The Border Patrol has apprehended nearly 6,000 fake families at the southwest border, and now devotes upwards of 60 percent of its manpower in high-crossing areas on what amounts to babysitting.
Even worse, the agency is releasing so-called families into the interior with virtually no vetting.
In testimony before the the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Mark Morgan (shown), acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said the crisis at the border is unprecedented and that Congress must act now to change the law.
Border patrol officials have said as much for months, but House and Senate Democrats, who hope to keep illegals coming in to swell the ranks of the party, have ignored them.
Thus have border agents faced an invasion of what now must be more than 800,000 illegals, with no end in sight.
Fakers and Liars
The shocking figure on phony families, which means illegals are lying to get into the country, came during questioning from Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
Johnson observed that the Border Patrol is releasing illegals almost immediately into the interior of the United States, then asked how long the illegals remained in custody before being loosed upon the American taxpayer.
“Since March of this year,” Morgan testified, “the United States Border Patrol has been releasing family units directly, so in some cases, they’re being released in under 48 hours into the interior of the United States.” And some of those, as The New American has reported, are sick.
That, Johnson said, is an obvious danger, particularly given the number of fake families found with DNA testing, which prompted Morgan to repeat what border officials have said repeatedly:
Catch and release is an incentive to cross the border illegally with a “family.”
“That is one of the largest pull factors,” Morgan said, “and it’s not going to stop…. We need to stem the flow. As long as our laws are where they are, you’re gonna grab a kid. That is your passport into the United States. They know that in the Northern Triangle countries and they are exploiting that every day.”
As for the number of fake families, Morgan told Johnson he did not have a percentage, but did have a number: 5,800.
As TNA reported in May, DNA testing at that point had uncovered a fake-family rate of around 30 percent.
Written Testimony
Morgan’s written testimony rehearsed the shocking numbers available at the website of Customs and Border Protection:
From October 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, the number of individuals apprehended or found inadmissible by CBP on the southwest border reached 780,633, an increase of 103 percent over the same time the previous fiscal year. That averages to two apprehensions or findings of inadmissibility every minute of every day for 272 days. Border Patrol’s southwest border apprehensions reached 688,375 for FY 2019 by the end of June. That number represents more apprehensions than full fiscal year totals for the previous ten years. Although we saw a decrease in the levels of apprehensions in June of this year compared to previous months, irregular migration remains high, continues to overtaxour finite law enforcement resources, and detracts from our national security mission….
The vast majority of migrants are Central American family unitsand unaccompanied alien children (UAC). In FY 2019 to date, UAC and family units represent 66 percent of all individuals apprehended by the Border Patrol at the southwest border.
Given that rate at which illegals are crossing the border, the total for fiscal 2019 is likely more than 800,000. Numbers for July will be available in the next week or so.
As well, in yet another reprise of what border officials have said, illegals are storming the border and overwhelming border agents with large groups. So far this year, border agents have apprehended 198 large group of more than 100, mostly Guatemalan and Honduran “families,” the prepared testimony says:
Last month, Border Patrol reached an unfortunate record when more than 1,000 migrants illegally entered the United States in the largest single group ever encountered. The group included more than 900 people in family units and more than 60 UAC.
As well, the testimony says, “in high-flow sectors, Border Patrol has been forced to divert between 40 and 60 percent of its manpower away from the border security mission to provide humanitarian care to families and children.”
Such is the tsunami that the agency has moved 700 agents from ports of entry to stations between ports to help with the babysitting.
“On any given day for the past several months, CBP has held more than 8,000 detainees in custody,” the testimony says. “On June 3, the number was as high as 19,500 detainees. CBP short-term holding facilities were simply not set up to process and care for a population of this size and demographics.”
It’s time for Congress to act, the testimony says, because “the system is overwhelmed.”
Photo: AP Images
