Biden administration officials doubled down this week on claims the U.S.-Mexico border is secure. But official statistics say otherwise.
SO WHAT
How much longer will the White House deny the crisis at the border?
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded yesterday to questions about a surge of migrants seeking to enter the United States by saying the Biden administration has “taken unprecedented action” to secure the border.
At another point during the White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre backed up Vice President Kamala Harris’ border claims.
- Harris caught flak earlier this week for declaring “the border is secure,” amid a record high number of illegal crossings that have overwhelmed the Border Patrol.
THE NUMBERS
The White House’s rhetoric doesn’t square with the hard data: Four deadly border records were set in 2021, the first year of Joe Biden’s presidency — and they’ve already been shattered this year.
2 MILLION+ encounters with illegal migrants by The Border Patrol are forecast this year, up from 1.7 million in 2021.
748 migrants have died trying to cross the border in 2022, exceeding 2021’s total death toll by more than 200 deaths.
12,000+ pounds of the synthetic opioid fentanyl will be seized at the border this year, and year-to-date interdictions already rival 2021’s record 11,000 pounds, according to Customs and Border Protection.
200+ Americans die of fentanyl overdoses each day.
WHAT’S NEXT
Despite moving aggressively to undo Trump-era restrictions on immigration and promising to end Title 42, which allows the U.S. to turn away migrants deemed a public health threat, the White House appears to be having second thoughts about its laissez faire approach to immigration enforcement.
- Behind closed doors, Biden has pressed Mexico to accept more migrants expelled under Title 42, Reuters reported yesterday, citing U.S. and Mexican officials.
- Political considerations may have played a role in the development: 54% of Americans believe the country is experiencing an “immigrant invasion,” while 73% of Americans consider the large number of migrants apprehended a problem, according to an Ipsos poll released in July.
- Meanwhile, spurred by the federal government’s inaction at the border, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent several busloads of migrants to the vice president’s official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. yesterday.