Migrant arrests rose to nearly 190,000 in June, the highest in 21 years, despite the Biden administration’s insistence that the border surge this year has been a seasonal issue.
Customs and Border Protection encountered around 188,000 migrants in June, up from 180,034 in May, bringing the fiscal year total to more than 1.1 million CBP encounters. The number of migrants encountered by law enforcement is the highest since Biden took office in January.
CBP cited the large number of repeat encounters during the coronavirus pandemic behind the surge of migrants making multiple border crossing attempts, ''which means that total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border.''
"We are in the hottest part of the summer, and we are seeing a high number of distress calls to CBP from migrants abandoned in treacherous terrain by smugglers with no regard for human life,'' CBP acting Commissioner Troy Miller said.
"Although CBP does everything it can to locate and rescue individuals who are lost or distressed, the bottom line is this: The terrain along the border is extreme, the summer heat is severe, and the miles of desert migrants must hike after crossing the border in many areas are unforgiving."
Biden made sweeping changes to reform immigration when he took office to undo the policies of former President Donald Trump.
He created a task force to reunify migrant children with their families, paused construction of the border wall and called for reviews of legal immigration programs terminated by his predecessor.
But Republicans say the surge is a result of the rollback of those policies, including the Migrant Protection Protocols, which kept migrants in Mexico to await their hearings.
Wolf said the situation will get worse if the Biden administration gets rid of Title 42, enacted by the Trump administration for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the border due to public health protections during the pandemic.
"It doesn't really matter whether it’s this month or early in August; the timing is awful," former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf told Fox News last week. "We are in the midst of a historic crisis on that border, and instead of trying to implement measures that try and solve that issue, they’re doing exactly the opposite."
"They’re not prepared for it, I think they’re going to do it, because they want an open borders agenda, but it’s going to be catastrophic," former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director Thomas Homan said. "The numbers I think are going to be very, very high."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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