With the relaxed border policies of President Joe Biden, “overwhelming numbers of migrants” are rushing the U.S. border, according to Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The admission was spotlighted by Fox News:
“Today, I activated the Volunteer Force to support Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as they face a surge in migration along the Southwest Border,” Mayorkas said in an email to staff, seen by Fox News.
“You have likely seen the news about the overwhelming numbers of migrants seeking access to this country along the Southwest Border,” he said. “President Biden and I are committed to ensuring our Nation has a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system while continuing to balance all of the other critical DHS missions.”
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“In 2019, over 900 volunteers deployed to support their CBP colleagues during a similar migration surge,” Mayorkas said. “Please consider joining the Volunteer Force to again provide needed humanitarian support along the Southwest Border and relief for our CBP colleagues.”
Mayorkas’ admission is a major change from his March 1 statement at the White House, where he described the rising rush as a “stressful challenge,” but not a crisis.
“I think the answer is no,” Mayorkas responded when he was asked if the rush of migrants is a border crisis. “I think there is a challenge at the border that we are managing, and we have our resources dedicated to managing it.”
Mayorkas’s agencies are accepting all of the apparently unaccompanied teenagers and children who are delivered to the border and some of the migrant mothers with children who arrive at the border. DHS also is allowing injured migrants to stay.
His agencies say they are rejecting adult migrants — but many of these adults are sneaking across the border while the agents handle families, teenagers, and children.
Mayorkas and his deputies are downplaying the economic motivations of the migrants.
Many migrants have begun moving northwards to accept Joe Biden’s apparent welcome for job-seeking migrants. The rush is expected to dramatically increase once the weather warms up in April and May.
Biden’s deputies have not announced plans to tighten border control. They have, however, set a 2021 goal of welcoming 117,000 “Unaccompanied Alien Children” into the United States, well above the 30,000 children brought in 2020.
Under President Donald Trump, U.S. troops were routinely sent to the border to provide logistics and support services, while deputies battled to reduce the inflow of migrants.