Wednesday, May 5, 2021

CALIFORNIA - FEINSTEIN, PELOSI AND KAMALA HARRIS' MEXIFORNIA

The Biden administration has not, thus far, communicated a clear plan to reduce the influx of unaccompanied migrant children.

Bi-National Search Leads to Migrants Lost in California Border Wilderness

Border Patrol agents rescue a Mexican man suffering heat stroke in the Jacumba Mountains of Southern California. (Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/El Centro Sector)
File Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/El Centro Sector
3:42

El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents rescued four lost migrants on Tuesday in a wilderness area near Ocotillo, California. Mexican officials notified the sector’s Foreign Operations Branch to request assistance in finding the lost migrants.

Mexican officials notified the El Centro Sector Foreign Operations Branch with information about a group of four migrants who became lost shortly after midnight on May 4, according to information obtained from Border Patrol officials. The lost migrants called and said the group became lost in the Jacumba Wilderness region near the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Border Patrol agents assigned to the sector’s Mountain Disrupt Unit immediately responded to the area and conducted a search and rescue operation. In less than two hours from the distress call, agents found the lost migrants.

The agents conducted a welfare check and determined the migrants needed no medical assistance. An immigration interview identified all four as Mexican nationals.

The agents transported the four migrants to the El Centro Processing Center where they were expelled to Mexico under Title 42 Coronavirus protection protocols put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Thanks to Mexican officials and our agents, this rescue effort was successful & saved 4 lives,” El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino tweeted.

San Diego Sector agents conducted a similar search and rescue operation a few days earlier. That effort led to the rescue of a group of five migrants.

At about 3 p.m. on April 29, the San Diego Sector Foreign Operations Branch received information from Mexican officials reporting a group of lost migrants near Otay Mountain. The migrants reported they were without food and water and their cell phone was down to three percent battery.

Due to the “unseasonably warm and dry conditions” in the area, Border Patrol Search, Trauma, and Rescue agents quickly mounted a search effort. Using the last known GPS coordinates, BORSTAR agents quickly located the group and provided medical evaluation.

After determining all were in good health, the agents identified the five migrants as Guatemalan nationals illegally present in the United States. The migrants told the agent they became lost after hiking for hours and exhausted their food and water before calling for help.

The agents transported the five migrants to a nearby processing center.

“As smugglers become more callous about the welfare of the people they smuggle, the need for our rescue capabilities has increased,” Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said in a written statement.  “Thankfully, our agents continually rise to the occasion.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.

Kamala Harris: Latin America Needs ‘Climate Adaptation’ to End Border Crisis

WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 4: U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers virtual remarks to the Washington Conference on the Americas in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex on May 4, 2021 in Washington, DC. The 51st Annual Washington Conference on the Americas is co-hosted by the U.S. …
Drew Angerer/Getty
1:48

Vice President Kamala Harris promised Central American countries to work with them to battle climate change in a speech on Tuesday, in the hopes of slowing the migrant crisis.

The vice president spoke about climate change as a “root cause” of the migrant crisis, during a virtual speech to the Washington Conference on the Americas citing the lack of  “climate adaptation,” and “climate resilience” in the region.

“The work from combatting corruption to combatting climate change will not be easy,” Harris said. “And it is not new, and it could not be more important, and it will take all of us.”

Harris argued the citizens of Central American countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras did not want to leave their homes but were leaving for the United States to find hope.

“People in the region do not want to leave their homes,” she said. “They do not want to leave the communities they have known their entire lives.”

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers virtual remarks to the Washington Conference on the Americas in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex on May 4, 2021 in Washington, DC. The 51st Annual Washington Conference on the Americas is co-hosted by the U.S. Department of State and the Council of the Americas. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

She spoke about people in Central American countries who had their homes washed away by hurricanes or were fearful of cartel violence and poverty.

“That’s why they leave home and come to the United States. They are suffering, they are in pain, many are experiencing unimaginable anguish.”

Harris expressed her concerns about violence in Central American countries against LGBTQ, Afro-descendants, and indigenous peoples, as well as women.

She said President Joe Biden’s administration would invest in countries to provide “hope at home” in the region.

“The strength of the United States of America depends on the strength of all of the Western hemisphere,” she said. “In so many ways our fates are intertwined. That is especially true with Latin America.”


