Eighteen Republican senators decided to see for themselves what was happening at the border so they took a little excursion to Texas, visiting several border facilities run by the Border Patrol.
The trip to the border became necessary because the Biden administration has imposed a near-total news blackout on what’s happening there. The administration flunkie who was escorting the senators even asked that the lawmakers delete any pictures, a request echoed by border officials. Not surprisingly, the GOP senators refused to comply.
Indiana Senator Mike Braun described some of what he saw.
Those photos showed children as young as 3 years old jammed into the facilities that Braun described as the worst situation for migrants in 20 years. He earlier provided Secrets with a video of migrants being held by the dozens under a bridge.
In a debriefing of the tour, Braun said that one of the first stops was with border agents at the edge of the Rio Grande, where illegal immigrants typically cross. There, he said, the “coyotes,” who charge $4,000 to $20,000 to get migrants across, heckled the group in Spanish.
“All of a sudden to hear from the other side of the river taunting from the smugglers and coyotes, most of it in Spanish, telling the border guards that ‘whatever you do, we’re coming,’” said Braun. “That kind of hit home in such an anecdotal way because it is one story that kind of is a metaphor for what’s happening all up and down the border,” he added.
“A big welcome sign was put out,” said Braun. “I think it was a political blunder.”
Sen. Ted Cruz describes seeing “cage after cage after cage” of children.
This is sad.
This is a tragedy.
This is a self-inflicted wound on our nation.#BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/JhgEKLmEgU— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) March 26, 2021
The Biden administration has made a big show of telling would-be migrants to stay away—that the law is the law and they will be deported if they showed up at the border. But the reality is far different.
U.S. agents in south Texas are not expelling Central American families with children younger than seven years of age to Mexico, according to a senior Border Patrol official who requested anonymity during a call with reporters Friday. Some of the migrant families encountered in south Texas are being flown to other Border Patrol sectors, like El Paso, and sent to Mexico from there, the official confirmed.
“We’re still leveraging Title 42 in other areas,” the Border Patrol official said, referring to the expulsions policy, which was first authorized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in March 2020.
Mr. Biden and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have said that while they would like to expel most Central American families to Mexico under the Title 42 public health authority, Mexican authorities in the state of Tamaulipas, across from the Rio Grande Valley, are not accepting young children traveling with parents.
According to the Customs and Border Patrol, 86 percent of families processed at the border have been allowed into the U.S without being deported. There were 6,000 apprehensions at the border on Thursday and virtually none of the migrants were sent back.
Biden looked into the cameras during his press conference and said “nothing has changed” at the border. That was a lie. He said most people were being deported. That was a lie. He said the surge in unaccompanied minors at the border is normal. He lied. He’s allowing the release of illegal aliens into the country without giving them a court date. And he’s allowing unvetted sponsors to take children from border facilities.
Biden is getting away with his lies because, in addition to the media being in his pocket, he’s preventing any bad news from leaking out by muzzling the press.
Biden can improve the situation immensely by reimposing some Trump-era policies. But he’d better do it quickly. If the border isn’t already out of control, it soon will be.
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Report: Border Crossings by Unaccompanied Children Will Rise Sharply in April
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