Tag: southern border

Report from the Southern Border: Interview with Todd Bensman

Virginia Star Staff

Working as a reporter and now as a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, you have done a lot of “shoe leather” reporting at the U.S. southern border — covering the Mexican drug wars and, in the last years, immigration. Unlike so many immigration reporters who rely on second hand reports, you have personally interviewed at least 1,000 immigrants. Why do you do this and how does what you learn differ from the prevailing narrative?

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Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Concerned About Situation at Border

The Center Square

The vast majority of Americans are concerned about the situation at the U.S. border, according to new polling.

The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights, asked 2,500 registered voters, including 1,000 registered Democrats, 1,000 registered Republicans, and 500 independents: “How concerned are you about the situation at the border?”

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Federal Authorities See Massive 33 Percent Spike in Illegal Immigration at Southern Border

Virginia Star Staff

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered a surge in migrants at the southern border in July after the Biden administration claimed success in the implementation of new policies and programs, according to federal data released Friday.

CBP recorded 183,503 migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in July, according to the data. The Biden administration has touted the creation of new legal pathways for migrants to get to the U.S. following the expiration of the Title 42 expulsion order in May as the reason CBP migrant encounters dropped from 206,701 in May to 144,566 in June.

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Commentary: Drug and Crime Issues at Border Could Make Immigration a Central Issue in 2024

Virginia Star Staff

Despite voters being focused on economic issues like lowering inflation and raising wages, the public’s concern over immigration could make border security as big of an issue in 2024 as it was just before Former President Trump was first elected.     

New Gallup polling from July shows the share of Americans who say immigration is a “good thing” is at its lowest point since 2014. The last time enthusiasm for immigration was this low, the public elected a staunchly law and order president who spent much of his campaign illuminating the drug and crime crisis in the United States due to unchecked immigration.

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Biden Wants Another $24 Billion for Ukraine, Just $4 Billion for the Border

Just the News

The White House on Thursday outlined a $40.1 billion funding request in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that includes $24 billion for Ukraine-related expenses but just $4 billion to bolster security at the southern border.

Specifically, the White House wants $13.1 billion for the Pentagon to send military aid directly to Kyiv and replenish its own stocks. It further seeks $8.5 billion for the State Department to provide humanitarian and economic support. Lastly, it seeks $2.3 billion for the Treasury to provide financial programs for the country in place of Chinese or other adversarial sources.

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Nearly 165,000 Apprehended at Southern Border in July

The Center Square

At least 164,753 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported evading capture after illegally entering the southwest border in July, according to preliminary Border Patrol data obtained by The Center Square.

This includes 137,593 apprehensions and 27,160 gotaways. “Gotaways” is the official U.S. Customs and Border Protection term that refers to the number of people who are known and reported to illegally enter the U.S. between ports of entry who intentionally try to evade capture and don’t return to Mexico. In July, the most gotaways were reported in El Paso and Tucson sectors, as they have been nearly every month this year.

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Heinous Crimes Committed by Illegal Migrants Under Scrutiny Ahead of 2024 Election

Just the News

Recent heinous crimes — from rape to murder — committed by illegal aliens are under scrutiny as more migrants enter the United States, making it a hot topic ahead of the 2024 election.

“We need borders. We have to stop the invasion of people into our country. And you know who’s coming in? Prisoners, people from mental institutions, terrorists are coming into our country and millions and millions and millions of people,” former President Donald Trump said Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania.

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Gov. Abbott: Texas Has the Sovereign Authority to Defend Its Borders

The Center Square

Texas has a right to defend its own border, Gov. Greg Abbott said on Friday in response to the U.S. Department of Justice demanding the state remove marine barriers placed in the Rio Grande River in the Eagle Pass area of Texas.

“The State of Texas’s actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal government’s ability to carry out its official duties,” the DOJ wrote to Abbott in a letter on Thursday. The DOJ gave Abbott until Monday to agree to remove the barriers. If he didn’t agree or reply, the DOJ said it would sue.

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Virginia National Guard Units Being Sent to the Border Announced

The Center Square

Three of Virginia’s National Guard units will lead Joint Task Force Cardinal as part of Operation Lone Star to help secure the southern border. 

Troops will be deployed from the Guard’s Portsmouth-based 2nd Squadron, 183rd Cavalry Regiment and the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, with assistance from Army and Air National Guard units from Lynchburg, Winchester, Fredericksburg, Danville, Staunton and Hampton.

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Texas’ Operation Lone Star: More Than 500 Buses Sent to Sanctuary Cities

The Center Square

Since Texas’ border security mission Operation Lone Star (OLS) launched more than two years ago, the multi-agency effort has led to the apprehension of nearly 400,000 foreign nationals who entered the U.S. illegally.

Since last April, Texas has sent over 500 buses of foreign nationals to six so-called sanctuary cities.

