WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation’s homeland security team released the following statement Wednesday following reports that apprehensions by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) totaled an unsustainable 208,887 in the month of August. In short, the numbers show that Biden’s border crisis continues to be an abject disaster for the United States, putting every town and community in America at risk:
Chad Wolf, former acting DHS secretary and Heritage visiting fellow: “President Biden’s failed border-security policies are simply unsustainable. The men and women of federal law enforcement cannot continue to deal with these crisis-level numbers. They are already overwhelmed and overburdened. The breakdown is coming.
“Hundreds have been pulled off the line, from defending and safeguarding our borders, to process and care for the flood of illegal aliens apprehended at the border. Cartels and smugglers have taken advantage of our weakness, with record numbers of not just people, but narcotics, pouring across an increasingly undefended border.
“President Biden simply isn’t listening, and I fear that we are staring down the prospect of a preventable disaster stemming from this crisis. Sadly, just as we saw in Afghanistan in recent weeks, it seems that for this administration, politics trumps national security.”
Mark Morgan, former acting CBP commissioner and Heritage visiting fellow: “Contrary to what the Biden administration would have you believe, this crisis extends well beyond local border communities. The consequences of Biden’s border crisis are impacting our country’s public safety, health, and national security.
“What comes across our southern border makes its way to every town, city, and state in our nation. We are seeing a significant increase in fentanyl pouring across our borders, expansion of human trafficking, and criminal aliens breaking into our country undetected as a result of the current open border policies. Where is the outrage from the mainstream media? Where is the action on Capitol Hill?
“As our southern border becomes increasing vulnerable to the vast set of complex threats facing our country, the failed withdrawal from Afghanistan presents a heightened sense of insecurity and concern. Afghanistan has once again become a base of operations for terrorist organizations. Make no mistake, these organizations’ resolve and commitment to do harm to the United States is alive and well, and they will look for every vulnerability we have here at home and abroad to exploit. They need only to look toward our southern border. We must change course before it’s too late.”
Lora Ries, former acting DHS deputy chief of staff and Heritage senior research fellow: “Much as the media has quickly moved on from the Biden administration’s disastrous handling of Afghanistan, even more so have they turned a blind eye to the Biden border crisis. Last month, we saw more than 212,000 apprehensions at the border. The last time apprehensions were that high, fears over Y2K weren’t even on the horizon.
“The Biden administration’s open-borders policies have encouraged, incentivized, and facilitated mass illegal immigration, and the consequences have been predictable: more than 100,000 apprehensions per month in every full month President Biden has been in office. The numbers from August show that trend is nowhere close to changing. It’s time for Congress to do its job and actually do something to hold this administration accountable for its dereliction of duty.”
For more information on the Biden border crisis, visit Heritage’s resource at TheBidenBorderCrisis.com. The website chronicles in one place the various actions the Biden administration has taken to open America’s southern border, undermine the rule of law, and mislead Americans about what is happening at the border.
