Tag: CBP

Arrests of Noncitizens with Criminal Convictions at Border at Record Highs

The Center Square

If the current trajectory continues, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations agents are on track this fiscal year to arrest the greatest number of illegal foreign nationals with criminal convictions in recorded history.

By contrast, Border Patrol apprehensions of gang members and weapons seizures are down significantly, and a former border chief tells The Center Square those numbers are down because far fewer agents are in the field – between ports of entries – to make such seizures and apprehensions.

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More than 175,000 Came Through Southern U.S. Border in June

The Center Square

Over 175,000 people came through the southern border in June, according to newly published U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and preliminary data first published by The Center Square. 

The official CBP data published on Tuesday isn’t as straightforward as it normally is, possibly due to a recent shakeup at CBP with outgoing chiefs leaving June 30. A press release issued on Tuesday doesn’t include data typically published every month.  

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Law Enforcement Experts Warn of ‘Another 9-11’ After Bungled Release of Migrant Tied to Terrorism

Just the News

Former law enforcement officials are warning of potential terrorist attacks and a repeat of 9/11 following a Homeland Security Department watchdog report that exposed government bungling that allowed an illegal immigrant on the terrorist watchlist to be released into the U.S. and roam free for two weeks before he was apprehended.

According to a report released by the DHS’s Office of Inspector General, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released an illegal immigrant on the terrorist watchlist last year, and due to a lack of coordination, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took more than two weeks to arrest the individual.

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Illegal Border Crossers Since 2021 Total More than Individual Populations of 38 States

The Center Square

The number of illegal border crossings at the northern and southern borders and all ports of entry since January 2021 totals more than 8 million people, greater than the individual populations of 38 U.S. states.

Put another way, the number of foreign nationals from all over the world believed to be primarily illegally entering the U.S. is comparable to the populations of eight Delawares, four New Mexicos, two Oklahomas or more than 13 Wyomings.

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Biden Admin Taps New Border Chief

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration has tapped Jason Owens to lead Border Patrol next, according to an internal agency email sent by Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Troy Miller obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Owens has served in the agency for 25 years and is currently chief of the Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector in Texas. Outgoing Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz announced his retirement on May 30 after overseeing the agency during a time of record migration at the southern border, where CBP recorded more than 2.3 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022 alone.

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Biden Admin Will Admit Thousands More Migrants Each Month Through Phone App

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration will expand its program to legalize migrants to accept roughly 40,000 per month starting in June, according to CBS News.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will continue to evaluate expanding the program, according to CBS News. Between January, when the program launched, and April, more than 79,000 migrants have scheduled appointments using CBP One, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

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‘These Numbers Are Staggering:’ Chinese Migrants Continue to Surge Across Southern Border

Admin

The influx of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border continued through April, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data.

Border Patrol encountered 3,182 migrants from China at the U.S.-Mexico border in April alone, according to CBP data. Chinese migrants often pay hefty smuggling fees to reach the U.S., where they have been found with large sums of U.S. currency, according to Border Patrol agents who recently spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Officials Discover Two Drug Tunnels at the Border

Admin

Mexican authorities discovered two drug tunnels along the border with the U.S. in recent days, according to Border Report.

The location of the tunnels was in Tijuana, which is just across the border from San Diego, California, according to Border Report. One of the tunnels was still under construction, but 45 feet from the U.S. border.

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Migrant Child Dies in Federal Custody, Marking Third Such Death in Two Months

Virginia Star Staff

A migrant child died in federal custody, marking the third such death in roughly two months, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

An eight-year-old girl died in Border Patrol custody in Harlingen, Texas, after experiencing a medical emergency, CBP said in a statement late Wednesday. This is the third migrant child to die in the past two months, after a migrant child died in federal custody days before, and another died in mid-March.

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More Than 100 Known, Suspected Terrorists Apprehended at Southern Border Fiscal Year to Date

The Center Square

An Afghan national on the federal Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS) was apprehended attempting to enter the U.S. illegally near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, California.

