WASHINGTON, D.C. – This evening, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) released the following statement after the release of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) border encounter numbers for May 2024:
 
“May’s numbers show that President Biden and impeached Secretary Mayorkas’ border crisis is never going to end as long as they are in charge. Border Patrol apprehensions at the Southwest border were roughly four times what Obama-era DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said ‘overwhelms the system.’ They were the highest they’ve ever been under this administration at the northern border. Encounters at official ports of entry also remain at historic levels, because Biden and Mayorkas have implemented unlawful policies like the CBP One and CHNV mass-parole schemes.
 
“Encouraging inadmissible aliens to show up at the ports of entry instead of between them might be better optics for the Biden administration, but the outcome is the same—hundreds of thousands being processed and released into our country at unprecedented rates. Meanwhile, CBP continues to be directed to release individuals into our communities, only to later learn of terrorist connections missed in the vetting process. Community resources have been stretched beyond the brink. And Biden’s latest executive order is doing nothing to stem the tide, according to reports on the ground. There’s no end in sight to this disaster under the current administration and its policies.”
 
Background: 

According to CBP data, Southwest border encounters exceeded 170,000 in May, including 117,906 apprehensions by Border Patrol agents between ports of entry. Northern border apprehensions between ports of entry totaled 3,339, more than quadruple the number recorded in May 2023. Total nationwide encounters were 241,022. 
 
Appointments scheduled through the CBP One app skyrocketed to more than 636,000 since January 2023, while more than 462,000 inadmissible aliens have now arrived via the CHNV mass-parole program since it was officially announced that same month. Via just these two unlawful mass-parole programs alone, Biden and Mayorkas have released more than 1.09 million inadmissible aliens into the United States. Given that a recent report from the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) indicates that the administration has no plan in place to ensure the removal of Afghans paroled into the country in 2021 once their parole period ends, Americans should have no confidence any such plan exists for this much larger population, either.

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