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Can the Migrant Crisis Get Any Worse?

Townhall Media/Katie Pavlich

Even though the activist media is ignoring it, things aren’t looking too good on the southern border. Even worse, they probably aren’t going to get better anytime soon, even though some Republicans are doing what they can to curtail President Joe Biden’s apparent open borders agenda. The situation has become so abysmal that morale among Border Patrol agents has taken a nosedive.

Several federal agents serving at the southern border told the Washington Examiner that they are losing steam when it comes to doing their jobs. Much of it has to do with how the Biden administration has treated Border Patrol, and how it has essentially invited migrants to swarm the border.

An agent based in Arizona told the news outlet that “[u]nder Biden, things are the worst they have ever been by far” and that “[a]gents are calling in all the time.” He noted that Border Patrol agents “are afraid of ending up on the news for doing their job or getting in trouble for doing their job.”

From the Washington Examiner:

Eight agents and managers assigned to the southern border spoke with the Washington Examiner on the condition of anonymity about their experiences working during the largest migration event in U.S. history. The physical workload has been brutal, as has the change in policies from President Donald Trump to Joe Biden. But the biggest factor in the demoralization of the Border Patrol has been the feeling that Biden has demonized agents for enforcing immigration laws that lawmakers like him passed in Congress.

Morale took a serious hit last September, after the “whipping” incident in which Border Patrol agents on horseback were falsely accused of using whips to hit Haitian migrants at the border. Unfortunately, attitudes among Border Patrol agents will probably get even worse, now that the Department of Homeland Security announced it is preparing to discipline some of the horseback officers involved in the incident. Fox News reported:

The source said that DHS will be putting forth proposals to discipline the agents who will have a chance to respond to the charges. The charges, Fox News is told, are “administrative violations,” and do not amount to criminal conduct – of which the agents were previously cleared.

Images emerged in September of Border Agents in Del Rio, Texas showing them on horseback, blocking migrants from entering the U.S. and, in one case, grabbing onto a migrant’s shirt.

Many Democrats and media outlets falsely described the agents’ long reins, which they use to control their horses, as “whips.”

Pretty much every major, left-leaning activist media outlet pushed the lie that Border Patrol agents were whipping Haitian migrants. Apparently, a story about white men on horseback supposedly whipping black men and women on foot was too good to pass up, even if it was a total falsehood.

But beyond the efforts on the part of the White House and activist media to villainize Border Patrol, there is also the ever-growing problem of people attempting to cross the southern border legally and illegally. Even last year, it was placing an undue burden on border authorities and the agency was stretched thin. But even now, the severity of the situation has become even more pronounced. The Washington Examiner noted:

More than 2 million migrants were stopped while attempting to enter the U.S. from Mexico illegally in the calendar year 2021, an astronomical figure. Of the 2 million, roughly 1.1 million were immediately expelled back to Mexico or flown to other countries. Some attempted crossing multiple times, inflating the numbers. But nearly 800,000 were released into the U.S.

Last week, yet another migrant caravan began making its way to the southern border in anticipation that Title 42 would be rescinded and migrants would once again receive the red carpet treatment from Biden and the gang. This group of migrants is expected to reach 15,000 people by the time it arrives at the southern border. Currently, the courts have stopped the White House from ending Title 42, but if the administration manages to eventually end the order, it could continue its Catch and Release policies which would allow tens of thousands of migrants to be resettled inside the U.S.

Republicans, for their part, have been challenging Biden’s open borders excesses in the courts. Through litigation, they prevented the White House from rescinding the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols – also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy. But GOP lawmakers are also trying to address Democrats’ efforts to import as many migrants as possible – legally and illegally.

In Congress, Republicans in both chambers are pushing the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General to launch a “comprehensive” investigation of the White House’s handling of the migrant crisis as the situation continues to deteriorate. Another Fox News report explained:

More than 100 Republicans in the two chambers had written to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari in January requesting “a comprehensive review of the decisions by the Biden Administration that have led to the worst border crisis in United States history.”

A spokerson for the DHS OIG confirmed to Fox News at that time that it had received the letter: “We take all requests from Congress seriously and review them to better inform our work, including ongoing and future work,” the spokesperson said.

But GOP lawmakers might not be able to do much until they retake at least one chamber of Congress – and even then, it might be difficult to stop this administration from encouraging more migrants to make the journey to the southern border. Hopefully, even with Biden in the White House, the GOP can do something to make it harder for the president to continue mishandling the situation.

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