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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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Feds Catch More than 450 Known, Suspected Terrorists in Nine Months, Most at Northern Border

Virginia Star Staff

There have been hundreds of known or suspected terrorists apprehended at the northern and southern borders in the current fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. 

As foreign nationals illegally enter the U.S. and are apprehended, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) agents screen them against a federal Terrorist Screening Dataset, which includes sensitive information about terrorist identities. It originated as a consolidated terrorist watch list “to house information on known or suspected terrorists, or 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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Illegal Border Crossers So Far This Year Outnumber the Population of Eight States

The Center Square

At least 1.2 million people have been apprehended or reported evading capture at the southern border in the first five months of this year, according to data obtained and analyzed by The Center Square.

The estimate is based on official apprehension data reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as gotaway data. A Border Patrol agent provides this data exclusively to The Center Square on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. Gotaways are those who illegally enter the U.S. and intentionally seek to evade capture. Border Patrol agents report those who have illegally entered and evaded capture based on several factors. CBP doesn’t publicly report gotaway data.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep Mark Green Says He Has Evidence That Some Chinese Migrants Are Tied To CCP, PLA

Admin

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green possesses evidence that some Chinese migrants that crossed the southern border illegally and were released into the U.S. under the Biden administration are connected to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), he told the Daily Caller News Foundation during a press conference Wednesday.

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14 GOP Governors Sending National Guard Troops and Resources to Texas to Secure Southern Border

Virginia Star Staff

Republican governors are sending National Guard troops to the southern border.  

Governors of Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia announced this week they will send troops and resources to Texas to support the work of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Operation Lone Star to secure the southern border.  

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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to Deploy National Guard Troops to Southern Border

Virginia Star Staff

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will deploy National Guard troops to the southern border, his office announced Wednesday.

The Virginia governor will send 100 troops to the Texas-Mexico border to address the surge in illegal immigration and drug smuggling that he says is killing five Virginians each day, according to the announcement. Youngkin joins Florida, Tennessee and Nebraska in helping Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott secure the southern border.

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Commentary: Send Them Back

Virginia Star Staff

Only a country that has lost the will to survive would tolerate the invasion underway all across America. There is no longer a southern border to speak of. From Arizona to Maine, towns are under siege by a relentless, surging mass of humanity. The lowly citizen has been trampled underfoot to make lebensraum for the hallowed “asylum seeker,” whose conquering steps are greeted with suppliant knee. 

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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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Biden Hits Record Low Approval Rating for Handling of Immigration: Poll

Admin

Americans largely disapprove of President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration policy, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Monday.

Only 31 percent of Americans approve on the president’s handling of immigration, according to the poll, which was conducted between May 11-15. Under Biden’s leadership, federal authorities have seen record surges in illegal immigration, recording more than 2.3 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022 and more than 1.4 million at the southern border so far in fiscal year 2023.

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Illegal Border Crossings in First Four Months of Year Greater than Populations of Six States

The Center Square

The number of people illegally entering the U.S. solely through the southern border in the first four months of this year is greater than the population of Delaware, the home state of the president, and the populations of five other states.

So far this year, at least 1,047,528, people have been apprehended or reported evading capture, according to data analyzed by The Center Square. The total is greater than the estimated populations of Delaware (1,031,985), South Dakota (923,484), North Dakota (780,588), Alaska (732,294), Vermont (647,156) and Wyoming (583,279).

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Border Authorities Encountered More than 200K Migrants at Southern Border in April: CBP

Just the News

Border authorities encountered 211,401 migrants at the United States’ southern border with Mexico during the month of April, the latest report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated.

That figure marked a 10% surge from the March total of 191,956. Total encounters at ports of entry specifically increased by 12% from March. CBP indicated that an increase from March to April is “typical” and noted that the figures marked an 11% drop from the previous April.

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24 Republican Governors Commit to Help Texas Defend Its Border

The Center Square

Twenty-four Republican governors have responded to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s call for help to secure its border with Mexico.

“The federal government’s response handling the expiration of Title 42 has represented a complete failure of the Biden Administration,” the governors said in a joint statement, referring to the end of the public health authority, Title 42, which expired at midnight on May 11.

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Biden Admin Ropes in Agriculture, Interior Departments to Help Stem Tide of Migrants Crossing Border

Virginia Star Staff

The Biden administration asked several departments and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Interior, to support border authorities ahead of the end of Title 42, the Trump-era migrant expulsion order, on May 11, according to an internal memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

In addition to deploying Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Defense Department (DOD) personnel to the southern border, the Biden administration also requested the deployment of Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Commerce and Department of Interior personnel, according to the Friday memo, which Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Acting Executive Associate Director Katrina Berger sent internally.

