Republican senators who traveled to the border town of Brownsville, Texas, hours before the end of Title 42 say border agents are ‘disabled’ from doing their jobs because of the Biden administration’s policy of overwhelming officials as thousands of migrants continue to enter the US
Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kan., led the group, which included Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ted Budd, RN.C., and John Hoeven, RN.D. — all calling on Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to be impeached for his “dereliction of duty” at the border.
“Joe Biden needs to come here and see what I saw,” Marshall told DailyMail.com after his trip to the border.
“We have to change direction. Our systems are overwhelmed. We have no way of knowing who these crossing people are. The border patrol is demoralized. Nothing about this situation is human.”
“Right now, this border crisis is the most immediate threat to our national security,” Marshall continued. “Make no mistake — this crisis falls squarely on the failing leadership of President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas.”
For the past four days, leading up to the end of Title 42 at midnight on Thursday, agents arrested 10,000 migrants every day — putting border officials in an impossible position.
Of the 10,000, at least 3,000 were ‘breakaways’, meaning migrants who escaped without being checked by border patrols. Border agents told senators that under the Biden administration, it represented a 441 percent increase over the past two years.
The senators toured the Brownsville recording facility and met with local law enforcement and leaders and landowners — including area ranchers dealing with hordes of migrants camping on their land.
As part of their trip, the senators also took part in a night tour of the border, where they witnessed the large gatherings of migrants in Mexico waiting to enter the US.
Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kan., led the group to Brownsville, Texas, including Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Ted Budd, RN.C., and John Hoeven, RN.D.
Agents told the senators that an average of 90 Chinese cross the border every day
The senators were also briefed on the number of Chinese nationals using the Rio Grande Valley border to sneak into the country. Agents told them that an average of 90 Chinese come over every day – a huge national security problem.
Another problem facing immigration officials is the staggering 90 percent of illegal immigrants who fail to show up for their mandatory court hearings, they told the senators. They then disappear in the interior of the United States and it is difficult for US immigration agencies to track and deport them.
Border agents say they need policies that allow them to do their jobs. They are enthralled to do their jobs,” Marshall also told DailyMail.com.
Title 42 was enacted in 2020 under former President Trump as a pandemic-era response to quickly remove migrants who had entered the country illegally.
The Biden administration made the decision this year to end Title 42 due to the end of the COVID-19 national emergency and rely on Title 8 — which allows migrants to apply to enter the U.S. through legal roads and contains some penalties for those who try to enter illegally.
However, Title 8 has been criticized as not a strong enough approach by the Biden administration, which faces more than 650,000 immediate submissions this week alone.
The National Sheriffs’ Association – which includes many border sheriffs in the organization – said there are currently more than 650,000 migrants in Mexico planning to enter the US after the end of Title 42.
Sheriff Greg Champagne, of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, told DailyMail.com in a statement that the Biden administration must immediately take “measurable steps to discourage further illegal migration.”
He said the tone set by Biden’s top leaders is not strong enough to discourage migrants planning to cross.
“Despite this humanitarian crisis, the government has yet to create any disincentive to ban migrants from coming to the US. In fact, the government is doing the opposite through its rhetoric of a closed border and limited domestic enforcement,” Champagne said.
“The message is clear in the results we’re experiencing today: ‘It’s okay to come.’ This rhetoric has to change.”
However, Mayorkas has pushed back in recent days, reiterating that the border is closed and there will be consequences for those entering the US illegally.
“I want to be very clear, our borders are not open,” he said at the White House on Thursday.
On Friday, Mayorkas told CBS that the transition from Title 42 to Title 8 will be “swift and immediate” and that “4,000 Border Patrol agents and officers will make sure the border is secure.”
Migrants try to enter the US through the Rio Grande seen from Matamoros, Tamaulipas State, Mexico on May 11, 2023
As part of their trip, the senators also took part in a night tour of the border, where they witnessed the large gatherings of migrants in Mexico waiting to enter the US.
Border agents are overwhelmed at the border due to the end of Title 42 this week
This is a “humanitarian crisis,” Marshall said Thursday after the border briefing.
Cruz added that border agents are “doing their best under extreme duress.”
The senators described to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham a situation in which a frontier farmer had to teach his wife and son how to load a 14-gauge shotgun to protect their land – which is being “overrun” by migrants.
Marshall also spoke to a former Marine from Afghanistan who said, “Afghanistan was safer than South Texas.”
“Lord, this is not the America I grew up in,” he continued.
“This is absolutely a disaster and a humanitarian crisis. The greatest threat to our national security is here in southern Texas, all the way to Arizona.”