U.S. to surpass 1 million migrant encounters in first 6 months of fiscal year 2022

by Laura Ramirez

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz announced Tuesday that the U.S. is on track to hit one million migrant encounters along the border, only six months into the fiscal year 2022.

“Probably in the next two or three days we’ll get over a million encounters or apprehensions along the southwest border,” Ortiz said during a border security conference in Texas, according to Fox News.

Ortiz said agents had encountered migrants from 157 countries, which has been challenging for Border Patrol because it is short-staffed and facing setbacks due to Covid-19.

“Every sector is busier than they were back in ’21,” Ortiz told the outlet.

The massive influx of migrants at the border within just months after the new fiscal year started last October indicates that the upcoming year will indeed surpass the former, where there were over 1.7 million encounters.

For February, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 164,973 encounters with illegal immigrants at the border, a seven percent increase compared to January.

76 percent of encounters were single adults, and 55 percent were processed for expulsion under Title 42, which the Biden administration has hinted at ending in their mission to undo all of President Trump’s border policies.

Nonetheless, Republicans are taking action against the crisis, first by removing Kamala Harris from “Border Czar” duties.

As RSBN previously reported, House Republicans have introduced a bill that would remove Harris from overseeing the southern border crisis.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who introduced the legislation, posted a video of himself on Twitter standing at the southern border, calling out Harris’ lack of importance for illegal immigration in the country.

“We got 1.7 million people postured to cross this border in the next few weeks,” he said, “when Title 42 expires, because President Biden is letting it go. This is a crisis. This is a national crisis and a national security issue for our country. Where is our ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris? She has never been down here!”

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