest residence — before abandoning them.
Gloria Chavez, the Border Patrol chief of that particular region, lauded her fellow border patrol agents who managed to promptly reach the two girls and render aid, before transporting to them to the nearest hospital for a medical evaluation.
In a recent press conference, Biden told journalists that his administration is currently engaged in discussions with the Mexican government to have the country receive migrants which have been expelled from the US in accordance with its current policies. Biden also claimed that the US State Department is putting pressure on Mexico to help stem the relentless flow of migrants from South and Central America, as well as Mexico, towards the US.
“Mexico is refusing to take them back. They’re saying they won’t take them back — not all of them,” Biden said. “We’re in negotiations with the President of Mexico. I think we’re going to see that change. They should all be going back. All be going back. The only people we’re not going to let sitting there on the other side of the Rio Grande by themselves with no help are children.”
Late last month, two Yemeni nationals — both of whom are on the FBI Terrorism Watch List and the No-Fly List — were arrested by Border Patrol Agents assigned to the El Centro Border Patrol Station in California, local news reported.
