Lauren Moye, FISM News
[elfsight_social_share_buttons id=”1″]
Smugglers and illegal immigrants apparently aren’t even attempting to hide from patrol agents at the Mexico-U.S. border, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement is running out of money to do anything about it.
June immigration reports have not been released yet. However, an exclusive Axios scoop shows that ICE is short an estimated $345 million for this fiscal year. The staggering number shows ICE has been stretched thin in its attempt to respond to the border crisis.
Axios reported that ICE is looking to pull $100 million from other bylines in the Department of Homeland Security budget, such as money designated for the Coast Guard. Also, ICE is requesting more taxpayer funds to make up some of the difference.
If granted, ICE will go on record for spending more taxpayer money under President Joe Biden than under any previous administration. If not, the organization will be out of funds by October.
A Fox News flight team took video footage and photos detailing the line of hundreds of immigrants crossing the border yesterday around 9 a.m. CDT. The images show a long line of hundreds of immigrants, guided by human smugglers known as “coyotes,” flowing into the U.S. near Eagle Pass, Texas.
The border situation is a crisis that some Texas county officials recently referred to as an “invasion,” saying that the unchecked flow of immigrants posed a serious danger to both citizens and migrants.
Fox News reported that there were 2,258 illegal crossings in the Del Rio Sector of the border on Tuesday alone.
Both Axios’ and Fox’s exclusive reports show the real-world difference between conservative and liberal immigration policies.
For the majority of the past four presidential terms, immigration has been under “catch-and-release” policies, which means migrants caught at the border are served a court date and then set free inside the U.S. Historically, around three-fifths of those migrants have missed this trial date.
Because of what he identified as a growing border crisis, former President Donald Trump campaigned heavily on securing the border and changing policies to help stem the steady flow of illegal immigrants.
Trump’s policies, including his “remain in Mexico policy,” received heavy criticism from Democrats and mainstream media outlets for their “zero-tolerance” nature. This included charging and holding parents who tried to illegally cross the border for trial.
While Trump’s administration implemented changes during his presidency to balance family concerns with consequences designed to help discourage illegal border crossings, he remained under fire for his policies.
In Biden’s first days in office, he signed executive orders that rescinded most of Trump’s immigration policy changes. Biden returned immigration back to the “catch-and-release” policy popularized by former President Barrack Obama, who Biden served alongside as a vice president for two terms.
By March 2021, less than three months into this immigration policy rollback, border crossings had already seen a sharp uptick in unaccompanied minors. By June 2021, there was already a 450% increase in all migrant encounters at the border, compared to June 2020.
Those numbers have since grown larger. May of this year saw another new record high with over 239,000 migrant encounters. Meanwhile, the number of unaccompanied minors continues to surge with the Department of Homeland Security warning just this week that there may be up to 441 daily encounters with children and teenagers at the border this year.
Immigration has been a thorn in the side of Democratic politicians, splintering both Biden’s administration and party in recent days. Biden has received poor marks in recent voter polling for his handling of the border crisis. He’s even lost Hispanic support in part due to his liberal policies.