Democratic Texas Rep Can't Keep Quiet Anymore, Warns We Are Possibly Days Away from a Full Crisis on Our Southern Border
Not all Democrats are fond of President Joe Biden’s immigration fumbles.
Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, a centrist Democrat, spoke about his concern for what he sees as an impending immigration crisis on Thursday.
“We are weeks, maybe even days, away from a crisis on the southern border,” Cuellar said, according to the Houston Chronicle.
.@RepCuellar says Border Patrol in the RGV has apprehended 10,000 migrants in the last week — 2,500 in the last two days. “We are weeks, maybe even days, away from a crisis on the southern border. Inaction is simply not an option.”
— Ben Wermund (@BenjaminEW) March 4, 2021
The representative continued to express his concern in a Thursday tweet, stating that the country is “currently unprepared” to handle the current immigration surge.
“Inaction is not an option,” Cuellar wrote.
Our country is currently unprepared to handle a surge in migrants in the middle of this pandemic. I urge the Biden administration to listen and work with the communities on the southern border who are dealing with this influx.
Inaction is not an option. https://t.co/bm7IMSzFGS
— Rep. Henry Cuellar (@RepCuellar) March 4, 2021
Cuellar reportedly released statistics that showed Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley region had arrested 10,000 immigrants in the last week and over 2,500 in the last few days.
The representative, whose county covers a large section of the Texas-Mexico border, told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday, “The numbers have been increasing.”
“The number of unaccompanied kids, the number of families that are coming in are just increasing every day. In my district, just a couple of days ago, 166 people [crossed the border] … So it’s not a crisis yet, but it’s going to get there very soon.”
This isn’t just a local issue, either. Jessica Bolter, an analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, told the Houston Chronicle, “We are approaching the numbers that have characterized past peaks or surges.”
According to Customs and Border Protection statistics, the fiscal year 2021 has seen one of the largest numbers of unaccompanied minors coming through the southern border.
In total, since October 2020, nearly 20,000 unaccompanied minors were reportedly encountered on the southwest border. In January alone, the highest figure was reported at over 5,700 minors encountered.
At the same point in FY 2019, a year that showed a massive immigration spike, about 5,100 minors were encountered.
Axios reported that Biden officials project 13,000 unaccompanied minors will cross the southern border in May alone. According to government documents obtained by CBS News, Border Patrol apprehended 1,500 migrant children two weeks ago, with federal bed capacities at 90 percent of the 8,000-bed limit.
If the Biden administration predictions come to pass, that number will beat out FY 2019’s May figure of over 11,400 encounters.
Bolter told the Houston Chronicle, “Whether or not it’s a crisis is determined by how the government manages it.”
How the government will decide to manage this crisis, or “challenge” as Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas puts it, remains to be seen.
A migrant “influx care facility” reopened last week in Carrizo Springs, Texas, which was previously open under former President Donald Trump as a detention center for unaccompanied minors. The Biden administration received flak from its own party, and the administration recently determined that detention centers will be converted to rapid processing hubs, according to KTRK-TV.
The effects of Biden’s actions have not come to light as of yet.
However, the combination of Biden’s anti-border security policies, including stopping construction on the border wall, his slow conversion of detention centers and his rescinding of Trump’s national emergency at the border will likely not bode well at all for the thousands of families along the southern border.
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