4 Migrants Dead, 27 Injured as Smuggler’s Boat Flips off California Coast

Three migrants died and 27 others were injured in a human smuggling attempt off the coast of California. (Photo: San Diego Fire Department)
Photo: San Diego Fire Department
3:25

Officials in San Diego, California, report at least four migrants died and as many as 27 were injured when a human smuggler’s overloaded vessel capsized off the coast.

San Diego Fire Department (SDFD) officials tweeted images from the scene where a 40′ cabin cruiser broke apart on the rocky coastline after overturning in the surf. A multi-agency response led to the rescue of dozens of smuggled migrants and the report of four deaths.

SDFD Lifeguard Services Lieutenant Rick Romero told reporters rescuers pulled seven people from the waves including the three migrants who died. The cold surf was running five to six feet on Sunday morning when the incident occurred, Fox News reported. The boat quickly broke apart as the waves smashed it into the rocky shore.

Homeland Security Investigations spokesman Jose Ysea confirmed the deaths of three people and that 27 were transported to local hospitals for “varying degrees of injuries.”

Agents responding to the failed human smuggling attempt included the SDFD, local lifeguards, the U.S. Coast Guard, Border Patrol, and other agencies, NPR reported.

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jeff Stephenson told the reporters, “Every indication from our perspective is that this was a smuggling vessel.” He said the boat was “severely overcrowded.”

The captain of the boat is under arrest under federal charges that appear to be related to human smuggling resulting in death to migrants.

Stephenson said the San Diego Sector experienced a growing number of maritime smuggling apprehensions this year. He said the boat appeared to be attempting to blend in with commercial vessels before capsizing onto the rocky coastline.

Officials have not yet released information on the migrants.

On Saturday, San Diego Sector Border Patrol officials announced a stepped-up operation to attempt to disrupt maritime smuggling incidents. The effort includes assets from CBP’s Air and Marine Operations and Border Patrol.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s Sunday-morning talk show, What’s Your Point? Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Parler @BobPrice, and Facebook.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated after an additional death was reported from the smuggling attempt.

 

California Hosts Latest Unaccompanied Migrant Child Shelter

A sleeping area set up inside exhibit hall B of the Long Beach Convention Center, Thursday, April 22, 2021, in Long Beach, Calif., where migrant children found at the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent will be temporarily housed. The beds are in pods of 30. The center is able to …
File Photo: Brittany Murray/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool
3:58

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials announced the opening of another Emergency Intake Site (EIS) to move the increasing numbers of unaccompanied children out of Customs and Border Protection custody. The move mirrors recent announcements by HHS to address the surge in unaccompanied children migrants flooding the southern border.

The new EIS facility will be located at the Pomona Fairplex in Pomona, California. The Pomona Fairplex EIS is expected to receive 250 unaccompanied migrant children over the weekend. The Emergency Intak Site will provide shelter for up to 2,500 boys and girls between two and 17 years of age.

According to HHS, the EIS shelters being brought into service will provide required standards of care for children, such as providing clean and comfortable sleeping quarters, meals, toiletries, laundry, and access to medical services. A COVID-19 health screening protocol for all children will be implemented to follow CDC guidelines for preventing and controlling communicable diseases, officials claimed. Services will be provided by a combination of contractors and federal staff – including teams from the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

The number of unaccompanied minors in United States custody rose steadily over the last several months and shows no signs of waning. At the start of April, HHS held 13,204 unaccompanied alien children. Friday, that number stood at 22,557, a 70% increase. On April 1, HHS 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 total, HHS officials released more than 7,000 UACs to sponsors in the United States in April.

HHS attempts to move the unaccompanied migrant children from temporary holding facilities at Border Patrol Stations as quickly as possible. So far, officials are unable to keep up with the current rate of illegal border crossings by unaccompanied minors. According to a law enforcement source within CBP, Border Patrol agents arrested nearly 19,000 unaccompanied children in March — an all-time monthly record.

Although current laws dictate the children may only be in CBP custody for 72 hours, many have been detained for more than ten days according to law enforcement sources. A number of Border Patrol facilities continue to face issues with overcrowding. HHS, by opening additional shelters can move UACs from Border Patrol custody into HHS Emergency Intake Sites, thus reducing the number held in temporary holding cells at Border Patrol Stations. The number of UACs being detained by the federal government continues to climb despite this effort.

HHS estimates the cost to house each unaccompanied child in an EIS is approximately $775 per day. The cost is lower at other HHS shelters that provide more permanent housing. Based on their cost estimates, daily expenses for the care of the UACs in HHS custody are over $9 million per day.

