Category: CBP

CBP seized drugs and weapons valued at nearly $440 million at Texas ports of entry, no thanks to GOP

Posted on by Gabe Ortiz

Cocaine seizures by U.S. officials at ports of entry rose nearly 20% compared to the previous fiscal year, official government data reveals. Border Report said that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized more than five tons of cocaine at ports of entry along southern Texas. “That was a 19% increase from Fiscal Year 2021,” the report said. What’s all that about so-called “open borders” again?

RELATED STORY: Huge amounts of drugs have been seized at the border and Republicans are very mad about it

Officials also seized large amounts of other illegal drugs, including more than 30,000 pounds of meth, and hundreds of pounds of fentanyl and heroin. Additionally, hundreds of guns and nearly 80,000 rounds of ammunition were also confiscated. All in all, U.S. border officials estimated the street value of all the seizures coming to nearly $440 million.

“As nonessential traffic resumed early in Fiscal Year 2022, overall workload volumes returned to normal but CBP officers continued to experience the ongoing trend of hard narcotics, particularly cocaine and significant gains in encounters of individuals without valid entry documents,” Eugene Crawford, CBP Acting Director of Field Operations for the Laredo Field Office, told Border Report.

In a separate release, CBP said that officers found cocaine valuing more than $154,000 hidden in a 2015 Ford during a crossing at the Brownsville and Matamoros International Bridge.

“The seizure took place on Saturday, Jan. 7, at the Brownsville and Matamoros International Bridge when a 22-year-old female United States citizen who resides in Brownsville, Texas, attempted entry into the United States driving a 2015 Ford,” the release said. The packages were found when the driver was sent to a secondary inspection area, where officials found the stash with “the aid of a non-intrusive inspection system” and a canine unit. Good doggie.

Please also note that the driver was a U.S. citizen. While available data has shown that its overwhelmingly U.S. citizens who’ve been caught with drugs at U.S. ports of entry, Republicans have sought to use this to further their nativist agenda, like RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel basically accusing migrants of personally stashing “rainbow fentanyl” into children’s mouths. Unfortunately, polling has shown way too many Americans have been successfully duped by these lies.

By the way, did anyone notice how quickly these outlandish rainbow fentanyl fears faded away after the midterm elections? I guess that means it’s fixed? Thanks, President Biden!

But Republicans have also sought to use the very serious issue of fentanyl use to further their retribution agenda. Among the grievances listed in the ridiculous impeachment resolution filed by a House Republican against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas cites in part fentanyl seizures at the southern border as justification. They want him out for stopping the drugs from coming in, apparently.

Republicans have done everything possible to create havoc at the border, in reality. That includes derailing an immigration compromise in the last session of Congress and voting against hundreds of millions of dollars in land ports of entry modernization. “Fentanyl seizures have increased under the Biden administration, which made cracking down on drug traffickers a major component of the White House plan,” immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice has said.

Last August, border officials seized more than $4 million dollars worth of fentanyl in one bust. That’s anything but “open borders.” Maybe all the Republican anger about these massive seizures is because it might be making the alleged partying less fun? Hmm.

RELATED STORIES:

Most arrested for drug smuggling are U.S. citizens. Don't count on GOP to stop attacking migrants

No reason given for CBP commissioner’s resignation, but internal hostilities may have played role

Posted on by Gabe Ortiz

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Chris Magnus resigned this past weekend, days after he had apparently been asked by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to step down but refused to do so. On Saturday, Magnus said he would be leaving, various news outlets reported.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden had accepted the resignation “and appreciates Commissioner Magnus’ nearly forty years of service and the contributions he made to police reform during his tenure as police chief in three U.S. cities.”  

RELATED STORY: Following push from advocates, CBP to disband cover-up units that shielded abusive border agents

Magnus, a former Tucson police chief and the agency’s first openly gay commissioner, served just under a year and had been confirmed in a nearly party line vote. While no reason was given for the resignation, speculation that Magnus may have been pushed out by internal hostility wouldn’t be totally out of the question.

The Border Patrol’s union made its first ever endorsement in 2016 for the insurrectionist president, and endorsed him again in 2020. The union’s president, Brandon Judd, is an active border agent who has promoted racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, and is a fervent GOP operative, appearing in numerous campaign ads for Republicans. People within the government have also been leaking stuff to right-wing rags like Breitbart from the start of the administration.

“On Twitter, [Magnus] has been vocal on about immigration issues, writing that Title 42, a measure instituted during the Trump administration that allows border agents to quickly turn back migrants, ‘comes at a heavy cost to many asylum seekers,’” The Los Angeles Times reported. “After criticism about offensive humor within the ranks, including Facebook posts that made fun of dead migrants and lawmakers, Magnus has clamped down on social media activity.”

