Border Crisis Update: Illegal Immigration at Record High in April 2021
The Customs and Border Protection agency “continues to see a large influx of illegal migration along the Southwest Border,” CBP chief Troy Miller said. Border Patrol officers and other CBP agents say they came across over 178 thousand illegal immigrants attempting to cross into the U.S. at the border with Mexico in April 2021. This is a 3% increase from March 2021 and a 1000% increase from April 2020.
Border apprehensions during President Biden’s three months in office exceed the number of apprehensions during fiscal year 2020, the last full fiscal year before Biden took office.
The majority of immigrants were single adults, and around 111,000 adults were deported to Mexico in April 2021. About 63% of CBP encounters with adults end in deportation under Title 42 policy.
While overall immigration numbers increased, the amount of unaccompanied minors found crossing the border decreased from 15,918 (March 2021) to 13,962.
Many have been critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis. Former Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner said:
"The message is clear—America's borders are open. If you make it to the border as an unaccompanied minor or as part of a family unit, you will likely be released into the interior. Once that happens, the Biden administration will do nothing to remove you, as the plummeting deportation numbers from ICE make clear. In fact, the Biden administration will push to give you the greatest reward of all—American citizenship via amnesty—in response to your lawbreaking."
Additionally, while most unaccompanied minor immigrants are no longer being cared for by the CBP, many of those previously held by the CBP are still under the care of the government. Many minors have been transferred from the Custom and Border Protection to the Department of Health and Human Services. Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas said regarding moving the minors between different government agencies:
"What they're doing now is they're moving the kids from the Border Patrol tents over to, next door, to the HHS facility. With all due respect, it's all been a shell game."
Although Cuellar is a Democrat, he has been one of the harshest critics of the Biden Administration’s failure at the border. In fact, Cuellar represents a Texas district on the border with Mexico. Cuellar is one of many who have claimed that Biden’s immigration policies have opened the doors to the mass influx of illegal immigrants.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have received continuing criticism for neglecting to visit the border amidst the current crisis.
Douglas Phillips is a native Texan, having been born and raised in the Lone Star State. He writes on political philosophy and current events.
