Arizona's more than 370 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border have become increasingly problematic, not only for overstretched Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents and locals, but the Biden administration and Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections.
A detailed exposé of the migrant crisis in Arizona in the The Washington Post just scratched the surface of the deeply troubling situation, noting illegal migrants are coming from well more than 100 countries, including India, Iran and Russia, in addition to Central American and South American countries' migrants.
CBP is on track to shatter last year's 1.73 million border arrests in 2022, with a pace of more than 2 million, including 400,000 of those in Arizona, according to the Post.
And, in many instances, Arizona is a hotbed for human trafficking operations, charging clients thousands of dollars to enter the United States.
"The people who are crossing the border don't pick where they cross the border," Tuscon, Arizona, CBP chief John Modlin told the Post. "They are at the mercy of the smuggling organizations."
The blistering summer desert sun is about the only thing to slow illegal migration in Arizona at this point, but CBP officials told the Post that is merely a temporary roadblock – along with the under court appeal Title 42 migrant expulsions.
Also, with Remain in Mexico now effectively weakened by the Biden administration and the Supreme Court, Mexico does not accept the return of non-Mexicans.
"There's a lull right now, but it won't last," migrant encampment Director Teresa Cavendish told the Post. "I think there are still a lot of people waiting to see how the administration will respond if Title 42 is not lifted."
Amid the chaos, Republicans are running their midterm campaigns on the border, which the Post noted has even the Biden administration vowing to get together on illegal migration.
When CBP drops off a van in Mexico, smugglers scouting from mountaintops reportedly send in other waves of migrants elsewhere. The Post described the scene similar to "staggering flights like air traffic controllers."
The end of the detailed Post exposé featured a Mexico scavenger named Alfredo, who lingers around the border only to cross periodically to pick up items of value that might have been left behind, including clothes, shoes, backpacks, and even money.
"I find money all the time," he told the Post. "Mexican pesos. They don't want them anymore."
Alfredo was a former dental assistant who helped people in Los Algodones, Mexico, come over during the COVID-19 pandemic to get crowns and fillings, the Post reported.
"There's no work in my town anymore," he told the Post. "Only smugglers."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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