A new report from Axios is shedding more light on the chaos quickly unfolding at the US-Mexico border.
“About 50,000 migrants who crossed the southern border illegally have now been released in the United States without a court date. Although they are told to report to an ICE office instead, just 13% have showed up so far, Axios has learned,” the outlet posted on Twitter.
“The sizable numbers are a sign of just how overwhelmed some sectors of the U.S.-Mexico border continue to be: A single stretch covering the Rio Grande Valley had 20,000 apprehensions in a week. The figures also show the shortcomings of recent emergency decisions to release migrants,” writes Axios.
Illegal border crossings have broken 20-year records for four consecutive months with 188,829 apprehensions in June – more than double the 78,442 apprehensions when President Biden took office in January, according to data released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In a single stretch covering the Rio Grande Valley, there were more than 20,000 apprehensions in one week.
To quell the chaos, Texas Governor Greg Abbott is now asking for help from the National Guard.
“To respond to this disaster and secure the rule of law at our Southern border, more manpower is needed,” Abbott wrote in the letter. “DPS [Department of Public Safety] needs help in arresting those who are violating state law. … I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border."
“President Biden’s open-border policies have paved the way for dangerous gangs and cartels, human traffickers, and deadly drugs like fentanyl to pour into our communities,” Abbott said in a statement last month.
“It’s unprecedented for agents to release migrants without an official notice to appear in court,” Axios reported. “Where it has occurred recently, migrants have instead been given a list of addresses and contacts for ICE offices across the country and told to report to one of them.”
Those who fail to report to ICE offices are subject to deportation. However, a Memorandum placed on ICE by Biden in mid-February dramatically reduced its ability to carry out deportations.
The Washington Post reported in May, “Under new Biden administration rules curtailing immigration enforcement, ICE carried out fewer than 3,000 deportations last month, the lowest level on record. The agency’s 6,000 officers currently average one arrest every two months.”
“ICE under President Biden is an agency on probation,” the Washington Post continued. “The new administration has rejected calls from some Democrats to eliminate the agency entirely, but Biden has placed ICE deportation officers on a leash so tight that some say their work is being functionally abolished.”
Read the full report at Axios.
Charley Mills contributed to this report.