The TSDS is the federal government’s database that includes sensitive information about terrorist identities. It originated as a consolidated terrorist watch list “to house information on known or suspected terrorists (KSTs) but has evolved over the last decade to include additional individuals who represent a potential threat to the United States, including known affiliates of watch listed individuals,” CBP states.

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Whistleblower: U.S. Government Is ‘Middleman’ in Massive Migrant Child Trafficking Ring

Virginia Star Staff

On Wednesday, a whistleblower is set to testify before Congress with bombshell claims that the federal government has essentially become a “middleman” in a child trafficking ring along the southern border, an operation that is allegedly worth billions.

According to Fox News, the hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement will be titled “The Biden Border Crisis: Exploitation of Unaccompanied Alien Children.” The focus of the hearing will be the spike in the number of “unaccompanied children” (UACs) during the border crisis under Biden’s watch.

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Nearly 270,000 Apprehensions, Gotaways at Southern Border in March

The Center Square

There were nearly 270,000 apprehensions and gotaways reported of foreign nationals who illegally entered the U.S. at the southern border last month, according to official data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and data The Center Square obtained from a Border Patrol agent.

CBP reported that encounters of illegal foreign nationals processed at ports of entry in all nine southwest Border Patrol sectors in March totaled 191,900, up nearly 23% from 156,138 in February.

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Florida Attorney General Calls on Congress to Impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas

The Center Square

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is urging Congress to “begin impeachment proceedings immediately” of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. She cites several reasons to justify her request, including claiming he’s violated federal law, lied multiple times under oath before Congress, and is endangering American lives.

In a letter addressed to five Republican congressional leaders Tuesday, she urged them “to act to protect the American people and impeach Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Secretary Mayorkas is directly responsible, and his actions have caused our unprecedented border crisis.”

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Border Patrol Union Signals Concern Over Proposed Biden Immigration Policy

Admin

The Biden administration’s proposed “Safe Third Country” agreement attempting to crack down on an expected surge in illegal immigration at the southern border has a major loophole that still allows migrants to be released into the country en masse, according to a document the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) sent to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively obtained.

The policy, which was proposed in anticipation of the end of the Title 42 public health expulsion order on May 11, would make migrants seeking asylum that already passed through a safe country on the way to the U.S. ineligible for asylum. The Border Patrol union raised its concerns to DHS, asserting that the rule would still allow for “catch and release” because of loopholes, such as making a claim of credible fear to trigger the need for years-long adjudication, according to the NBPC response.

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Border Authorities Detail Smuggling Routes, Warn of Greater Surge in Chinese Illegally Crossing Into US

Virginia Star Staff

Border authorities in the U.S. are expecting a further increase in the number of Chinese migrants crossing illegally at the southern border, and have identified key ways they are entering the country, according to an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) document exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The document, which was circulated via an internal email to CBP personnel, warns of more Chinese nationals entering the U.S. via the southern border due to a broader message from smugglers about routes into the country. The document details key smuggling routes, and notes that the Chinese nationals are entering in higher numbers due to religious persecution against the Christian faith.

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Mayorkas Launches Program to Combat Fentanyl Smuggling at the Border

Virginia Star Staff

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the launch of a program to combat the surge in illicit fentanyl smuggling at the southern border.

Mayorkas announced “Operation Blue Lotus” Tuesday during a visit to the Port of Nogales, where U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has made large fentanyl seizures, to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) agents to the ports to help collect intelligence on drug cartels to create criminal cases against them. CBP illicit fentanyl seizures at the southern border for fiscal year 2023 are on pace to surpass fiscal year 2022’s seizure of roughly 14,000 pounds of the synthetic narcotic.

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January Migrant Encounters Hit New Low While Biden Admin Paroles Migrants into U.S.

Admin

Federal authorities encountered a new low of more than 150,000 migrants at the southern border in January while the Biden administration paroles thousands of others into the U.S., according to data U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released Friday.

CBP encountered 156,274 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in January, according to the agency. The new low coincides with a new series of policies the Biden administration began implementing for migrants to enter the country using parole authority.

