EXCLUSIVE: Border Patrol Agents Blame Policy Reversals for Historic Surge in Illegal Crossings
Allowing foreigners to enter the US and be quickly released into the country is encouraging record numbers of illegal immigrants, officials contend.
Nine Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents told congressional investigators that the lack of consequences for crossing the U.S. border illegally is to blame for the historic surge of illegal immigrants pouring into the United States, according to transcript excerpts obtained by The Epoch Times.
Investigators on the House Homeland Security and Oversight committees conducted the interviews earlier this year over the course of five months. The CBP interviewees included nine supervisory and line agents assigned to duty at key border stations from California to Texas.
Although both Democratic and Republican staffers took part in the questioning, the excerpts provided to The Epoch Times were selected by the Republicans. The Epoch Times has requested full transcripts of the interviews. Committee Democrats didn't respond to a request for comment.
"We wanted to interview these agents due to their deep expertise as Border Patrol agents and the experience their senior positions afforded them to speak about operations in their sectors," a Republican committee spokesman told The Epoch Times.
The agents weren't questioned under oath and appeared voluntarily after being reminded that it's illegal to provide false information to Congress.
At the heart of the issues described in the interviews is President Joe Biden's reversal of immigration policies instituted by his predecessor, President Donald Trump. Republicans credit President Trump's policies for reducing the flow of illegal immigrants.
One of the Trump policies was a requirement for people seeking to enter the United States to remain in Mexico, pending resolution of their cases. Another policy required strictly enforcing anti-drug and other criminal statutes against illegal immigrants. The Trump administration also began and made significant progress on building a border wall and induced Mexico to use its law enforcement and military resources to block migrant caravans at its southern border with Belize and Guatemala.
In a July 26 interview, Tucson Sector Patrol Chief John Modlin told investigators that after President Biden took office, his Arizona border station experienced an unprecedented increase in illegal immigrants during the hottest months of the year, a time when the flow of such crossings would normally be at its lowest levels.
"[In] Tucson, because of the incredible amount of heat out there, the summer months tend to be very low. What’s happening now is unheard of, you know. I looked at 10 years of data to what the summer months should be, and, you know, so where we’re at now in July, you know, should be about—we should have about 17,000 apprehensions in July, you know, given 10 years of data aggregated. Instead, we’re at 26,000. So this time of year, the most dangerous time of year, is seeing one of the most significant flows that we’ve seen," he said, according to the transcript.
When asked whether he was frustrated that the number of encounters had been increasing for a while, Mr. Modlin described staggering increases in the number of illegal immigrants coming into the United States at his station.
"Yes, absolutely. I think, when I look at 2018, 2019, and 2020, those years were about 60,000 people a year, more or less, within a thousand or two in either direction. And then 2021 happened ... and it jumped to 190,000. So it was three times the previous year, which was absolutely—for us—shocking in Tucson," he said. --->READ MORE HERE
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