Over 50 percent of Americans say the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, marked by a historically high illegal border crossings, is an "invasion," according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll.
Those who said there it was "completely false" there is an invasion at the southern border totaled at 19 percent. Almost 30 percent of those polled said they didn't know.
"We are not actually screening enough people to make it safe for the rest of the country," poll respondent Michael Cisternino, a Republican from Nevada, told NPR in a follow-up interview. "We, the people of the United States, really don't have control over who's coming in, and where they're going or what they're going to do when they get there — if they're criminals, if they're not criminals."
"A lot of immigrants are coming here for safety, and a lot of them are coming here for a chance" at a better life, said Neel-Gopal Sharma, a Democrat from North Carolina. "There is this xenophobic kind of talk that's being thrown around," he said. "So I'm not surprised by that."
U.S. Border Patrol has encountered over 2 million illegal immigrants so far this fiscal year, breaking the previous record of over 1.2 million encounters this time last year. That number does not include who was able to avoid being apprehended by Border Patrol, which have also reached all-time highs.
BREAKING: CBP sources say migrant encounters this FY22 so far surpassed 2,001,034 - a NEW RECORD set this past weekend and a milestone never before seen in history - this compared to last year's record setting numbers which were 1,277,177 at this point in FY21 @CBP @FoxNews
— Griff Jenkins (@GriffJenkins) August 17, 2022