A Texas congressman whose district runs up against 820 miles of U.S.-Mexico border predicted Tuesday the immigration “crisis” will take a turn for the worse in April, likely to include more than 150,000 encounters at the border, as well as incidents of death and violence.
Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said federal law enforcement is not only overwhelmed with the 100,000 migrants who were apprehended and encountered at the southern border in March, but the patrol is being forced to ignore an onslaught of criminal activity that cartels are waging because of the distraction.
“April’s going to be worse than March. You’re going to see loss of life. You’re going to see people that are in these conditions either die, or overrun a Border Patrol agent, or you’re going to see massive destruction of property,” Hurd said at a BakerHostetler law firm event in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
Hurd later told the Washington Examiner in an interview on Capitol Hill his biggest fear was the loss of life of a migrant in Border Patrol custody. Three migrants, including two children, have died in federal custody since December.
“And it’s not going to be Border Patrol’s fault,” Hurd said.
Hurd, a cybersecurity business owner and former CIA officer, represents the largest portion of southern border. His district stretches from east of Eagle Pass west to just outside the El Paso city limits.
[Also read: Border Patrol agent: Shutting ports of entry would allow officers to back up agents dealing with illegal crossers]
Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector, one of nine regions on the southern border, employs 2,300 agents and 150 Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel. Hurd said upwards of 50 to 60 percent of agents are caring for migrants, whether that be processing them, taking them to medical appointments, and other non-law enforcement activities.
“These are people that are surrendering in between our ports of entry — at our ports of entry. When you take up [overwhelm] that system, you don’t know what’s coming behind them. I would not be surprised if the drug cartels are taking advantage of this, moving even more product in there,” Hurd said.
The three-term lawmaker said the long-term solution is for Western Hemisphere countries, not just the U.S., to deal with the root cause prompting hundreds of thousands of people annually to leaving Central America’s Northern Triangle region.
[Related: Top US border official: ‘The breaking point has arrived’]
The short-term solution he suggested is getting Congress to approve additional funding for Department of Homeland Security agencies, as well as piecemeal legislation.
Agents have spent nearly 80,000 hours in recent months facilitating hospital and urgent care visits. Hurd said that is the sort of work that should be contracted out so that law enforcement can be on the actual border dealing with national security threats, not families.
Hurd said the type of bill DHS needs passed was blocked from a vote by former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., last year.
