Randy Clark: Progress on Biden’s Border Crisis Merely a Shell Game
A news story published on Friday touted the Biden administration’s progress on the unaccompanied migrant children crisis at the border. An 84 percent drop in the number of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) in Border Patrol custody was cited as the administration’s cause for celebration.
In a CNN news story, a White House official, speaking on a condition of anonymity, provided figures showing a reduction from 5767 unaccompanied children on March 28 to 954 as of April 28. These numbers reflect only the movement of the children from CBP custody to Health and Human Services (HHS) Emergency Intake Sites.
As reported by CNN, these statistics are consistent with data provided by HHS. However, they tell only a tiny piece of the story. The truth of the situation, according to HHS data is far from progress or success. In fact, no other statistic showed any reduction other than how many children were shuffled from CBP to HHS custody.
At the start of April, HHS was holding 13,204 unaccompanied alien children. Friday, that number stood at 22,557, a 70% increase. On April 1, HHS only released 244 UACs to sponsors in the United States. On Friday, HHS released 580 UACs to sponsors, over twice their daily rate of releases during the month. In April’s total, over 7,000 UACs were released to sponsors in the United States.
The numbers, according to HHS, bear out the following:
- The number of UACs in the custody of the federal government as a whole rose constantly from one day to the next during the month of April to Friday’s high of 23,347.
- The number of UAC’s released by HHS to sponsors daily rose steadily throughout the month as well to a high of 580 on Friday.
- Despite the efforts to move UACs from Border Patrol custody into HHS Emergency Intake Sites, and to hasten release into the United States, over 30,000 UACs were at one time in the custody of CBP or HHS during the month of April.
The progress touted is merely a shell game of where the children are held, not a reduction in the flow. Since the Biden administration took office, the flow rate of unaccompanied children entering the United States illegally rose by 260 percent from over 5,000 in January to over 18,000 per month in March, according to CBP statistics.
The costs associated with the detention of UACs rose as well. HHS estimates the cost to house each unaccompanied child in an Emergency Intake Site is approximately $775 per day. The cost is lower at other HHS shelters which provide more permanent housing. Based on their cost estimates, daily expenses for the care of the UACs in HHS custody exceed $9 million per day.
HHS has opened 17 Emergency Intake Sites to deal with the influx since March 1. Some have come under scrutiny for COVID-19 and sexual abuse allegations. The situation at the southern border is still a crisis. Overall, the number of migrants arrested is up, got-away numbers are up, and the flow of unaccompanied children shows no signs of slowing.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Watch — Open Borders Activists: ‘Cops and Borders, We Don’t Need Them! All We Want Is Total Freedom!’
A group of open borders activists and illegal aliens demanded “total freedom” from both law enforcement and borders during a lengthy demonstration in Washington, DC, Friday, where Secret Service made arrests after activists blocked an intersection near the White House.
Several activists, some of whom are affiliated with the group Movimiento Cosecha, carried megaphones and led the crowd in chants of “Cops and borders we don’t need them. All we want is total freedom!”
According to a release detailing the protest, illegal aliens, DACA recipients, and their allies moved to block traffic around the White House on President Biden’s 100th day of office to protest what they described as “crumbs” from the 78-year-old commander-in-chief and his fellow Democrats.
“President Biden ended his first 100 days in office with broken promises and insufficient action for my community,” Gema Lowe, an organizer with Movimiento Cosecha, said in a statement, criticizing Biden’s pursuit of a “piecemeal” strategy” instead of blanket amnesty — a reference to the Dream and Promise Act, specifically.
“Biden originally committed to a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants. Now he is ready to pursue a ‘piecemeal’ strategy instead that would exclude me and millions of others who have lived in this country for decades,” Lowe said.
“We deserve better. That is why today I am willing to risk arrest, detention, and deportation to demand papers, not crumbs,” Lowe added.
Hector Morales, another organizer and DACA recipient, also proudly asserted he would risk arrest to “tell President Biden that I won’t accept piecemeal bills that exclude and criminalize my own community members.”
“I won’t accept these crumbs. We need permanent protection for all,” he said.
According to the release, “thousands of undocumented workers and families with Movimiento Cosecha and partner organizations will mobilize downtown to demand ‘Papers, Not Crumbs’ from President Biden and the Democratic Party” on Saturday.
President Biden’s Secret Service arrested several activists as the protest unfolded, prompting allies to shout “we love you” and “we see you.”
At one point during the demonstration, activists broke out in song, singing, “We are not afraid” and “we will live for liberation because we know why we were made.”
Pilot Wounded as Cartel Shoots at Border State Police Helicopter in Mexico
A group of gunmen suspected of being part of Los Zetas shot at a Mexican state police helicopter injuring the pilot. The wounded pilot quickly landed the aircraft while bleeding profusely.
The attack took place on Friday afternoon when a helicopter belonging to Nuevo Leon’s State Police forces carried out air reconnaissance over an area northwest of the Monterrey Metropolitan area. The region has seen a heavy presence of cartel activity in recent weeks.
Just one day before the attack, Mexico’s National Guardsmen raided a narco-camp where members of the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas held up. This comes as the criminal organization seeks to gain new territories.
As the flight crew flew over the area where the seizures took place, a group of gunmen on the ground began shooting at the aircraft. Some of the bullets struck the pilot, injuring him. The gunfire forced the pilot and co-pilot to take evasive maneuvers and return to the headquarters while they radioed for help.
By the time the helicopter landed, emergency medical personnel were waiting to treat the injured pilot. The pilot is reported to be in stable condition. Law enforcement sources revealed to Breitbart Texas that the pilot lost two fingers from one of the shots that struck him.
As Breitbart Texas reported, the areas northwest of Monterrey witnessed a heavy presence of CDN-Los Zetas gunmen as they seek to take new territories by force from their rivals with the Gulf Cartel. The gunmen utilize large convoys of gunmen in armored vehicles to fight with their rivals and, at times, clashing with police forces who routinely are under-gunned when facing up against the gunmen.
Gerald “Tony” Aranda is an international journalist with more than 20 years of experience working in high-risk areas for print and broadcast news outlets investigating organized crime, corruption, and drug trafficking in the U.S. and Mexico. In 2016, Gerald took up the pseudonym of “Tony” when he joined Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project Since then he has come out of the shadows and become a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
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