One of the most problematic elements of the Biden administration's border crisis is that the crush of people arriving across the border on a daily basis is totally overwhelming US resources and personnel, forcing officials to pull frontline agents away from their enforcement duties in order to help process the endless stream of unlawful arrivals. This has a compounding and spiraling effect, as less enforcement encourages more illegal crossings. And with fewer agents doing their real jobs -- having been reduced to administrative pencil-pushers for people who've deliberately surrendered themselves and claimed asylum, usually without merit, allowing them to remain in the US for long stretches of time -- the easier it is for the subset of dangerous illegal immigrants to evade capture and enter the country.
The crisis builds on itself, and one of the more chilling thoughts about it is that we have no idea how many cartel soldiers, gang members, or terrorists are slipping through among the tens of thousands of monthly known got-aways. Last month, in addition to more than 230,000 encounters at the Southern border (another record), at least 64,000 known got-aways were detected but not stopped. That's more than two thousand every day, all month long. What sorts of people were included within that massive number? For every terrorism watch list suspect stopped at the border, how many simply get away? The same applies to other sorts of hardened criminals. Just a handful of examples of people detained in the last week-plus alone:
In less than 24 hours, Eagle Pass agents arrested 2 more Child Sex Offenders.
— Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens (@USBPChiefDRT) November 25, 2022
To top it off, one of these sex offenders has an outstanding warrant!
Protecting our citizens from sexual predators is one of the many things our agents do!
Read More: https://t.co/BgRGO1VxbC pic.twitter.com/5dmQdN7OO5
NEW: Border Patrol in Del Rio sector report they arrested two previously deported child sex predators who crossed illegally over Veteran’s Day wknd.
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 21, 2022
1) Salvadoran man convicted of rape of a disabled minor in NY.
2) MX man convicted of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor in Utah. pic.twitter.com/IGN0p0aNvC
2 more Sex Offenders off the streets!
— Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens (@USBPChiefDRT) November 21, 2022
On Monday, in a 2-hour span, Del Rio Sector agents arrested 2 convicted Sex Offenders in separate groups.
Outstanding work by our agents out in the field safeguarding our communities! pic.twitter.com/lFCQUDAaXE
The vast majority of illegal immigrants don't fall into either category, of course, but what is an acceptable number of convicted killers, confirmed rapists or suspected jihadists illegally entering the United States with impunity? The 'got-away' numbers are just staggering, and getting worse:
NEW: Border Patrol in Del Rio sector report that in a single 7 day stretch last week, they had:
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 23, 2022
- 10,343 illegal crossings
- 5,903 known gotaways
- 6 sex offenders arrested
CBP sources tell me the Del Rio sector alone has already had 34,000 gotaways since 10/1. @FoxNews
BREAKING: Number of Gotaways - confirm/seen crossing illegally but not apprehended - on an unprecedented pace this FYTD23: 134,649 since Oct 1st per CBP sources. Overall migrant encounters also on record pace - FYTD23: 349,216 (compared to 275,624 this time last FY22) @FoxNews
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) November 22, 2022
It will likely get even worse as Title 42 expires in a matter of weeks, under Biden policies. As for the aforementioned issue of diverting enforcement officers and resources elsewhere, the crisis is so acute that other types of officials are being pulled away from their normal jobs in order to help with the ocean of administrative work. For example:
The executive director of the Air Marshal National Council delivered a clear message to the Biden administration Monday, warning that air travel is becoming less safe as marshals are diverted to the border. Sonia Labosco joined "Fox & Friends First" to call on the Biden administration to stop sending air marshals to the southern border and return them to their duties patrolling commercial flights. "We have been decimated. We have been depleted. We're on less than 1% of flights. These ground-based duties that they're pulling us out of the sky to go to the border are just demolishing our chances at stopping another 9/11." Labosco said Americans will suffer because many believe they're safe in the presence of a trained air marshal, but "they're just simply not." ... "We empathize with what's happening at the border as human beings. However, it does not take away the responsibility or the oath that we have as air marshals to protect our aviation domain." Labosco said she has not heard back from the Biden administration after voicing concerns over recent safety risks on flights.
Air marshals yanked off flights and sent to the border to fill out forms. No response from the Biden administration. One wonders if the Secretary of Homeland Security has any thoughts about this. I'll leave you with a reminder that it's not just human beings being smuggled and trafficked across the border by lucrative and advanced cartel operations:
Recommended
Nogales: CBP officers stopped 5 loads in 4 days totaling approx 1.9 million fentanyl pills, 16.93 lbs fentanyl powder, 22.75 lbs cocaine, 27.75 lbs meth, and 7.5 lbs heroin. About 10,000 of the fentanyl pills were rainbow colored and some of the fentanyl powder was tinted purple. pic.twitter.com/fzDb4OzjiZ
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) November 28, 2022
The related body count is horrible and outrageous.