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U.S. Officials Admit Losing ‘Operational Control’ of Border, Drug Cartels Poised to Seize it

Just the News

With just two words, the top uniformed officer in the Customs and Border Protection agency sent shockwaves across official Washington two months ago when asked whether his agency has operational control of the southern U.S. border.

“No, sir,” Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told Congress in a shocking admission that exposed just how badly border security has deteriorated under President Joe Biden.

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Migrant Child from Honduras Dies in HHS Custody

Virginia Star Staff

A migrant child died suddenly while in the care of the Department of Health and Human Service (HHS), the agency said in a statement Friday.

The Honduran government identified the child as 17-year-old Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza of Honduras, saying he died in a Florida shelter. Between October 2022 and March, Border Patrol agents stationed along the southern border recorded more than 67,000 encounters of unaccompanied migrant children, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

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Virginia Gov. Youngkin: We Have This Moment Where Every State Is a Border State

The Center Square

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, in an exclusive interview with The Center Square, had strong words for the Biden administration’s handling of the crisis at the southern border and the lifting of Title 42.

Youngkin signed an executive order Tuesday while delivering remarks at Stafford High School in Stafford County, marking National Fentanyl Awareness Day. During his speech, the governor blamed the Biden administration for failing to take action against the flow of the deadly drug across the border.

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Biden Admin to Deploy Troops to Southern Border amid Expected Migrant Surge

Virginia Star Staff

The Pentagon is sending a contingent of troops to the southern border to reinforce Customs and Border Protection (CBP) missions ahead of an expected surge in migrant entrances later this month, a U.S. official confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Department of Homeland Security requested the Pentagon’s assistance as Title 42, a Trump-era authority implemented in the wake of COVID-19 is scheduled to sunset on May 11, opening the way for thousands of migrants who would formerly be subject to expulsion to seek entry into the U.S. A temporary addition of 1,500 military personnel will mostly perform administrative tasks and will not conduct any law enforcement work, leaving that to CBP, the U.S. officials told the DCNF.

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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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Commentary: Importing Poverty Is Making America Poor

Virginia Star Staff

For much of the post-World War II era, America has been expected by many of its citizens to be a benevolent King Midas to the rest of the world. We have attained unprecedented levels of prosperity, and we are expected to share that with anyone seeking to improve their conditions.

While such philanthropy may cause hearts to swell with good feelings, it often comes at a steep price. At a time when America is showing all the characteristics of an empire in decline, that price has now become a crippling burden.

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Commentary: The Border Isn’t Just a Crisis, It’s Also a Grift

Virginia Star Staff

There was a time not long ago when Americans would read news stories about obscene levels of corruption in other countries and feel justified in a sense of superiority. Things might not be perfect here, but at least we weren’t that bad. No more. We have now reached the point here where it is that bad. We have surrendered the right to look down our noses at any other country.
One of the most glaring examples of this today can be found in the crisis raging at the U.S.-Mexico border. There have been endless videos of hordes of migrants traversing the Rio Grande and walking into the United States, but that is just a part of the total picture.

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Florida Grand Jury Accuses Biden Administration of Abetting ‘Forced Migration, Sale’ of Foreign Kids

Just the News

A Florida grand jury’s five-month probe into the government’s processing of unaccompanied migrant children is poking a major hole into President Joe Biden’s border narrative, concluding his administration has been “facilitating the forced migration, sale, and abuse of foreign children.”

In an interim report released by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, the grand jury raised deep concerns about the Homeland Security Department and Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) implementation of the Unaccompanied Alien Child (UAC) program, saying the government’s rhetoric does not match its performance.

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Nikki Haley Visits Border, Delivers Her ‘Catch and Deport’ Plan to Solve Border Crisis

Admin

by Jennie Taer   Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican candidate Nikki Haley visited the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, delivering her proposal to solving the illegal immigration crisis. Haley proposed a mandatory E-Verify program for employers to ensure they’re not hiring illegal immigrants, firing 87,000 IRS agents to hire…

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Caravan of More than 1,000 Migrants Crosses into El Paso Illegally as Chaos Erupts in Mexico

Virginia Star Staff

A caravan of more than 1,000 migrants crossed illegally into El Paso, Texas, Wednesday as chaos erupted in recent days on the Mexican side in Juarez.

Agents apprehended the group, which was mostly comprised of Venezuelans, Wednesday, El Paso Border Patrol Chief Anthony Good said late Thursday. The incident follows chaos in Juarez, where nearly 40 migrants died Monday in a shelter fire.

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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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Commentary: It’s Time to End Mexican Cartels’ Reign of Terror

RealClearWire

Walking down long, ornate hallways, across a grand central courtyard adorned with a Pegasus-topped fountain, and through yet more corridors, our bipartisan delegation was guided to the offices of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for what we hoped would be a timely and useful meeting for our nations. Since the enactment of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), ongoing trade issues continue to flare up, and since the beginning of the Biden Administration our southern border with Mexico has deteriorated into a chaotic, dangerous, and lawless morass.

