Tipsheet

No AOC, It's Not Racist to Describe the Border Crisis as a 'Surge'

Julio Rosas
Julio Rosas  |  April 01, 2021 5:30 PM

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) accused those who used the term "surge" and "invasion" to describe the ongoing crisis at the southern border as trying to use racist language in order to provoke a militaristic response.

Ocasio-Cortez made her comment during an Instagram live on Tuesday.

Putting aside the fact that she may have thought "surge" comes from "insurgents," AOC is completely wrong on more than one front. First what I have seen in my more than two weeks on the U.S.-Mexico border recently shows the United States is facing a surge of immigrants illegally crossing into the country. The numbers do not lie.

In February, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended 100,441 people illegally trying to enter the United States along the southwest border, a 28 percent increase from January 2021. CBP completed 72,113 expulsions from the border under the CDC's guidance for Title 42 authority. Of the 100,441 apprehended individuals, 29,792 were unaccompanied children, with 2,942 of the minors being under 12-years-old and 26,850 were aged 13-17-years-old. The dramatic increase in illegal foot traffic comes after President Joe Biden reversed several policies from the Trump administration.

Compare that to February 2020, before COVID-19 really hit the U.S., CBP encountered only 36,687 individuals. It is expected that CBP encountered over 150,000 people during the month of March this year, but we'll have to see when CBP releases its figures soon.

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Secondly, it is not racist in the slightest to use term "surge" because, as the numbers show, there has been a dramatic increase in border crossings since Biden took office. While poor economic conditions, exacerbated by COVID-19 lockdowns, were a factor during Trump's last year in office, CBP's apprehension numbers never reached six digits. This is no surprise because the migrants I've talked to, they say they decided to illegally cross into the United States now is because they believe they have a better shot at staying inside our country due to Biden's softer immigration policies.

This is yet another example of progressives who can no longer deny there is a problem to then smearing those who are bringing attention to said problem as racists.

What's worse is many of those who live in the area and are concerned about the influx of people illegally entering their communities are Latinos themselves. Is AOC calling those Latinos racist? What I can say the U.S. is facing a crisis and it's not racist to highlight that fact.