Republicans in Arizona are repeatedly calling on President Joe Biden to address the record surge of migrants illegally crossing the nation’s southern border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released its September border crossing data last week, showing 192,001 total encounters along the southwest border; a 9% decrease compared with August. More than one-quarter of those had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, a rate much higher than in recent years.
“CBP encounters along the Southwest border declined in September from the prior month, and a majority of noncitizens encountered were expelled under Title 42,” CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement. “The men and women of CBP continued to rise admirably to the challenge, despite the strain associated with operating during a global pandemic that has claimed far too many lives among our frontline personnel.”
From October 2020 to September 2021, 1,734,686 people were caught entering the U.S. at the southern border, which is more than triple the same time period the year before.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Wednesday the Biden administration must do more to deter migrants.
“President Biden continues to ignore the border crisis he’s created and leave border states like Arizona to clean up his mess,” Ducey said. “We need more action from the federal government.”
State Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, formally has requested an investigation by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich about whether Biden has run afoul of the U.S. Constitution by neglecting to address the border crisis.
“As a result of the current invasion, our communities are suffering tremendously from a spike in criminals crossing our border,” Hoffman wrote, noting significant increases in various forms of violent crime in the past 12 months.
Hoffman referenced CBP intel about as many as 60,000 migrants amassing on the Mexican side of the U.S. border with the intention of crossing illegally into the United States in the coming days.
By Cole Lauterbach | The Center Square
