As of August 2022, the CBP (Border Patrol) has made 1.82 million arrests of illegal immigrants at the southern border, which spans from California to Texas. Most of those migrant encounters take place in Texas, specifically the Del Rio sector. Fox News‘ Bill Melugin reports daily on the number of migrants crossing. Earlier today, Melugin reported that the bodies of eighteen migrants had been found in Maverick County, Texas. This morning, Mexican authorities stopped an eighteen-wheeler at the border. Inside were 150 migrants being smuggled across the border.
There have been at least 2 million migrant encounters during fiscal year 2022 (migrant encounters aren’t the same as arrests). Plus, Fox News reported this week that there had been at least 66 individuals found to be on a list of known terrorists when CBP began processing them.
In June, 53 migrants died after being smuggled across the border in a similar manner.
Thursday morning, Melugin reported the seizure of candy-colored fentanyl pills by the CBP. Yesterday, 250,000 pills were found; today, the number was 15,000. Authorities say that this is an indicator that cartels are targeting younger users.
Two weeks ago in Alabama, an immigrant was found holding a twelve-year-old girl in a trailer. The young girl had bravely chewed out of her restraints and ran, seeking authorities. The man was later arrested and identified as someone who had illegally crossed the border.
In Yuma, Arizona, Border Patrol arrested a Mexican national who had been previously convicted of multiple crimes, including the rape of a child three years or younger.
A controversial video surfaced of border patrol agents unlocking a gate on private property in order to process the migrants there. The National Guard of Texas keeps the gate closed, but the border patrol agents are obliged to open and begin processing of the migrants who appear there.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) began placing empty shipping containers in the gaps of the Yuma border wall in order to stop the deluge of migrants walking into the country.
Last Friday, Ducey announced he would be using shipping containers stacked by two in order to close the gaps in the Yuma wall. Earlier this month, President Biden had quietly agreed to allow gaps around Yuma to be completed. Ducey’s actions aren’t the result of Biden’s agreement; they are merely a temporary fix. Razor wire is draped across the tops of the containers to discourage anyone from attempting to climb over the metal objects.
The mayor of Yuma, Douglas Nicholls, told reporters, “This is a part of the state’s reaction of waiting for a year and a half for the federal government to do something. . . It is the federal government’s responsibility to control the border.”
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly (D) has beseeched the Biden Administration to do something about the migration crisis affecting his state. In an election year, Kelly is looking to work on a bipartisan measure that would help to stem the surge of migrants at the southern border. He has also been openly critical of the Biden Administration for not doing more to help states like Arizona and Texas.
Kelly’s efforts have engendered the White House to spend $100 million to hire more Border Patrol agents, and another $1.2 billion was added for “border processing and management.” The filling in of four gaps by the federal government was also at the behest of Kelly.
Migrants coming into America is nothing new; we are a country of migrants. However, drug cartels are using migrants to smuggle drugs across the southern border. Coyotes are smuggling humans illegally across places like the Rio Grande River – and some of those migrants are drowning before they can successfully cross.
Migrants should be able to come to America, but there must be a process. People are dying as they try to reach America. Those who are bringing illicit drugs into the country are killing Americans. More must be done to save the lives of both migrants and Americans.