The Biden administration has not, thus far, communicated a clear plan to reduce the influx of unaccompanied migrant children.

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

Randy Clark: Progress on Biden’s Border Crisis Merely a Shell Game

A young migrant waits for his turn to take a shower at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)
AP File Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills
4:00

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.

JOE BIDEN'S VIVA LA RAZA SUPREMACY - Joe Biden Visits Mexican Restaurant for Tacos on Cinco de Mayo

 

WE WILL NOT CATCH JOE BIDEN VISITING A HOMELESS CAMP ALONG THE FREEWAY. THOSE FOLKS ONLY SPEAK ENGLISH!




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.


Joe Biden Visits Mexican Restaurant for Tacos on Cinco de Mayo

three carne asada mexican street tacos in corn tortilla with lime close up
rez-art/Getty Images
1:22

President Joe Biden celebrated Cinco de Mayo Wednesday by traveling to a Mexican restaurant in Washington, D.C., for tacos.

Biden traveled from the White House via his motorcade to the Taqueria Las Gemelas restaurant, owned by Mexican immigrants to the United States, and ordered tacos.

The president used the trip to promote the success of his American Rescue Plan offering financial aid to restaurants across the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The restaurant industry is so badly hurt nationwide,” he said.

Wearing a mask, Biden spoke with some of the customers in the restaurant and even shared his thoughts about fans of Philadelphia sporting teams.

“Philadelphia fans are the most informed and most obnoxious fans in the world,” he said, noting his wife, Jill Biden, was also a Philadelphia fan.

Biden did not eat on camera, likely due to coronavirus restrictions, but he left the restaurant with a bag of food. He told reporters outside the building that he got tacos and enchiladas.

When reporters asked Biden what he thought of the likely ouster of House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, Biden replied, “I don’t understand Republicans.”

DEA Official: Mexican Cartels Smuggling Fentanyl Across Border With Impunity

Says U.S.-Mexico cooperation has deteriorated amid immigration surge

A transport officer searches immigrants before bussing them to a processing center after they crossed the border from Mexico on April 13, 2021 in La Joya, Texas. / Getty Images
 • May 4, 2021 3:00 pm

Mexican cartels are trafficking deadly narcotics into the United States with impunity, a top Drug Enforcement Administration official said on Monday.

Cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities to target cartels has deteriorated amid a surge of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, Matthew Donahue, the DEA deputy chief of operations, told NPR. Donahue said Mexican law enforcement have cut off ties with the DEA, fearing punishment from the Mexican government if they cooperate with the U.S. agency—a breakdown that has helped cartels smuggle fentanyl and methamphetamines into the United States.

"It's a national health threat, it's a national safety threat," Donahue said. "[The cartels] do not fear any kind of law enforcement … or military inside of Mexico right now."

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) blasted the Biden administration for the fallout with Mexican law enforcement, saying it fails to protect Americans.

"President Biden's policies aren't compassionate and they aren't protecting Americans," Cotton tweeted on Tuesday. "The Biden administration is making it easier for drugs to be smuggled into our country."

Within weeks of taking office, President Joe Biden overturned a spate of Trump administration policies that maintained strict border enforcement, helping precipitate a massive surge in illegal immigration. In March, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the country is facing its worst influx of illegal immigration in 20 years. The surge has created both security and humanitarian crises: Federal authorities have apprehended multiple foreign nationals on terror watchlists at the border, and customs agents have detained thousands of unaccompanied minors in overcrowded facilities as they struggle to control the wave of illegal immigration.

A porous border and weak security ties with

Mexico have resulted in large influxes of

fentanyl, a highly addictive and lethal drug,

across the southern border. Between October

2020 and March 2021,

customs agents seized more than 2.5 tons of

fentanyl—a more than 300 percent year-on-

year increase. Since 2019, cartels

have enjoyed soaring profits due to increased

demand for the drug in the United States.

More than 90,000 Americans overdosed on

illicit drugs last year.


150 Migrants Apprehended, Armed Smuggler Arrested in Failed Smuggling Attempts near Border in Texas

Human smugglers pack migrants into luggage area in SUV. (U.S. Border Patrol/Del Rio Sector)
U.S. Border Patrol/Del Rio Sector
0:47

Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 150 migrants and an armed human smuggler in multiple failed human smuggling attempts over the weekend. The arrests took place as smugglers packed migrants into a variety of vehicles, including a stolen vehicle.