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Biden Administration Playing ‘Shell Game’ to Mask Illegal Immigration, Former CBP Chief Alleges

Just the News

Even as the illegal immigration crisis along America’s southern border continues to worsen, Biden administration officials are resorting to sleight of hand to downplay the number of migrants crossing into the U.S., alleges former acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan.

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More than 200,000 Migrants Came to U.S. in December amid Mounting Border Crisis: CBP

Admin

Authorities encountered 216,162 migrants at the southwest land border in December of last year, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That figures marks an 11 percent increase in unique encounters from November of the same year. The federal agency attributed the surge to influx of Cuban and Nicaraguan individuals fleeing authoritarian regimes in those countries.

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Biden Administration Removed 71 Percent Fewer Criminal Aliens vs. Comparable Period under Trump

Just the News

Over its first nine months, the Biden administration removed 71% fewer locally arrested criminal aliens than were deported during a comparable period in 2019 under Donald Trump, according to a new study of state and local statistics — despite record illegal immigration numbers.

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Economist Borjas: Immigration Redistributes ‘Wealth from the Native Poor to the Native Rich’

Admin

In July alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection made nearly 200,000 arrests at the southern border. President Biden’s push for looser border policies has welcomed an influx of migrants since the beginning of his presidency and, according to the deputy opinion editor at Newsweek, research shows an open border hurts low-income Americans the most.

According to a 2021 study, immigration accounts for a third of the decline in the Black employment rate over the last 40 years, Unherd reports. Newsweek’s deputy opinion editor backs her claim with an argument from economist George Borjas stating, “immigration primarily boosts the incomes of the immigrants themselves, while redistributing wealth from the native poor to the native rich.”

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New Chief of Staff for Customs and Border Protection is Son of Top Virginia Democrat

Virginia Star Staff

Nathaniel Kaine, son of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), has been appointed chief of staff for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Tim Kaine, the Democrats’ 2016 vice presidential nominee, serves on the Senate Armed Services and Budget committees, both of which are involved in funding and oversight for the border enforcement agency.

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Biden Admin Reducing Illegal Border Crossing Prosecutions: Report

Admin

Prosecutions of illegal border crossings under the Biden administration have significantly decreased amid historically high migrant encounters, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo The Washington Free Beacon obtained.

There were only 2,896 migrants transferred to the U.S. Marshal’s custody in the 2021 fiscal year, compared to 13,213 during the previous fiscal year and 20,604 in fiscal year 2019, according to the memo.

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Authorities Report More than 2 Million Encounters at Southern Border as Fiscal Year’s End Nears

The Center Square

More than 2 million people have been encountered/apprehended at the U.S. southern border in fiscal 2022 through June, according to official data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

It’s the greatest number recorded in a fiscal year in U.S. history. They total 2,002,604 from over 150 countries.

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CBP Chief Tries to Reassure the Rank-and-File as Agency Levels Charges Against ‘Whipgate’ Agents

Admin

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Chris Magnus promised discontented rank-and-file officials that the agency would always support them despite pursuing charges against agents involved in the now-debunked “whipgate” incident, an internal email obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller News Foundation showed.

When CBP personnel “do the right thing,” the agency “will always stand behind you,” Magnus wrote in the email before announcing the results of the investigation into the September incident that took place in Del Rio, Texas. During the incident, Border Patrol agents used reins to steer their horses and maneuver around migrants entering the United Sates at the Rio Grande, which prompted some Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates to falsely claim the agents whipped migrants.

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Border Patrol Memo Lays the Groundwork for Mass Release of Illegal Immigrants into the US

Admin

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz instructed agency leadership on how the agency plans to release migrants amid a border surge, according to a memo sent Thursday exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

In the memo, which was sent to chief patrol agents and directorate chiefs, Ortiz recognized that Border Patrol faces a “current migrant surge and is preparing for the anticipated increase in encounters of undocumented noncitizens following the anticipated lifting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s [CDC] Title 42 public health order.”

