With nearly 1,000 migrants flowing across the U.S. border daily and into federal facilities, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are being pulled in to provide care for the illegal immigrants.
In a series of over 40 photographs released by the agency today and reviewed by the Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli, officers were shown feeding migrants and stocking shelves with shirts, diapers, drinks, and treats. Officials from the U.S. Public Health Service were also pictured.
The effort to provide transparency inside the migrant holding facility displayed anew the challenge the border police force has in conducting its mission to keep out criminals and terrorists when the border breaks down.
The contrast was clear in release. Under the link to the photos, including one showing a makeshift daycare area, was this paragraph: “U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control, and protection of our nation’s borders at and between official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.”
But that mission crumbles when agents are reassigned to holding facilities, said former officials. What’s more, smugglers and criminal gangs in Mexico use surges to take advantage of the less secure border.
“What we’ve learned in the past, especially in 2019, is the smugglers will use families and unaccompanied minors as ‘distraction tactics,’” said Mark Morgan, the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under former President Donald Trump.
“They know as they push them across illegally, USBP agents will respond to provide immediate and effective humanitarian care. The response, processing, and care required is extremely time-consuming and resource-intensive, resulting in agents being pulled off the front lines, leaving large sections of the border less secure and unmonitored and making it easy to smuggle drugs, criminal migrants, and single adults across wide, unprotected area,” he told Secrets.
The crisis in 2019 prompted the Trump administration to tighten the border and eventually led to some holding facilities closing. Now there are an estimated 11,000-15,000 being held, and Morgan told us that agents are apprehending nearly 1,000 illegal immigrants a day.
And once processed, taxpayers are paying an average of $392.69 per person per night to put them up in hotels, according to an analysis of the Biden administration’s $86 million program by the Center for Immigration Studies.
“In 2019, the Border Patrol had, in certain locations, 40% of their agents pulled from their national security mission to provide humanitarian assistance. And now, we’re seeing the exact circumstances created by the Biden administration,” said Morgan, now an expert fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
ABC News: “Internal CBP documents obtained by ABC News show there are now 3,889 migrants in the Donna facility that is meant to hold just 250. That means it is currently at 1,556% capacity.” https://t.co/vrXLhkohcj
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 23, 2021
And it’s likely to get much worse over time, despite the messaging from Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the border is closed and for illegal migrants to stay home.
“The secretary is lying to the American people when he says our borders are secure. With crisis-level numbers of illegal migration being experienced on the borders, more and more resources are being pulled from the front lines resulting in a significant increase of the ‘got aways.’ Because of this administration’s dismantling of the effective tools and policies in place, we’re now experiencing the highest levels of got aways in memory — reaching 1,000 per day,” he said.
