Simply Have No Border Left Say Sheriffs
By Joe Guzzardi
During March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported 221,303 migrant encounters, a 33 percent increase over March 2021. The 221,303 figure represents the highest monthly total in 22 years, and pushes the aggregate fiscal year number to 1.2 million, and 2.5 million since President Biden’s inauguration day.
The border surgers included single adults, family units and unaccompanied children who spiked to 14,167 March encounters compared with February’s 11,984. More alarming is that the world has gotten the message: show up at the border, and the Biden administration will welcome you. While once mostly limited to Mexico and the Northern Triangle, migrants now come from 150 countries, including Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Venezuela, Albania, Romania and Ecuador.
Among this year’s 221,303 March encounters, 109,549, or about half, were processed for removal under Title 42 which allows the U.S. to remove foreign nationals who are considered a public health risk. Through the third week in March, CBP expelled 1.7 million illegal immigrants under Title 42. Imagine, then, the unimaginable – what conditions, first at the border, and then in interior, will be like if Biden, defying logic as he’s determined to do – ends Title 42 on May 23.
The post-Title 42 estimates on illegal immigrant border crossings are frightening. Apprehensions could rise to 18,000 a day, more than half a million a month, and 6 million annually. Fortunately, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana Judge Robert Summerhays issued a temporary restraining order to block Biden’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions until arguments for a more formal injunction can be heard. On May 9, Summerhays’ order will expire.
Biden & Co. are pressing on with their open border agenda, but without a thought about what happens next to the migrants and to the U.S. citizens who subsidize the foreign nationals’ relocation. Eagle Pass, Texas, the entry point for hundreds of border crossers, is indicative of what lays ahead for some cities. Airports and bus stations can’t keep up with the demand. Migrants have nowhere to go, day or night. They hang out in large clusters, and sleep on the street. Biden couldn’t care less that the 29,000 Eagle Pass legal residents’ lives have been disrupted, and their personal safety is at risk amidst the chaos. Mayor Rolando Salinas said: “This border issue – it’s a mess.”
Census Bureau data shows that Eagle Pass is 97 percent Hispanic, has a 58 percent labor participation rate, a $46,000 median household income, and a $19,000 annual per capita income. Biden should be concerned about the adverse effect mass immigration will have not only on Eagle Pass, but the nation’s 37 million residents who live below the poverty line. Open borders facilitate importing poverty, a condition the U.S. already has an abundance of.
Compare Eagle Pass residents to the lifestyles of the open borders architects. Biden owns two Delaware homes and has a $9 million net worth. Vice President Kamala Harris, the border czar, is married to Hollywood entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff. The couple share houses in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. and enjoy a $6 million net worth.
Although Mayorkas was born in Cuba, he’s been in the U.S. since age one, and lived a privileged life. He grew up in Beverly Hills, went to Beverly Hills High School, attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a B.A. degree with distinction in 1981. Then, in 1985, Mayorkas received his J.D. from Loyola Law School. The DHS secretary lives comfortably in D.C. and has an estimated net worth of about $3 million. Unliked Eagle Pass citizens, the welcome-to-the-world trio is wealthy, and set for life.
Elites like Biden, Harris and Mayorkas are responsible for sound governance, and not jeopardizing Americans’ jobs, public school educations, security and access to prompt emergency medical care. Mass immigration will flood the jobs market with cheap labor, create overcrowd public schools, strain law enforcement, and add to hospital staffing workloads. But over-immigration’s consequences will never personally affect Biden, Harris or Mayorkas.
The National Sheriffs’ Association sent a letter to Senate leaders to share its front-line views. In the letter, Jonathan Thompson, the organization’s Executive Director and CEO, wrote: “We simply have no border left in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, or Southern California.” Erasing the border has been Biden’s goal since his first day as president, the sheriffs concluded. After 15 months in office, and to the dismay of Americans, Biden has achieved his goal.
PFIR analyst Joe Guzzardi writes about immigration issues and impacts. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.