The border crisis continues to grow more staggering, with 9,100 migrants found in one day this week according to Border Patrol sources – close to the record 10,000-a-day figure experienced in May when Title 42 ended.
A huge floodgate that had been welded open in Arizona that allowed migrants to enter the country is now closed, but the area is still flooded with asylum seekers crossing into the US.
Within 24 hours, 7,400 immigrants who crossed from Mexico into southern Arizona illegally surrendered to Border Patrol agents and were detained.
Another 1,700 migrants showed up at ports of entry seeking asylum the same day, overwhelming available resources and leading Border Patrol agents to release migrants onto the streets of the Arizona city, federal law enforcement sources said.
“A lot of these issues happen because of the cartels, they’re the ones who control the border,” Art Del Cueto of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents the Border Patrol, the agent told The Post Thursday.
Migrants walk through an open gate in the border wall near remote Lukeville, Arizona. The door has been closed since the cartels exploited the opening to sneak illegal immigrants into the country.Daniel William McKnight
“They are the ones who decide where people cross, who can cross, everything.”
Del Cueto explained how other parts of the US-Mexico border have added more resources – such as Texas which has deployed its National Guard, razor wire and floating border barriers on the Rio Grande international border – smugglers are only moving migrants who want to enter the country into remote areas of Arizona.
“Cartels are not stupid – they know where the exposure is, they know where people focus,” he added. “A lot of traffic has moved to the Tucson sector.”
The Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol– which includes all of southern Arizona except Yuma– leads the nation in immigrant concerns. James Breeden/Shutterstock for the NY Post
To make matters worse, Del Cueto said flooding the border with asylum seekers was largely a smokescreen for their drug smuggling operations.
“Drug smugglers are the ones responsible for smuggling these people in. This, to them, is just moonlight. Their main task is to bring drugs to the United States.
“They know that by using people … they distract more agents and it opens up borders where they can continue to bring more drugs.
The US Border Patrol divides the southern border into sectors. The Tucson sector is currently the busiest in the country.US Customs and Border Protection
“That’s something that affects the entire United States where you see fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine continue to flow into the country.”
Since July, the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector has been ground zero across the country for immigration concerns, surpassing other hotspots — such as El Paso and Del Rio in Texas — that had previously been the busiest over the past two years.
In Southern Arizona, agents are overwhelmed and outnumbered by immigrants.Daniel William McKnight
Across all of southern Arizona, with the exception of Yuma, the Tucson sector is deserted, filled with small towns like Nogales and Lukeville. The closest city is Tucson — about two hours from the international border.
In addition, the Tohono O’odham National Reservation on the border makes the region difficult to police because there is no federal border wall on the reservation to keep out immigrants and smugglers — just some barbed wire, Del Cueto described.
“You have to realize, when you catch a group in the reservation, you need two hours to bring the immigrants to an area for processing. Here, it’s four-wheel drive. You cannot get a bus there to take all the migrants to the processing center,” he said.
The remote nature of the border in Arizona makes it difficult for agents to process immigrants.AP
“They are not prepared like they are prepared in other areas; they are much smaller. That’s where we get a lot of issues where the agency has to release migrants onto the streets.”
Once immigrants are caught, because they are on US soil, they have to be processed and then can be allowed to claim asylum and stay in the country, or they are deported.
The processing center — where immigrants are taken for background checks, medical checks and their illegal entry into the country can be recorded — in Southern Arizona is so overwhelmed, the agency has run out of room in the detention center.
Migrants have been released into the Arizona city since processing centers in the Grand Canyon State were overwhelmed.Art Del Cueto
In the last few days, they have started releasing people onto the streets with at least 5,000 migrants being released in cities like Casa Grande and Nogales.
Del Cueto shared photos of groups of single men with so-called “notices to appear” roaming public spaces. The paperwork gives immigrants a court date before an immigration judge who can determine whether they have a legal basis to stay in the country. However, court dates are often years ahead because immigration courts are notoriously backlogged.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
