(Headline USA) U.S. Customs and Border Protection has raised the alarm yet again, pointing to a surge in illegal immigration at the southern border with no end in sight.
The full data from the month of April is not yet available, but the CBP’s latest notice indicates this year’s illegal immigration trends have not slowed.
“At border crossings along the California/Mexico border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have seen an increase in the number of non-citizens attempting to enter the U.S. despite their not having any legal status needed to do so,” the agency said “For the April 1- 26 time period CBP officers at California land border crossings encountered 1,632 inadmissible individuals, compared to 1,081 inadmissible individuals the same time period last month (March 1-26), a 51% increase.”
“In addition, these individuals are increasingly citizens of countries other than Mexico,” the agency added.
President Joe Biden has taken heavy fire for the crisis at the southern border and his lack of action to stop it. He tapped Vice President Kamala Harris to head up the crisis, but she has taken criticism for focusing on the northern triangle and neglecting to visit the nation’s southern border.
In March, CBP reported that border officers encountered more than 170,000 illegal immigrants attempting to cross into the country, up nearly 70 percent from the previous month.
The agency said border patrol agents are stretched so thin that wait times for legal migrants are growing worse.
“With these increases, operations at the border crossings have been impacted as CBP officials must dedicate resources to securing the port of entry and processing these individuals, repositioning resources that would otherwise be dedicated to critical passenger and cargo processing, leading to increased wait times for the traveling public,” CBP said. “ We also continue to reach out to our partners in Mexico as well to coordinate and secure their assistance; our combined efforts to address illegal crossings in both countries are necessary to allow us to get back to devoting the resources necessary to keep legitimate traffic flowing.”