Following a push from immigrant and human rights advocates, Magnus also signed the May 2022 memo eliminating the corrupt units that have for years colluded to cover up horrific abuses committed by Border Patrol agents. Following a surge of deaths related to vehicle pursuits by border agents, Magnus also said updated policy would be released, but nothing has been made public so far. CBP this past summer also completed its probe into the abuses of Haitian migrants at Del Rio, but many were outraged after the report revealed that not one single victim was interviewed by investigators.

“@CBPChrisMagnus and I may not see eye-to-eye on everything, but I know this: he is one of few actually attempting to reform #BorderPatrol,” tweeted Alliance San Diego Executive Director Andrea Guerrero following initial reports that he’d been asked to leave. “Calls for his resignation from the @AliMayorkas and @POTUS to protect BP is deeply concerning.” Jenn Budd, a former senior Border Patrol agent turned whistleblower, tweeted that “[w]atching @SecMayorkas get railroaded by @BPUnion is frightening. Magnus was the only official trying to bring accountability.”

In a tweet, the Border Patrol union said Magnus “deserved to be fired. As a crisis rages at our border he focused on imaginary BP ‘culture’ problems instead of enforcing our laws.” Ah, so abusive agents who want to starve brown babies (remember that?), who mock the deaths of migrant children in U.S. custody, and who share Stephen Miller’s world views are an “imaginary” problem. Got that, folks? 

Republicans had already made it clear that Mayorkas is at the top of the list of Biden administration officials they’ve targeted should they take control of the U.S. House, which continues to hang in the air following the 2022 midterms. These Republicans repeatedly cite people arriving at the southern border in search of safety. But what they never cite is how the anti-asylum Title 42 has actually created a rise in apprehensions.

RELATED STORIES:

Advocates say Del Rio probe 'was not about truth or justice' after Haitians erased from report

CBP to issue new vehicle pursuit policy, after 22 killed in 2021 due to Border Patrol's chases

President Biden announces nominations for key positions at Homeland Security

Report: Border Agents Are Bracing For ‘Disaster,’ Expect 170,000 Illegal Immigrants In Just One Month

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Border agents and officials are reportedly concerned about a looming “disaster” of an influx of illegal immigrants once Title 42 is lifted by the Biden administration.

Title 42 is a pandemic-era order that allows border authorities to immediately expel illegal immigrants who attempt to cross the border on public health grounds.

Multiple outlets have indicated the Biden administration is seeking to wind down the policy by May 23 following a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) review.

The New York Post reports that authorities are anticipating a “disaster” at the southern border should that happen.

“Last year, we were calling it a crisis. This year, it will be a disaster. This is the calm before the storm,” warned Val Verde County Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez.

The outlet notes that once Title 42 is lifted, “officials are bracing for an influx of up to 170,000 migrants and up to 13,000 unaccompanied children crossing the border in May alone.”

RELATED: NY Rep. Calls For Biden To Be Impeached After Police Video Shows Feds Flying Illegal Immigrants Into NY

Title 42 Repeal Set to Create a Border Disaster

Perhaps more alarming is a thread provided by Fox News reporter Hillary Vaughn who cites a source from the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

That source claims the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “is bracing for as many as 500,000 migrants in the six weeks following Title 42 being lifted.”

That is an alarming number by any administration measuring stick.

The source, according to Vaughn, indicates DHS is struggling to find a solution to provide COVID vaccines to illegal immigrants as has been promised by the administration.

“DHS has been providing the COVID-19 vaccines to noncitizens in ICE custody since summer 2021,” a department spokesperson said, adding that they would be “expanding these efforts.”

But the White House is struggling to attain funding for these vaccines, having urgently requested $22.5 billion “to sustain our nation’s COVID-19 response.”

RELATED: Newly Released Police Video Shows Federal Contractors Flying Illegal Immigrants Into New York Airport

Taking Away From Veterans?

Vaughn Reports that her CBP source has indicated the administration is considering pulling medical resources from veterans to aid in the effort.

“We’re going to take medical services away from people that really deserve that. Who went to combat … to give free medical attention to illegal migrants,” the source allegedly told her, though no further evidence was provided.

The CBP source tells Vaughn the Biden administration is preparing for double the number of migrants that came in 2021 in a year-long timeframe after Title 42 is lifted.

“I would say its conservative to say double what came in last year,” she quotes them as saying.

No matter how you view the crisis, these reports represent a staggering number of illegal immigrants and would be unprecedented in U.S. history, making last year’s record-breaking border crisis look like the good ole days.

The numbers tell the story:

Earlier this year, Republican Representative Claudia Tenney of New York called for President Biden’s impeachment due to the border crisis.

Tenney’s demands came following the release of a police video showing illegal immigrants being flown by federal contractors into an airport in New York in the dead of night.

