The surge at the nation's border was created by design by the Biden administration to bring in an "open borders agenda," former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tom Homan said Wednesday, adding that the current situation is the "worst" he has seen in his career.
"They knew what they were doing," Homan said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "This isn't incompetence. This isn't bad management. This is open borders. They designed an open borders agenda, and the men and women of the Border Patrol feel abandoned. They are no longer enforcing the law. They are facilitating illegal entry at the instruction of the administration."
On Tuesday, Raul Ortiz, the deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, told reporters he expects more than a million migrants will come to the U.S.-Mexico border this year. That would mirror the increase in border crossings in 2019, when almost 978,000 people were taken into custody.
In February alone, the Border Patrol arrested about 100,000 migrants, or the most in any month since 2019, and Ortiz said there are already some higher days when 6,000-plus migrants were apprehended.
But Homan said Wednesday the situation was "totally preventable," as the Biden administration was briefed by ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and told if they ended the programs put in place by the Trump administration, there would be a "surge like you have never seen before."
Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, agreed on Wednesday that the situation at the border is out of control.
"We know it's a humanitarian crisis not only for the migrants that are coming in," Babin, who appeared on Fox News with Homan, said. "My heart went out to some of these children in a facility there in Donna that should be holding 250. They have 5700 people stacked in there like sardines."
Morale is also down with the Border Patrol agents, who are "doing a tremendous job" but the administration is opening the borders and putting Americans and migrants alike in danger.
He also responded to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who called this week for a "gut check" with people who are calling the border situation a surge, accusing the term of being used "consciously" by people "trying to invoke a militaristic frame."
"Where is she now?" said Babin. "We actually asked after Vice President Kamala Harris was given charge of the border situation by President (Joe) Biden. We actually invited her. We invited her to come and visit with us at some of these spots on our itinerary. We heard nothing whatsoever. And absolutely while this administration is telling us to continue to wear masks and only visit with just very few people up until July, they are stacking people who are COVID-positive."
Further, migrants are being released to "fan across Texas and the United States" in the middle of the pandemic and that is hard to comprehend, "except that I think this is their plan," Babin said.
"They want open borders," he said. "They want as many of these people to come in and get on government assistance and become voting citizens or at least voting, you know, people that would come and continue the Democrat majority, and I think people just need to wake up."
Homan likewise slammed Ocasio-Cortez for her comments.
"The men and women of the Border Patrol say it's a surge," said Homan. "The men and women of the Border Patrol say it's a crisis ... these cartels are moving drugs and bad people through unguarded areas. This is a national security crisis. And if she can't understand that or accept that then she shouldn't be in Congress at all."
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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