Del Rio Sector Chief Patrol Agent Austin Skero tweeted photos of multiple failed smuggling attempts where human smugglers packed migrants into vehicles. The interdictions led to the arrest of more than 150 migrants and at least one armed smuggler during vehicle stops by Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement partners.

Skero reported at least one of the human smugglers arrested had a gun in their possession. In another smuggling incident, agents recovered a stolen vehicle.

Skero also tweeted the punishment handed down to a U.S. citizen teenager who was recruited into the human smuggling business with promises of “easy money.” The 19-year-old convicted human smuggler now faces a sentence of 24 months in prison and three years of probation, Skero stated.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.


DHS Chief: We Should Not See Borders as ‘Lines that Mark National Boundaries and Divide Us’

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 02: U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas delivers remarks while visiting a FEMA community vaccination center on March 2, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the site is being run as a partnership between the city and the federal government. It …
Mark Makela/Getty
2:29

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, on Tuesday told the annual Washington Conference on the Americas the Western Hemisphere should not see borders as lines that divide nations, but rather “as a point of connection” that brings countries together.

“Rather than viewing borders solely as the lines that mark national boundaries and that divide us from one another, we should see borders as a point of connection, as the place where the flow of people and goods from different countries interact and intersect,” Mayorkas declared during the annual conference hosted by the Council of the Americas (COA) on Tuesday.

His comments came amid the border crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border fueled by a migrant surge, primarily from Central America’s Northern Triangle region (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador).

The flow of migrants is overwhelming DHS resources and the border agents who operate under the department, forcing the release of migrants into U.S. communities.

Many of the migrants reaching the border are unaccompanied children and families from Central America. Republicans have accused the Biden administration of pushing an open borders agenda.

Although President Joe Biden keeps insisting the border is closed, he struck a more welcoming tone as a candidate, and migrants keep coming in with some released into U.S. communities.

The Biden administration’s message is falling on deaf ears, in part due to online ad campaigns by human smugglers who promise guaranteed entrance into the U.S. under the current president.

Human smugglers, including those who rape women and girls during the journey, benefit financially from the influx of migrants.

Republicans have blamed Biden’s undoing of Trump-era immigration policies for the border crisis.

Mayorkas indicated that the Biden Administration is working on creating an immigration system where people are “treated with dignity and respect.”

“This is not inconsistent with enforcing the law and securing our border,” he added.

The governments of Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador have, directly and indirectly, blamed the Biden administration’s welcoming tone for the surge at the U.S. southern border.

Mayorkas also mentioned that DHS is working to ensure a robust and safe movement of goods and people across the Western Hemisphere.


Migrant Drug Carriers Found on Air Force Bombing Range in Arizona

Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended four large groups of migrants carrying nearly $1 million worth of methamphetamine. (Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Yuma Sector)
Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/Yuma Sector
2:50

Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents found groups of migrants working as mules to haul methamphetamine across the Mexican border into Arizona. Agents found one group on a U.S. Air Force bombing range.

Welton Border Patrol Station agents found two migrants, a 17-year-old unaccompanied minor and a 48-year-old single adult, hiding under a tree on the Luke Air Force Base bombing range on Saturday afternoon, according to information provided by Yuma Sector Border Patrol officials. The migrants attempted to flee as the agents approached.

The agents apprehended the two migrants and began a search of the area. The search led to the discovery of three backpacks carrying 120 pounds of methamphetamine, officials reported. The agents arrested the migrants and seized the methamphetamine valued at approximately $216,000.

The following day, Welton Station agents patrolling near Sentinel, Arizona, with all-terrain vehicles found a group of three migrants hiding under a tree. The three migrants, all adult males, carried backpacks containing 110 pounds of methamphetamine, officials stated. The agents placed the value of the seized drugs at nearly $200,000.

Welton Station’s Target Enforcement Unit encountered two more groups of smuggling mules on Monday morning east of Welton, Arizona. Agents found 195 pounds of methamphetamine in the possession of the first group, officials said. The second group carried 109 pounds. Agents assessed the value of the two loads of methamphetamine at $351,000 and $196,000 respectively.

In total, the agents interdicted four groups of migrant drug smugglers carrying 534 pounds with an estimated value of nearly $1 million.

The bombing range was also the scene of a migrant apprehension effort in June 2019, consisting of 17 requiring rescues.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.




Randy Clark: Progress on Biden’s Border Crisis Merely a Shell Game

A young migrant waits for his turn to take a shower at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, Tuesday, March 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool)
AP File Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills
4:00

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