“This is a complete, aggravated dereliction of duty, which is why last night on Twitter I called for Joe Biden to be impeached and removed,” Tenney demanded.

“His primary obligation as the commander-in-chief and president of the United States is to enforce our laws, to live up to his oath, to enforce our border security and to tell the truth to the American people,” she added.

Instead, he’s going to lift Title 42 and create a “disaster” at the border some had already assumed had reached a critical tipping point.

The post Report: Border Agents Are Bracing For ‘Disaster,’ Expect 170,000 Illegal Immigrants In Just One Month appeared first on The Political Insider.

Border Report: Worst December Numbers In History, Nearly 2 Million Illegal Immigrants Since Biden Took Office

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released operational statistics showing the worst December numbers at the border in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) history.

According to the report, there were 178,840 illegal immigrants apprehended at the border in December, breaking the previous record under DHS for that month by over 100,000.

All told, nearly 2 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the border since Biden took office just over one year ago.

The numbers also show an increase in illegal border crossing from November which saw 173,620 illegal immigrants apprehended.

RELATED: Biden Calls Fox News Reporter ‘Stupid Son of a B*tch’ At Press Conference

Numbers Show Out Of Control Border

News of the record number of border crossings come as Fox News has obtained exclusive footage of a mass release of single adult illegal immigrants into the country.

“Fox News footage shows several federally contracted buses dropping off dozens of mostly male migrants at a parking garage in Brownsville, Texas,” they report.

After being dropped off at the garage, taxi cabs allegedly arrived and transported the illegal immigrants to a nearby airport where they claimed they were being sent “to destinations including Miami, Houston and Atlanta.”

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin states that CBP is not involved in the release shown in the video.

“CBP tells me they had no involvement with these releases,” he tweeted. “An ICE source tells me these were ICE releases.”

Melugin adds that he is waiting on confirmation.

RELATED: Newt Gingrich Says Some Members Of January 6 Committee Could Face Jail Time – Cheney, Kinzinger Fire Back

No Control

The latest staggering border numbers show that a full year into his term, President Biden is making absolutely no headway in addressing the ever-expanding humanitarian crisis.

In an interview earlier this month, Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Col. Heston Silbert described Biden’s border crisis as “untenable” and “not manageable.”

“Border Patrol’s overwhelmed,” he explained.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) described the latest numbers as a “record-breaking (border crisis)” created by “record-breaking incompetence.”

Vice President Kamala Harris is again opting to skip a visit to the southern border and will be traveling instead to Honduras later this month for the inauguration of President-elect Xiomara Castro in an effort to “address the root causes” of illegal immigration.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently argued that the border crisis and the current administration’s “decision to just defy immigration laws” are grounds for impeachment.

“I think there are potentially multiple grounds to consider for impeachment,” Cruz has said. “Probably the most compelling is the utter lawlessness (of) President Biden to enforce the border.”

The post Border Report: Worst December Numbers In History, Nearly 2 Million Illegal Immigrants Since Biden Took Office appeared first on The Political Insider.

Border Report: Worst December Numbers In History, Nearly 2 Million Illegal Immigrants Since Biden Took Office

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released operational statistics showing the worst December numbers at the border in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) history.

According to the report, there were 178,840 illegal immigrants apprehended at the border in December, breaking the previous record under DHS for that month by over 100,000.

All told, nearly 2 million illegal immigrants have been apprehended at the border since Biden took office just over one year ago.

The numbers also show an increase in illegal border crossing from November which saw 173,620 illegal immigrants apprehended.

RELATED: Biden Calls Fox News Reporter ‘Stupid Son of a B*tch’ At Press Conference

Numbers Show Out Of Control Border

News of the record number of border crossings come as Fox News has obtained exclusive footage of a mass release of single adult illegal immigrants into the country.

“Fox News footage shows several federally contracted buses dropping off dozens of mostly male migrants at a parking garage in Brownsville, Texas,” they report.

After being dropped off at the garage, taxi cabs allegedly arrived and transported the illegal immigrants to a nearby airport where they claimed they were being sent “to destinations including Miami, Houston and Atlanta.”

Fox News reporter Bill Melugin states that CBP is not involved in the release shown in the video.

“CBP tells me they had no involvement with these releases,” he tweeted. “An ICE source tells me these were ICE releases.”

Melugin adds that he is waiting on confirmation.

RELATED: Newt Gingrich Says Some Members Of January 6 Committee Could Face Jail Time – Cheney, Kinzinger Fire Back

No Control

The latest staggering border numbers show that a full year into his term, President Biden is making absolutely no headway in addressing the ever-expanding humanitarian crisis.

In an interview earlier this month, Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Col. Heston Silbert described Biden’s border crisis as “untenable” and “not manageable.”

