President Joe Biden's Southern Border coordinator Roberta Jacobson is admitting violent Mexican drug cartels and human smugglers are adapting more quickly to the administration's changing illegal immigration and border security policies than the administration itself. Further, they're losing the messaging war.
"I think you have to understand that the smugglers are agile and quick and word of mouth gets through and they are exploiting people’s hope and desperation. Our own message is getting out less than smugglers'. We always know that. But we are doing everything we can, and that includes Spanish language radio, social media, making sure that we convey the message that the border is not open, that the majority of the people will be returned," Jacobson said during an interview with CNN Tuesday.
Last week, Jacobson visited the White House briefing room and took questions from reporters. During her remarks, a slip-up in Spanish sent a devastating message.
"While speaking at a White House press conference on Wednesday, former Ambassador Roberta Jacobson — Biden's adviser overseeing the crisis at the southern border — told prospective illegal migrants to the United States that the border was closed and it was not time to come to the U.S.," Fox News reporter. "However, Jacobson had a slip of the tongue when she translated the message to Spanish, mistakenly saying 'la frontera no está cerrada.' The botched phrase used by Jacobson translates to 'the border is not closed.' Jacobson corrected herself in Spanish soon after, clarifying 'la frontera está cerrada" — the border is closed.'"
While Border Patrol agents are overwhelmed with an influx of unaccompanied minors and other illegal immigrants, cartels are taking advantage of the distraction and importing an increased number of dangerous drugs into the United States.
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"Those drugs are not just affecting the border," Border Patrol Union Vice President Art Del Cueto explained during a recent interview with Fox News. "Those drugs are going into middle America. They're going all over the country, affecting kids."
CBP agents and officers have seized more than 75,100lbs of methamphetamine during the first five months of FY21, a 9% increase over the same time last year.
— CBP (@CBP) March 15, 2021
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