Biden Administration ‘Does Not Want’ to Resolve the Border Crisis: Ex-Homeland Security Official

Even volunteers who usually welcome asylum-seekers are said to be alarmed by the rising numbers of illegal migrants

In an aerial view, immigrants line up to be processed to make asylum claims at a makeshift migrant camp in El Paso, Texas, on May 11, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

Chad Wolf, a former acting secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) during the Trump administration, said that the ongoing illegal migrant crisis at America’s border could have been avoided.

The current border crisis is something that “didn’t need to occur,” Wolf said in an interview with Tony Perkins, host of the “Washington Watch” radio show, while criticizing the Biden administration’s policies for creating such a situation. There has been a jump in illegal migrant crossings, which comes as the Title 42 pandemic-restrictions ended on May 11. Title 42 had allowed for quick expulsion of some migrants citing health concerns.

“This is a crisis not because of a lack of resources or a lack of authorities. This is a crisis because of bad policies that were put in place almost two years ago,” he said.

“So, they could change this crisis, and they can help solve this crisis if they wanted to by implementing certain policies. They don’t want to do that. And so they will continue to tell you that they have a plan and that they’re executing this plan. But it doesn’t seem to be working. For 27 months now, it hasn’t worked.”

“And so I’m not sure that what they’re doing here recently is going to work either. Instead, what we see is astronomically and record-breaking numbers month after month after month.”

This week, more than 10,000 migrants per day were processed across the southern border by the border patrol, which is an all-time record for a 24-hour period, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said to CBS News. On Wednesday, over 20,000 were in the custody of border patrol.

In regions like El Paso, Texas, even volunteers who welcome asylum-seekers are said to be alarmed by the rising numbers of illegal migrants.

“I’m not even sure I would use the word concerned. I’m scared,” said John Martin, who runs a network of shelters in El Paso. “And I’m scared because of the sheer number of people that could potentially be involved.”

Rising Migrant Numbers

According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), border patrol agents only encountered 458,088 illegal aliens in the Southwest land border in fiscal year 2020.

This jumped to 1.73 million in fiscal 2021, with monthly encounters rising to six digits after Joe Biden became president in January 2021. In fiscal 2022, encounters came in at 2.38 million. The first six months of fiscal 2023 has already seen 1.22 million encounters.

Talking about El Paso, Wolf pointed out that he saw “thousands of folks here earlier in the week on city streets because they’re doing mass releases into the streets.”

“They have no more capacity at CBP centers or in shelters. And so this is their plan that they’ve been executing for two years. God help us, because I’m not sure that this is going to be successful at the end of the day.”

In a May 11 tweet, photojournalist Rebecca Brannon said that roughly 15,000 Haitians were waiting around 50 miles from the border outside of McAllen, Texas.

GOP Criticism

Former president Donald Trump has slammed the Biden administration for allowing Title 42 to expire.

“With today’s termination of the final remnants of Title 42, Joe Biden has officially abolished what remained of America’s borders and turned the United States into a dumping ground for illegal aliens from all over the world,” he said in a May 11 statement.

Because of Biden, “our border is gone, our sovereignty is gone, our national security is gone.” Since coming to office, over 6.3 million illegal crossings have taken place under the Biden administration, Trump said.

In a May 12 tweet, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said that America is witnessing “an absolute travesty” unfolding at the southern border. In another tweet, Cruz warned that “we already have the worst illegal immigration in the history of our country and it’s about to get worse. Biden needs to stop hiding in the basement and go see this humanitarian crisis.”