President Joe Biden wisecracked about the border crisis on Sunday over reports that migrant apprehensions have dropped since the end of Title 42.
But not everything is as it seems.
What did Biden say?
While taking a Sunday afternoon bike ride in Gordons Pond State Park in Delaware, Biden answered several questions during a media gaggle.
On the border crisis, he quipped, “Much better than you all expected.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas similarly boasted on Sunday that border crossings “are markedly down over what they were prior to the end of Title 42.” Last week, prior to the end of Title 42, there had been an average of more than 10,000 migrant apprehensions per day.
But what’s the complete picture?
The way that Biden and Mayorkas talk, one might think the border crisis is over. But that could not be farther from the truth.
According to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, there are several reasons why migrant apprehensions dropped immediately after Title 42 ended: Mexican authorities stepped up enforcement, Texas authorities blocked migrants from entering the U.S. illegally, and more migrants began entering through ports of entry over fears that illegally entering would hinder future attempts to come to the U.S.
But, Melugin warned, his contacts at Customs and Border Protection told him that “they do not expect this lull to last.”
So how bad could it get? According to the government, a record-setting surge may be coming. CBS News reported:
Despite the drop in recent days, authorities predict arrests will spike to between 12,000 and 14,000 a day, Matthew Hudak, deputy Border Patrol chief, said in a court filing Friday. And authorities cannot confidently estimate how many will cross, Hudak said, noting intelligence reports failed to quickly flag a “singular surge” of 18,000 predominantly Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021.
Meanwhile, immigration authorities — under order that they cannot “parole” migrants without giving them a court date — are quickly releasing migrants after processing them to ease overcrowding issues at migrant facilities.
And because of backlogs in immigration courts, migrants are given court days years into the future — even up to 10 years, the Washington Examiner reported.
\u201cSpeaking to immigrants in the streets of Brownsville this afternoon. This man from Venezuela was given a date to appear in court for April 2027. \n\n#Immigration #BrownsvilleTX #migrants\u201d— Kaelan Deese (@Kaelan Deese)
1684006946
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!