Katko: Never Too Late to Call a Crisis a Crisis

WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. John Katko (R-NY), Ranking Member of the House Homeland Security Committee, issued the following statement on DHS Secretary Mayorkas’ trip to the southwest border:

“It’s never too late to call a crisis a crisis. Secretary Mayorkas and senior Biden Administration officials’ hushed trip to the southwest border last weekend begs many questions. If this isn’t a crisis, why did so many senior level officials travel to the border? Why didn’t these senior officials provide a detailed readout of the reality they witnessed at the border? Do they intend to keep the American people in the dark about the impact the Biden Administration’s reckless border security policy rollbacks are having on our local communities?

“Last week, CBP announced it is on track to arrest a record number of sex offenders who entered the country illegally just as President Biden has opened our borders to a record number of migrants during an unprecedented public health crisis. This is a stark reminder that Americans need to know who is being released into their communities and of the importance of ensuring the integrity of our territorial borders.

“I hope Secretary Mayorkas and senior White House officials will listen to border security professionals they heard from on the frontlines of this crisis. These border patrol agents have been placed in an untenable situation with little regard for their own health and safety as they are inundated by a surge of migrants daily. It is unfathomable that the catastrophe at the border has reached these levels in such a short period of time and that the Biden Administration still refuses to acknowledge this crisis for what it is.”

Background

• The number of unaccompanied migrant children in HHS custody at the southern border has tripled in the last two weeks to more than 3,250, as the Biden Administration struggles to find room for them in shelters, according The New York Times.
• CBP currently encounters an average of more than 3,000 individuals a day. For context, former Secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama, Jeh Johnson, said that during his tenure, 1,000 apprehensions a day was a “bad number.”
• Prior to Inauguration Day, CBP was encountering less than 500 family units per week attempting to cross illegally, now we are seeing nearly 2,500 per week.
• According to CBP, the number of migrants apprehended at the border this January climbed to nearly 78,000, more than double the 36,585 encounters in January 2020.

Download the “Startling Stats” factsheet here.