December 21 is a date that many who live along the U.S.-Mexico border are dreading as it is expected that thousands of more illegal immigrants will enter the United States once Title 42 is no longer enforced by Border Patrol. While the date is next week, videos from the southern border show the expected surge has already started.
On Monday, border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz revealed that his southern border agents had encountered over 16,000 illegal immigrants in a two-day period, averaging about 8,000 per day. It is expected that once Title 42 goes away, there could be up to 18,000 illegal crossings a day.
Past 48 Hours...
— Chief Raul Ortiz (@USBPChief) December 12, 2022
- Over 16,000 Encounters
- Over $97 Million in Narcotics
- 4 Firearms (1 Stolen)
- 3 Gang Members
- 2 Sex Offenders
- 2 Murderers
- 2 Warrants
- 1 Injury to a Child
Another weekend of hard work by our agents!
THANK YOU for all that you do out there! pic.twitter.com/qvA7MbalvY
The El Paso Sector has been hit particularly hard with this wave, as 1,000 illegal immigrants crossed the Rio Grande at once. So many had crossed that a long line was formed as they waited to hand themselves over to Border Patrol.
BREAKING: A huge migrant caravan of over 1,000 people crossed illegally into El Paso, TX last night, making it the largest single group we have ever seen. The city of El Paso reports Border Patrol now has over 5,000 in custody & has released hundreds to city streets. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/ewUQX757Lt
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 12, 2022
This should be ringing alarm bells for politicians in Washington, D.C., as Title 42 has not gone away, and yet, people are already crossing as if it were. Per usual, the Biden administration is only focusing on increasing resources and personnel for the sole purpose of speeding up the processing so the illegal immigrants can be released onto the streets of border towns.
As for Mexico cracking down on these migrant caravans? While Mexican authorities have stepped up enforcement at various times, it doesn't look like they'll be doing it this time around.
"We don't criminalize migration; we don't criminalize migrants. We go after those who exploit migrants," said Chihuahua state police Chief Gilberto Loya, whose jurisdiction borders El Paso, according to Border Report.
Any hope of Mexico stopping the large influx of people coming to their northern border will have to come from the federal government, which has been dealing with large-scale cartel attacks in the central regions of the country. So it looks like the tidal wave arrived early, and no one plans on stopping the one that will hit next week.
