During an interview with Bloomberg TV on Monday, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to a question on how to handle people who are in the country illegally by stating that there are “12 million people who are here in the United States who have been contributing so fundamentally to our country’s well-being.”
Host Romaine Bostick said that the consequences for arriving at the border irregularly won’t be a deterrent for a lot of people and don’t “address the other sort of elephant in the room, which is dealing with the undocumented immigrants who are already here in the nation. And I know it’s been a political football, as we’re trying to figure out the best way to address that, but I’m going to ask you, what is the best way to address that, from your perspective?”
Mayorkas responded, “The answer is quite clear and quite straightforward, and we’ve been waiting for it for about 30 years. And that is to fix a system that everyone agrees is fundamentally broken. And we need congressional action, both for the lawful pathways, that really need to be more robust in statute, and for the 12 million people who are here in the United States who have been contributing so fundamentally to our country’s well-being. They’re our neighbors, our friends, our fellow congregants. They provide — are frontline workers. We need to do something, and I am hopeful and remain hopeful that Congress will do it. The president, on his first day in office, presented Congress with a proposal.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
New York City’s homeless population is surging thanks, in part, to the continued arrival of busloads of illegal immigrants from Texas being sent to the self-proclaimed “sanctuary.”
In the city’s Fiscal Year (FY) ending June 30, the homeless population increased 73%, rising from 46,675 in FY2022 to 80,724 in FY2023, according to statistics published last month in a financial report by the city’s comptroller.
“More than 22,000 asylum seekers applied for shelter through DHS as of April 2023,” the comptroller said in an August review of the city’s homeless situation , apparently counting all migrants as “asylum seekers.”
Last week, migrants set up camp in front of the mayor’s residence, to protest the time limit on how long they can live in one of the city’s shelters, regional network Spectrum News NY 1 reports:
“On Thursday, dozens of protestors set up tents and sleeping bags outside of Gracie Mansion, blasting the city’s recent restrictions on the length of time migrants can stay in shelters before they have to reapply for housing.”
The city currently has a 30-day shelter limit for adults and a 60-day limit for families.
In a September press release warning of the financial burden of actually having to be a sanctuary, Democrat New York City Mayor estimated that approximately 10,000 “asylum” seekers are “still arriving each month.”
The comptroller’s review says the city’s shelter system has been “overwhelmed” by the surge in immigration that began in 2022 when Texas – which was already being overwhelmed by illegal immigration – began busing immigrants to the “sanctuary” New York City had promised them:
“In October 2022, at the peak of the surge in migrants seeking asylum, DHS reported the highest-ever number of homeless people living within the shelter system.
“DHS stated that starting in April 2022, the State of Texas began sending buses of migrant asylum seekers to New York City. Buses arrived unannounced and unscheduled, and the people on them—most of whom had crossed into the United States via the southern border—were in need of shelter and care.
“By April 4, 2023, 22,002 asylum seeker households had applied for shelter through DHS. In response, the City opened 135 emergency sites between June 2022 and May 2023 for asylum seekers.
“The City shelter system was overwhelmed by this surge. The shelter population reached its highest-ever daily population by October 5, 2022, with over 61,000 people recorded. Although other City agencies have since stepped in to help shoulder part of this burden, the number of people in DHS shelters continued to grow. On March 1, 2023, the daily population in DHS shelters reached 70,848 people.”
On Friday, Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott reported that his state has bused more than 22,800 migrants to New York City since August of 2022, as part of the multi-agency border security measure, Operation Lone Star.
To deal with the staggering cost of the immigrant surge, Mayor Adams has announced the city is reducing its number of police and making across-the-board budget cuts:
“[M]ake no mistake: Migrant costs are going up, tax revenue growth is slowing and COVID stimulus funding is drying up.”
New York City’s migrant crisis will cost nearly $11billion over two fiscal years and its FY2025 budget gap is expected to “surpass unprecedented $7 billion,” the mayor’s press release estimates.
File Photos: Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas 3:53
The migrant crossings in Eagle Pass, Texas, did not show any signs of slowing on Thanksgiving Day as a single group of more than 600 migrants entered the small border city in the early morning hours. As most American families gathered for a Thanksgiving feast and a day of NFL football, Border Patrol agents were, once again, tied up with processing a large migrant group crossing.
The group of more than 600 migrants was undeterred by the colder temperatures in the region that dipped to 37 degrees Fahrenheit overnight. Concertina wire barriers also failed to deter the migrants who made speedy entry into the heart of the downtown area and quickly surrendered to the Border Patrol. The group consisted of mostly single adult males and females but also included some family units with small children.
Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas informed the public of the crossing via social media and gave thanks to the federal, state, and local law enforcement and first responders working the Thanksgiving holiday. As the Mayor toured an area below the Eagle Pass Camino Real Bridge II, migrants were being accepted by the Border Patrol after making the dangerous river crossing.
The mayor also spoke of the number of migrant drownings in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, which he says stands at nearly 20 during the month. The number of migrant deaths in such a short period has put a strain on local law enforcement and one local funeral home tasked with identifying the remains of those pulled from the murky waters of the Rio Grande.
Thursday’s group of migrants brings the number of crossings just in Eagle Pass to more than 1,300 in less than 24 hours, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection source.
As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, in 2022, local authorities in the small border city found themselves unable to deal with the number of migrant deaths in a short period and were quickly overwhelmed. Currently, the city relies on one funeral home to store the deceased migrant’s remains. It utilizes a refrigeration truck operated by Maverick County authorities as a temporary morgue to aid in the task. The increase in migrant deaths in recent weeks has resulted in a move to bury the remains in a mass grave, as was done in 2022, to keep up with the pace of migrant drownings.
The latest large migrant group crossing into Eagle Pass continues a trend of large single migrant group crossings in recent months. On Wednesday, another large migrant group of nearly 500 mostly Venezuelan and Central American migrants crossed into Eagle Pass in one single group near the heart of the downtown area. The group also managed to breach the existing concertina wire barriers installed by the State of Texas.
The migrants will be transported to a nearby Border Patrol processing facility. Once processed, many will likely be released to pursue asylum claims within the United States. In October, according to CBP, more than 38,000 migrants were apprehended in the Del Rio Sector, the majority of whom crossed into Eagle Pass. The sector currently is the second busiest for migrant crossings into the United States nationwide.
The steady migrant releases of several thousand migrants in cities across the southwest border daily is being felt in large metropolitan sanctuary cities across the United States, struggling to cope with hundreds of migrants in need of shelter arriving daily.
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.
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