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Biden Admin Flew Migrants Caught Illegally Crossing Over from Canada to the Southern Border, Memo Reveals

Virginia Star Staff

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flew illegal migrants from the northern border to the southern border to expel them under Title 42, a Trump-era public health expulsion order, according to an internal agency memorandum reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The flights, which are operated by contractor World Atlantic Airlines, also began with a program to move Border Patrol agents from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Canadian border to help with the surge, a U.S. government official familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak, told the DCNF. The Title 42 flights, however, have been costly, with each costing between $150,000 and $200,000, meaning they’re not likely to continue, the source added.

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Smugglers Are Using Drones to Spy on Agents, Border Patrol Says

ADN America

The U.S. Border Patrol said that smugglers are using drones to spy on its agents along the U.S.-Mexico Border between San Diego and Tijuana.

“They’re gathering intelligence, they’re doing counter-surveillance on our agents, they’re trying to see our work patterns, how many agents and what they’re doing,” said Border Patrol Agent Diana Ibarra in a recent bulletin published by the federal agency. “They’re working to try and find any possible vulnerability and exploit those.”

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Border: 205,000 Apprehensions, Gotaways in February as Gotaways Increase in West

The Center Square

More than 205,000 foreign nationals were apprehended or reported as gotaways after illegally entering the southwest border in February, according to preliminary data obtained by The Center Square from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent. The agent provided the information on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation; it only includes Border Patrol data and excludes Office of Field Operations data.

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Commentary: Americans Should Read the Fine Print on Biden’s Newest Border Enforcement Policy

Admin

If you believe the reporting of the legacy media, the Biden administration’s newly proposed 153-page asylum rule is a resurgence of the Trump administration policies they loathed.

The Washington Post describes the new rule as the administration’s “most restrictive border control measures to date,” and The New York Times claims the new policy “could disqualify most migrants from being able to seek asylum at the southern U.S. border.”

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Officials Say Biden Manipulating Border Stats, Blinding Agents to Fleeing Aliens

Just the News

Current and former U.S. officials are warning that the Biden administration has begun manipulating border statistics, incentivizing illegal aliens to shift from illegally crossing the southern border to seeking parole and asylum at ports of entry while blinding border agents by restricting their use of surveillance balloons.

Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told the “Just the News, No Noise” television show Tuesday that the net effect of the policy changes will be to create a false portrait to the American people that the border crisis has eased when in fact it has simply shifted tactics.

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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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Border Patrol Agents Report More than 300,000 Apprehensions, Gotaways in December Alone

The Center Square

At least 225,797 people were apprehended entering the U.S. illegally nationwide in December, according to official U.S. Customs and Border Protection data released late Friday.

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During Visit to the Southern Border, New York City Mayor Says His City Has ‘No Room’ for Illegal Migrants

Admin

Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams said his city is at capacity and has “no room” for illegal migrants during a visit to El Paso, Texas, over the weekend.

Adams stressed that there’s misinformation going around that New York City is where illegal migrants can obtain housing and jobs, during a news conference Sunday in the border city. The Big Apple mayor has previously complained about the surges of illegal migrants coming to New York City on transports sent by Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Democratic El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser and Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

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Commentary: The Army National Guard vs. The Invading Cartel Armies

Admin

Rape trees, river floaters, skeletal remains, and fentanyl candy. The new vernacular of illegal immigration is an indictment of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) loss of operational control along the U.S.-Southern border. A consequence of this is the transformation of cartel insurgencies into well-formed armies that recruit and employ uniformed soldiers, have supporting intelligence operations, and control terrain. The challenge now confronting state and federal law enforcement is no longer how to deter an insurgency; it’s how to defeat an army.

Modern armies are resourced by nation-states who provide moral leadership in times of war. But the accountable governments of nation-states can falter and fail. Mexico in particular has a compromised central government that is not protecting its own homeland from subversive actors. When this happens, a conglomerate of paid professionals, mercenaries, conscripts, and criminals fills the void to either protect or exploit the resources of a community. It was true within the first communities of Mesopotamia, and it is happening now in communities across Mexico. This is how armies begin. A state is incapable of securing its communities, accountable governments lose legitimacy, and subversive actors start vying for control of terrain to exploit resources.

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Senators Cruz, Hagerty, and More Slam Biden’s First-Ever Border Visit as ‘Too Late,’ ‘Propaganda’

Just the News

President Joe Biden on Sunday landed in the border town of El Paso, Texas, and his visit is being criticized as “too late” and a “propaganda event,” as record numbers of illegal migrants have entered the United States since he entered office.

“Biden’s promise to secure the border is too little, and two years late. Irreversible damage has been done,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted. “Over 313,000 illegal aliens flooded the border last month. 5.3M illegal aliens since Biden took office.”

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