In 2014 Democrats claimed the United States was in the State of a Humanitarian Crisis at the Border
By Brandon Judd
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas While a plurality of Democrats claimed a humanitarian border crisis existed in mid-2014 -- after Border Patrol made some 164492 illegal border crossing arrests compared to approximately 271147 arrests during the same period this year -- theyve changed their tune in 2019. Using political rhetoric -- instead of facts -- those same Democrats now claim that there is no crisis today except in President Trumps mind.
But a simple apples-to-apples numbers comparison reveals their hypocrisy.
As a 21-year front line veteran Border Patrol Agent and president of the National Border Patrol Council Id like to put to bed the false notion that there is no national emergency on the United States-Mexico Border. I hope facts will do the trick.
Since November of 2013 Ive been called upon to give expert Congressional testimony about various aspects of border security on 18 separate occasions. Ive testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee the Senate Judiciary Committee the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Natural Resources.
This is important because during every hearing regarding border security at which I testified in 2014 Democrats claimed the United States was in the state of a humanitarian crisis at the border. While Republicans agreed with the notion of a crisis they argued it was one of immigration loophole exploitation.
Regardless of the underlying reasoning both parties acknowledged a crisis at the border.
Oh the hypocrisy.
Consider that in the first 5 months of fiscal year 2014 the year Democrats claimed a humanitarian border crisis the United States Border Patrol made approximately 164492 illegal border crossing arrests.
In the first 5 months of this fiscal year (October through February) that number has increased by more than 106000. By the end of February we had approximately 271147 arrests.
No matter how you slice it that is a huge increase. Not only have the sheer numbers of illegal border crossers dramatically increased but were now dealing with many more issues than we did in 2014.
As in 2014 were dealing with an untenable number of unaccompanied minors. But unlike in 2014 were also dealing with adults bringing children into the United States and falsely claiming parental guardianship the first indicator of sex or servitude trafficking.
Were dealing with the smuggling of dangerous narcotics like opioids and fentanyl which has caused an epidemic and American deaths at unprecedented rates.
Were dealing with a greater number of people from countries other than Mexico El Salvador Guatemala and Honduras.
And to top it all off were dealing with a greater number of people illegally crossing the border who have prior criminal records in the United States.
Clearly if the United States was dealing with a border crisis humanitarian or otherwise in 2014 you must agree that were now dealing with a complete border catastrophe.
But the evidence gets even more damning.
Politicians and at times the mainstream media would have you believe that the United States Border Patrol is arresting fewer people today than it did at the height of illegal border crossing arrests in the early to mid-2000s. This isnt true. Its simply a Jedi mind trick meant to make you believe there is nothing to see here.
Once again we must deal with facts and compare apples to apples. While we made more arrests in the 2000s than today what youre not being told is that were on pace to arrest more people in fiscal year 2019 than ever before.
This sounds confusing but its actually simple. In the mid-2000s the vast majority of people (over 90 percent) were returned to Mexico within a few hours of being arrested. Upon returning to Mexico the same people would simply attempt another illegal border crossing. Former Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher once proclaimed he arrested the same group of people 10 different times in the same shift.
Although I personally have never arrested the same group of people 10 times in one shift I did arrest the same group of people multiple times in the same shift. It was commonplace. And while working in the Intelligence Division in 2006 I generated recidivism" reports. Those reports clearly showed that we arrested the same people multiple times.
Today that isnt the case. We rarely arrest the same person twice in one year much less in the same work shift.
More drugs more people crossing the border illegally more minors of exploitable age more people from countries other than North and Central American ones and more people with criminal records.
The facts are the facts.
The national emergency is very real and Border Patrol agents nationwide are grateful to President Trump for declaring it.
A bipartisan crisis was acknowledged in 2014 and it is high time Democrats Republicans and Independents acknowledge the current national emergency on our southern border and let the president deal with it effectively.
Brandon Judd is the president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) the exclusive labor representative of approximately 16000 Border Patrol agents.
