Illegal aliens cross the Rio Bravo to get to El Paso, Texas,
from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on Feb. 5, 2021.
(Herika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)







Illegal Border Crossings Hit More
Than 100,000 in February



BY CHARLOTTE CUTHBERTSON
March 9, 2021
Updated: March 10, 2021



(McALLEN, Texas)
—

As President Joe Biden rolled back several existing border initiatives, the number of people
crossing illegally into the United States skyrocketed.

In February—despite a week of freezing weather—Border Patrol apprehended 100,441
illegal border crossers along the southern border, according to Customs and
Border Protection (CBP).

Another 26,000 people evaded capture, according to Jaeson Jones, a former Texas
Department of Public Safety captain who received the provisional CBP data from internal
sources and it has been reviewed by The Epoch Times.

The February number is almost triple the apprehensions from February 2020, when
Border Patrol caught almost 37,000 people, while in 2019, on the cusp of the most
recent crisis, the number was almost 77,000.

Many of those crossing now are unaccompanied minors (9,457 in February), who cannot
be turned back if they’re from a country other than Mexico.

Minors who cross the border illegally are meant to be passed to the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) within 72 hours, but the sheer number of minors
has overwhelmed the system and Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller told media on
a March 10 call that he wasn’t going to discuss how long children are being held in
Border Patrol custody.

HHS has just opened a second facility for the burgeoning number of minors.

When asked what he thought was driving the trend, Miller said “there’s certainly economic
instability in the region that’s unparalleled.

“All you have to do is look at the pandemic … the COVID rate infections down in South
and Central America. We recently had a hurricane, continued violence, unemployment.
So if you put all those issues together, I mean, really, you’re going to see folks are
looking for a better way of life.”

Miller said he wanted to be clear that the border is not “open” and migrants shouldn’t
listen to human smugglers who are saying otherwise.

“We are building an orderly immigration system and doing so in a way that protects
public health during the global COVID pandemic,” Miller said. “We’re moving as fast
as we can to rebuild.”

Biden has said there’s no crisis on the border and “we’ll be able to handle it,” when
asked by reporters.

On March 8, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it’s seeking volunteers
from among its agencies to assist in dealing with an “overwhelming” surge at the
U.S.-Mexico border.

“Today, I activated the Volunteer Force to support Customs and Border Protection as
they face a surge in migration along the Southwest Border,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
said in an email to employees on March 8, obtained by several news outlets.

The number of illegal crossings at the southern border has steadily risen since October 2020.
The number of apprehensions between October 2020 and January 2021 was 296,259, while
the same period the year prior saw 164,932 apprehensions, according to CBP data.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a press conference near the U.S.–Mexico border on March 9,
where he raised the alarm of a growing crisis after meeting with border officials.

The Republican governor blamed Biden’s immigration policies, saying they invite illegal
immigration and are contributing to the crisis, which “will grow increasingly worse by the day.”

Among those arrested by Border Patrol since Jan. 1, more than 800 criminals have been
identified, including 78 sex offenders and 62 gang members, Abbott said.

On March 6, Abbott launched an operation to counter the growing crisis, activating and
deploying National Guard troops and other law enforcement officers to the border to
combat drug and human smuggling.



With reporting by Zachary Stieber



Article updated on March 10 to include final CBP numbers and quotes by acting
CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.