The Biden border crisis is escalating, with more than 11,000 migrant encounters in a 24-hour period, which Border Patrol called the largest single-day influx "in recent memory." Fox's Griff Jenkins also reported that between Friday and Sunday, "more than 4,000" crossed into the city of Eagle Pass alone. For reference, that's nearly one-third of the total number of migrants who've arrived in the city of Chicago in the last 13 months. On Monday, a Texas law enforcement official posted video of state agents removing and confiscating a Venezuelan flag planted by illegal immigrants on a small island -- US soil -- in the middle of the Rio Grande River. What's this about? I have a few theories, but before we get to those, here's the clip posted by Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Olivarez:
The #EaglePass area continues to experience an influx of illegal immigrants - the majority from Venezuela. Some decided to claim a #Texas island by placing a foreign flag - that was quickly taken care of by our DPS Tactical Marine Unit. #DontMessWithTexas pic.twitter.com/mslxjXIyEC
— Chris Olivarez (@LtChrisOlivarez) September 25, 2023
It's possible that some of the illegal immigrants, or their cartel handlers, decided to engage in an act of defiant symbolism, representing an 'invasion,' of sorts. Planting the flag of the country you're allegedly "fleeing" from would be an interesting move. It also occurs to me that this act could have been driven by the recent declaration by the Biden administration of a mass amnesty for foreign nationals from one specific country. Guess which one?
The Biden administration said late Wednesday that it would allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already in the United States to live and work legally in the country for 18 months. The decision followed intense advocacy by top New York Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams and party leaders in Congress. It will affect about 472,000 Venezuelans who arrived in the country before July 31, temporarily protecting them from removal and waiving a monthslong waiting period for them to seek employment authorization. In an unusual break with a president of their party, the New York Democrats had argued that the city’s social safety net would tear under the weight of more than 110,000 recently arrived migrants unless they were allowed to work and support themselves more quickly.
It's a retroactive quasi-legalization, but that detail may be lost in translation. The message, obviously heard loud and clear abroad, is that Venezuelans (or those claiming to be) currently have the fastest ticket into the United States, with the most special privileges attached. Incentives provoke action. Perhaps the idea is that if you're going to show up illegally in America these days, it's best to do so with a Venezuelan flag. I'm not sure that's even a more desirable explanation than the in-your-face 'invasion' one, from an American perspective. Word of favorable-to-illegal-immigration policies travels fast south of our border, so the administration's may make the record-setting debacle even worse. I'm extremely sympathetic to extending welcoming arms toward people fleeing a nation ruined by hardcore leftism, but within the present context, it's extremely irresponsible to roll out a fresh amnesty in the midst of an ongoing catastrophe of this magnitude -- especially with no plan to truly buckle down on enforcement.
We've heard a lot of complaining from various preening frauds who run "sanctuary" cities in recent weeks, but these Democratic mayors aren't from sanctuary jurisdictions. Their communities are just drowning in the overwhelming, endless flood of illegal immigration being affirmatively caused by their political party:
El Paso at 'breaking point' as 2K migrants a day flood Texas border city and strain resources as desperate Mayor Oscar Leeser calls Biden's immigration system 'broken' https://t.co/RJ798HZBIv https://t.co/WSHfx9g6lR
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) September 24, 2023
Eagle Pass, TX Mayor Rolando Salinas: Biden is to blame for the border crisis and no one from his administration has called us as thousands illegally cross into the city. We're here abandoned. pic.twitter.com/xZBMYL8MNe
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 21, 2023
And on and on it goes:
Just left the migrant processing center in Eagle Pass where Border Patrol has 4,000+ in custody. This is FOUR TIMES their holding capacity and it’s happening EVERY DAY. pic.twitter.com/Y5rVPw4vdv
— Rep. Tony Gonzales (@RepTonyGonzales) September 25, 2023
Nearly a 1,000 migrants awaiting to turn themselves in to border patrol agents in Juarez , Mexico , we’ve been reporting in the last couple days on shelters in El Paso at capacity as the mayor says El Paso is at a “breaking point” @NewsNation pic.twitter.com/LHUkyCWxqE
— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) September 25, 2023
I'll leave you with my interview with former acting ICE Director Tom Homan, who said he's heard recent numbers are actually above 11,000 illegal entries per day. He said that during the Trump administration, the average monthly encounters statistic was around 44,000 -- which includes several pre-'remain in Mexico' spikes. As noted above, last month alone, there were more than 232,000 encounters -- roughly five times the monthly average under Trump. Indeed, 44,000 is closer to the weekly average under Biden, and even that's a lowball number for many weeks.