‘It’s gotten worse’: Lawmakers tour border as daily migrant encounters shoot up again




by: Julian Resendiz
Posted: Feb 8, 2024 / 07:05 PM CST
Updated: Feb 8, 2024 / 07:05 PM CST




GOP stalwarts insist Biden enforce U.S. laws already in the books and solve border crisis

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HEREFORD, Arizona (Border Report) – It was a year ago that Juan Ciscomani first brought a congressional delegation to witness the impact of illegal immigration on border communities in southern Arizona.

The lawmakers saw law enforcement overwhelmed by the sheer number of migrants being apprehended and processed, local jails packed with smugglers, and ranchers unsure about the intent of strangers walking through their property after coming over the border wall.
Ciscomani on Thursday again brought more than a dozen guests from Washington, D.C., to Arizona – this time the members of the Congressional Western Caucus and the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Asked what has changed in a year, U.S. Rep. Ciscomani, R-Arizona, replied: “It’s gotten worse.”

Over 1 million migrant encounters reported this fiscal year, sources say

U.S. Border Patrol encounters in the Tucson Sector of Arizona have increased 180%, high-speed pursuits of migrant and drug smugglers are happening daily, ranchland and public national parks are being polluted with soiled clothing, worn backpacks, and water and food containers abandoned by migrants.

“The numbers keep going up, things are getting worse, and people are suffering – they’re dying crossing the desert. It’s frustrating,” Ciscomani said during a tour of the border wall at Coronado National Memorial in Hereford. “We need to make border security a priority, not just talk about it. (DHS Secretary) Alejandro Mayorkas needs to be replaced. No doubt about it.”

Speaker Johnson calls failed Mayorkas impeachment vote ‘a setback’

The Biden administration celebrated last month’s drop in nationwide migrant encounters compared to December’s record-setting 302,000 apprehensions. However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources have told national news media that migrant encounters shot up to 6,600 a day earlier this week.







The foot traffic between ports of entry has shifted from asylum-seekers surrendering at the border to more furtive crossings trying to avoid apprehension. That’s the Mexican drug cartels changing tactics and directing how economic migrants will circumvent the system, the GOP lawmakers said.

One house, nine smuggling events

Illegal immigration remains a hot-button issue in 2024, the year Americans are scheduled to elect a president and a new Congress. Republicans and Democrats continue bringing lawmakers to the border to prove where reason lies and spread that gospel across the land.

Abbott hosting Republican lawmakers at border park state took over in Eagle Pass

“We need to come down from Washington (D.C.) to see the seriousness of the situation. People are desperate to come to the United States. I don’t blame them for wanting to come. But we need to have a controlled entrance into our country, or we’ve lost our sovereignty,” said Western Caucus Chairman U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington.

Newhouse’s constituents also are feeling the effects of drugs, primarily fentanyl, coming across the border as the immigration crisis often pulls officers from ports of entry to help out at migrant processing centers, making the ports more vulnerable.

Ciscomani, a fluent Spanish speaker whose family has roots in Mexico, said federal law clearly outlines how foreign nationals should go about being lawfully admitted into the United States. “Que vayan a un puerto de entrada (Go to a port of entry),” he said.

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“Congress has done its job passing the laws, but the president has decided to ignore them. That’s regrettable,” Ciscomani said. “The president does not understand or has chosen to ignore the fact he can change things immediately” through his executive powers.

Ciscomani said House Republicans plan to again try to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, though they don’t have a timetable.

Asked if former President Donald Trump, the favorite to challenge Biden in November, has called Republicans to sabotage a White House border compromise, he said, “I cannot confirm if he called them. What I can tell you is no one has called me. My position is based on the merits or lack of merit of any piece of legislation.”




https://www.borderreport.com/immigra...hoot-up-again/