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CBP Begins Revealing Number of Alleged Terrorists Who Have Attempted Illegal Entry

Virginia Star Staff
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the McAllen station encounter large group after large group of family units in Los Ebanos, Texas, on Friday June 15. This group well in excess of 100 family units turned themselves into the U.S. Border Patrol, after crossing the border illegally and walking through the town of Los Ebanos.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP), after facing increased pressure from Republican lawmakers, has begun revealing the true numbers of accused terrorists who have been arrested trying to enter the United States illegally.

As reported by Fox News, CBP has been posting the numbers online since last week, following written requests from Republicans in Congress. The data concerns individuals who are officially listed on the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB).

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19 Attorneys General Urge Supreme Court to Uphold Ruling Ordering Full Reinstatement of ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy

Virginia Star Staff

Nineteen attorneys general, led by Indiana, have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a lawsuit filed by Texas and Missouri against the Biden administration.

They’re asking the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court’s order instructing the Biden administration to follow the law to fully reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), otherwise known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy.

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Border Patrol Officials Make Massive Fentanyl, Meth, and Heroin Seizures at the Southern Border

Virginia Star Staff

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers recently intercepted two smuggling attempts of millions of dollars worth of deadly drugs at the southern border.

Officers in Laredo, Texas, on March 25 confiscated over $4.3 million in alleged meth they found in a tractor trailer carrying waterproof sealant from Mexico, CBP said in a press release.

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Southern Border Migrant Encounters Increased in February

Virginia Star Staff
U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations following the implementation of Title 42 USC 265 at the northern and southern land borders. U.S. Border Patrol agents transport a group of individuals encountered near Sasabe, Ariz. to the U.S. Mexico border on March 22, 2020. CBP Photo by Jerry Glaser

Border officials encountered 164,973 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in February, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announcement Tuesday.

The figure represents a 7% increase from January’s encounters, according to CBP.

CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement that February’s overall operational numbers result from “the continued economic rebound from the depths of the COVID pandemic, with CBP officers processing more than 2.8 million shipments in legitimate trade valued at more than $236 billion.”

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Migrant Encounters at the Border Have Nearly Doubled Since Biden Took Office

Virginia Star Staff

The number of migrants encountered at the southern border in January nearly doubled that of January 2021, when President Joe Biden took office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported Friday.

CBP agents encountered 153,941 migrants in January, according to an agency press release, nearly twice the 78,414 migrants encountered in January 2021.

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October Southern Border Encounters See 129 Percent Increase over Last Year

The Center Square
Crowd of immigrants

Border Patrol agents encountered 129.7% more people at the southern border this year than last, according to new data published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The greatest number of encounters was in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and the greatest percentage increase was in Yuma, Arizona.

Illegal border crossings have skyrocketed since President Joe Biden took office in January.

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Fiscal Year 2021 Becomes Third-Highest Year on Record in Border Encounters, Reaching 1.7 Million

Virginia Star Staff

Border officials encountered the third-highest number of migrants at the southern border on record, reaching more than 1.7 million apprehensions, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Border officials reported 192,000 encounters with migrants attempting to illegally enter the U.S. through the southwest border in September, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. A record high of more than 213,500 migrants were apprehended in July and another 209,800 were encountered in August.

“CBP encounters along the Southwest border declined in September from the prior month, and a majority of noncitizens encountered were expelled under Title 42,” Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. “The men and women of CBP continued to rise admirably to the challenge, despite the strain associated with operating during a global pandemic that has claimed far too many lives among our frontline personnel.”

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Border Patrol Agents Could Be Fired If They Don’t Get Vaccinated for COVID-19

Virginia Star Staff

Border Patrol agents could be fired if they’re not vaccinated for COVID-19 by the end of November, two active agents and a union official told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday.

Border officials have until Nov. 22 to get vaccinated or face three levels of discipline including “verbal counseling, one – 14 days without pay and removal from service,” a senior Border Patrol agent told the DCNF. The agent spoke on the condition of anonymity since they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter.

“So it’s official now. They are implementing disciplinary action for the unvaccinated,” the agent told the DCNF.

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Border Patrol Requested Additional Aid in Del Rio Months Before Thousands of Migrants Arrived

Virginia Star Staff
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas speaks with Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Raul Ortiz as he tours the Del Rio Port of Entry in Del Rio, Texas, September 20, 2021.

