Twice as many people have been apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border this year than last year, but the numbers still remain at an "unacceptable" level despite the improvements made over the past four months since the spring surge, acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said Wednesday.
“Right now, our apprehensions per day are still 1,400," Morgan told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "Those numbers are still unacceptable. We still have a lot of work to do."
He added that Mexico is doing more to stem the humanitarian and national security crisis at the nations' border, and Americans should be 'disgusted' by Congress' lack of action.
However, he said, the men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the CBP, along with President Donald Trump's administration have had "incredible success" over the past four months and said the wall is vital for stopping illegal immigrants.
“This is to stop illegal immigration and, just as important, to stop the drugs from pouring into this country, killing 68,000 people last year,” Morgan said, adding that it's not intended to stop people from entering the country legally.
According to Fox News, during fiscal year 2019, federal authorities reported 1.1 million enforcement actions, marking a 68 percent increase from 2018. Out of those, 859,000 were apprehensions of people entering the country illegally, an increase of 113 percent.
The amount of drugs seized at the border also dropped in fiscal year 2019, but officials said the drop was because there were fewer marijuana seizures. However, more hard drugs, like heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl all went up.
Morgan called the increased amounts of hard drugs a "national security crisis."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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