Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas blamed Mexico Monday for December’s record-high surge of illegal immigrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Over 300,000 illegal immigrants crossed into the United States in December, the biggest monthly surge on record, forcing a temporary shutdown of rail crossings. Mayorkas appeared before the press after visiting United States Customs and Border Protection agents in Eagle Pass, Texas.
“That was certainly an extraordinarily high number of encounters,” Mayorkas said. “It coincides with the time when Mexican enforcement was no longer implemented. The immigration enforcement agency in Mexico was not funded.”
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Almost 380,000 illegal immigrants have been encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border during the first two months fiscal year 2024, which started Oct. 1, according to data released by United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), following 2,045,838 encounters in fiscal year 2023, 2,206,436 in fiscal year 2022 and 1,659,206 in fiscal year 2021.
The DCNF obtained an April 2023 email outlining how the Biden administration pared down the vetting process for illegal immigrants from the People’s Republic of China, including an end to downloading data from cell phones and reducing the number of questions asked to five.
Only 142,850 people were deported in fiscal year 2023, compared to the estimates of over 300,000 people entering through the southern border in December.
The House of Representatives passed H.R. 2, the Secure the Border Act, by a 219-213 vote on May 11, but the legislation is strongly opposed by Congressional Democrats and the White House. Conservative House Republicans threatened to vote against compromise legislation to fund the government unless measures to secure the border were included in the package Monday.
The Justice Department announced it was filing suit to stop Texas from enforcing SB4, which makes illegal entry into Texas a state misdemeanor and allows state law enforcement agencies to arrest illegal immigrants on those charges. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed the legislation Dec. 18.
Harold Hutchison on January 8, 2024