Border Patrol agents requested additional federal aid in Del Rio, Texas, months before thousands of migrants set up a temporary camp under an international bridge and overwhelmed immigration officials, CNN Politics reported Thursday.

Border officials reported an increase in migrants crossing the Rio Grande River earlier in the summer but didn’t know more than 14,000 migrants would end up setting up camp under the bridge, according to CNN Politics. On June 1, the union representing Del Rio Border Patrol agents asked for additional technology resources to help agents quickly process large groups of migrants in the field before sending them to a station.

“This way, we can at least get part of the process finished before they even get to the station instead of wasting that time,” said Jon Afinsen, president of the National Border Patrol Council in Del Rio, in an email exchange with regional Border Patrol management, CNN Politics reported.

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Border Officials Are So Overwhelmed They’re Struggling to Verify Whether Illegal Migrants Are Adults or Minors

Virginia Star Staff
border surge

MCALLEN, Texas — Customs and Border Protection agents are so overwhelmed with the number of migrants arriving at the southern border they’re having a hard time verifying whether some illegal migrants are minors or adults, agents told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Tuesday.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials are supposed to conduct extensive interviews with migrants they suspect of lying about their age, a senior agent told the DCNF. The agents spoke to the DCNF on the condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak on the matter.

“In the past, our intelligence would interview these subjects until eventually getting them to admit they had falsely claimed to be minors. But now with the sheer volume of people coming in and people that we have to process and move, that part of the equation is just a hindrance and would create a bottleneck,” the senior CBP agent told the DCNF. “In other words, our processing machine has now switched gears to quantity over quality. Sad.”

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CBP Reports Nearly 190,000 Illegal Border Crossers Came into the U.S. from Mexico in June

Virginia Star Staff

Border officials encountered nearly 190,000 migrants at the southern border in June, a 5% increase over May’s numbers, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Friday.

There was a significant increase in the number of re-encounters in June, with 34% of individuals having at least one prior encounter in the past 12 months, compared to the average one-year re-encounter rate of 14% for Fiscal Years 2014-2019, the agency said in a statement.

“The large number of expulsions during the pandemic has contributed to a larger-than-usual number of migrants making multiple border crossing attempts,” CBP said. “Which means that total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border.”

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Trump Says Southern Border Is ‘More Dangerous Than It’s Ever Been’ Under Biden

Virginia Star Staff

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday the southern border is “more dangerous than it’s ever been” after the Biden administration reversed most of Trump’s immigration policies, Fox News reported.

The Biden administration ended Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” program on June 1 and is eyeing an end to public health order Title 42 that allows border officials to rapidly expel most migrants to Mexico at the end of July, Axios reported June 20. Biden also said he would stop construction on the border wall, prompting Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to announce plans for the state to begin construction on its own wall, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

“There has never been a border so secure as the southern border that we had, and now it’s opened up,” Trump said, according to Fox News. “Now we have an open, really dangerous, border. More dangerous than it’s ever been in the history of our country, and we better go back fast.”

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House Democrats Propose Defunding Immigration Enforcement Agencies Amid Border Crisis

Virginia Star Staff

House Democrats proposed a new spending bill that would cut funding to immigration enforcement agencies and rescind funds allocated to the border wall.

The bill, which makes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), allocates $14.1 billion in net funding to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), $927 million less than the previous year’s budget, according to a press release from the House Committee on Appropriations. The bill also rescinds $2.1 billion in funds from last year intended to go towards the border wall, and provides Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with $1.55 million less than the previous fiscal year.

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More Lethal Fentanyl Found Along the Southern Border this Year Than Last

The Center Square

Federal authorities have seized significantly more fentanyl along the U.S.-Mexican border in Arizona and California since October than they did in the entire 2020 fiscal year.

Since October, authorities have seized 7.000 pounds of the drug, compared to just 4,500 pounds in the entire last fiscal year, according to data from Customs and Boarder Protection. The reasoning, according to authorities, is simply supply and demand.

