BEYOND A CRISIS: Border Detentions Up 32 Percent From April

May Detentions Top 144,000

 

WASHINGTON – New numbers are out showing yet another record breaking month at the border. In May, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 144,000 migrants along the southwest border. We’re on track to apprehend over 1 million migrants this fiscal year – approximately the size of Austin, Texas.

 

Just how bad is it?

• Our system is only designed to hold 4,000 migrants at a time. Right now, there are 19,000 in custody.
• 50 percent of CBP officers are pulled off the line each day to process and care for migrants. This is up from 40 percent last month.
• Large groups of migrants continue to flood the border.
  • Law enforcement has apprehended 180 groups of more than 100 migrants this fiscal year. CBP apprehended 49 large groups in May alone.
  • Last week CBP apprehended a group of more than 1,000 migrants, the largest group ever.
  • Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 37 migrants from the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Saturday.

 

Funding is running out

• Funding to care for unaccompanied children is on track to run out within the next month. If that happens, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), tasked with caring for unaccompanied children, would be forced to divert funding to provide minimum standards of care.
• CBP is also on track to run out of funding before the end of the fiscal year – likely before August 1.

 

Democrats continue to sit on their hands

• On Tuesday, Democrats yet again refused to provide humanitarian funding to address the border crisis, leaving the administration scrambling to find resources to respond to the growing numbers of migrants at the border. Instead, they pushed mass amnesty legislation that would only exacerbate the border crisis.
• In fact, the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee voted yesterday to cut CBP funding by $1.1 billion and rescind more than $600 million from barrier construction. Despite the explosion of migrants, Democrats also voted to keep funding for Border Patrol agents and Border Patrol checkpoints static.

 

Bottom Line: Democrats are putting politics ahead of the safety of migrants and law enforcement. Congress must act immediately to improve dramatically worsening conditions.

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