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Border Patrol Chief to Step Down

Virginia Star Staff
Rodney Scott

Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott will step down after more than 29 years with Customs and Border Protection, he announced Wednesday.

Scott will remain in his position for around 60 days as the agency transitions, he said in a private Facebook post. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shared a screenshot of Scott’s Facebook message with the Daily Caller News Foundation and said the agency would make a formal announcement.

“I received my 3R letter today. For those not familiar, that is Federal government slang for the letter issued to (senior executive staff) level employees informing them of a directed reassignment,” Scott said in the post. “The recipient has 3 options – relocate, resign or retire. No rationale or reason is required, nor is it disciplinary.”

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Feds: Illegal Immigration Continued to Worsen in May

The Center Square
Temporary soft sided facilities are utilized to process noncitizen individuals, noncitizen families and noncitizen unaccompanied children as part of the ongoing response to the current border security and humanitarian effort along the Southwest Border in Donna, Texas, May 4, 2021.

The surge in illegal immigration at the southern border continues to worsen, May numbers show, as the Biden administration takes more criticism for its handling of the issue.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection released new data on the crisis at the southern border, showing the federal law enforcement agency encountered 180,034 people attempting to illegally enter the country last month.

May’s numbers were a 1% increase from the previous month, but illegal immigration since Biden took office has soared.

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Thousands of Migrants Biden Said Would Be Allowed to Enter the U.S. Turned Back to Mexico

Virginia Star Staff

Thousands of migrants ordered to remain in Mexico as their asylum cases were processed were returned to the country indefinitely despite the Biden administration admitting most of the remaining cases into the U.S., the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

President Joe Biden ended former President Donald Trump’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) requiring migrants to “Remain in Mexico” and has admitted thousands of the 26,000 migrants with active cases into the U.S., the AP reported. Judges have terminated proceedings in nearly 6,700 MPP cases, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

“Things have changed under the Biden administration and we’ve seen a little over 8,000 individuals previously in MPP have their cases transferred out of an MPP court, which suggests that they have been allowed into the US under the more standard asylum processing procedures,” Syracuse University Assistant Research Professor Dr. Austin Kocher told the Daily Caller News Foundation Thursday.

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Increased Number of Migrants from India and Haiti Attempting to Cross into the U.S.

Virginia Star Staff

An increasing number of migrants from India, Romania, Haiti and Cuba are attempting to enter the U.S. through the southern border, Axios reported Wednesday.

Migrants are reportedly flying to Central America since U.S. courts are backlogged with asylum cases preventing them from living or working in the country as their case is processed, according to Axios. Border officials encountered over 33,000 migrants from countries other than Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador attempting to enter the U.S. in April, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

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Commentary: Fentanyl Is Spreading Like Wildfire

Virginia Star Staff
Fentanyl

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 6,494 pounds of fentanyl in the first four months of 2021. This is much higher than the 4,776 pounds seized in all of 2020. While it is impressive that CBP has removed this much of the deadly drug from the market, the majority of the fentanyl brought into the U.S. is not seized, and increasing amounts of fentanyl are reaching Americans. The drug, a synthetic opioid, was invented in 1960 for medical applications and is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. In recent years, Mexico-based criminal organizations have been manufacturing the highly addictive drug, often mixed with other substances, and distributing it throughout the United States.

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Border Agents Report Being Overworked, Understaffed and Exposed to COVID-19 During Migrant Surge

Virginia Star Staff
Rep. Dr. Greg Murphy

Border officials in south Texas consistently face exposure to COVID-19, don’t have the resources to do their job and are regularly called in for overtime shifts, two active agents told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Many Customs and Border Protection (CBP) field agents work 50-hour weeks and now are required to report for 10-hour long overtime shifts even after they are exposed to migrants who test positive for COVID-19, an active CBP agent told the DCNF. The agents spoke on the condition of anonymity since they were not authorized to speak with members of the media.

“CBP gives us a job, but they seem more concerned with getting the job done than with the actual agents,” an active agent told the DCNF. “They want the mission to succeed. We don’t have the resources we need to do our jobs but we make do with what we have. We don’t have enough agents, transport, technology, or aircraft to help us out.”

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