“Border Patrol’s overwhelmed,” he explained.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) described the latest numbers as a “record-breaking (border crisis)” created by “record-breaking incompetence.”

Vice President Kamala Harris is again opting to skip a visit to the southern border and will be traveling instead to Honduras later this month for the inauguration of President-elect Xiomara Castro in an effort to “address the root causes” of illegal immigration.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently argued that the border crisis and the current administration’s “decision to just defy immigration laws” are grounds for impeachment.

“I think there are potentially multiple grounds to consider for impeachment,” Cruz has said. “Probably the most compelling is the utter lawlessness (of) President Biden to enforce the border.”

The post Border Report: Worst December Numbers In History, Nearly 2 Million Illegal Immigrants Since Biden Took Office appeared first on The Political Insider.

WH Official: Trump To Visit Texas To See Border Wall Construction – A ‘Promise Kept’

Posted on by Becky Noble

President Donald Trump will spend part of his last full week in office in Alamo, Texas checking on the progress of the wall on the U.S. southern border. Roughly 450 miles of border wall have been completed thus far.

The border wall was the signature campaign promise issued by Trump and his administration. 

Trump’s Border Wall – “Promises Kept”

The President’s visit to observe the ongoing wall construction comes as Congress considers a vote of impeachment stemming from last week’s violent protests in Washington D.C. 

An unidentified Senior White House official announced the visit, which will happen on Tuesday.

“President Trump is expected to travel to Alamo, Texas, on Tuesday to mark the completion of more than 400 miles of border wall — a promise made, promise kept — and his Administration’s efforts to reform our broken immigration system,” the White House official told Fox News.

Building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was a mainstay topic during the 2016 presidential election as then candidate Trump traveled the country. “Build the wall!” was a common chant among Trump’s supporters at his rallies.

The idea behind building a border wall was to protect the roughly 1000 miles that does not have any natural barriers. Trump had promised to have 450 miles completed by the end of 2020.

Congress recently passed an omnibus spending bill that included $16 billion in funding.

However Acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan said that the $1.375 billion included in that package was enough to complete at least 800 miles of border wall.

In addition to the completed 450 miles, there is another 350 miles ready with funding to go in the ground. The contracts for those parts of the wall have already been awarded.  

Biden May Halt Border Construction

Construction on the wall could halt within the next few weeks, however.

According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, Biden has stated that, while he would not tear down any existing wall, but he would cease construction of any future stretches of wall.

Biden says he favors a, “high-tech virtual wall to ensure border security.” 

In an article in the Washington Post, the Post claims it has reviewed estimates by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and that if Biden were to discontinue construction, it would save the U.S. government $2.6 million. 

However, If Biden were to halt construction, that could leave the the U.S. government, and in turn, taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in settlement fees should those contracts be abandoned. 

CBP Commissioner Morgan also went on to say that, not only would walking away rom the project cost taxpayers in funds, it would also cost “thousands of jobs.”

The post WH Official: Trump To Visit Texas To See Border Wall Construction – A ‘Promise Kept’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

Cages installed outside Iowa caucus sites remind public to not look away from anti-immigrant abuses

Posted on by Gabe Ortiz

Iowans on their way to caucus in Des Moines on Monday may encounter a reminder from a leading immigrant and refugee rights advocacy group: in the midst of the Republican Senate’s sham impeachment trial, threats of war with Iran, and other imperial presidency horrors, abuses at our southern border and in detention facilities across the U.S. continue. 

“We put up a dozen chain-link cages in the city, placing them outside caucus sites, media offices, and other prominent places in the city, like city hall,” RAICES said in a statement received by Daily Kos. “These cages have fake children inside covered with mylar blankets, symbolizing the children jailed in detention along the border and throughout the country. Each cage includes a #DontLookAway sign and plays an actual recording from a child who was kept in detention.”

RAICES, which in 2018 donated millions to assist in the reunification of families separated by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, seeks to keep a focus on anti-immigrant policies that, in just a few examples, have jailed record numbers of people in inhumane Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities (and in direct defiance of congressional limits), contributed to the in-custody deaths of a number of children and other vulnerable populations, and blocked the U.S. and international rights of asylum-seekers.

“We’re doing this as the administration has broken records in immigration detention by keeping up to 55,000 people jailed at once, and has sent back more than 60,000 people to Mexico to await their asylum hearings in conditions that are utterly depraved, as we have been documenting for months,” RAICES continued in the statement. “We’re doing this as the Trump administration has quadrupled workplace raids that target people holding a job and paying taxes in this country.”

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This isn’t the first time RAICES has used installations to call attention to the rights of immigrants and refugees. At the 2019 South by Southwest Convention, the group recreated the notorious “ice boxes” where migrants are initially held by Border Patrol, and then later that year installed cages across New York City. “We’re replicating the action in Des Moines at the height of the most anticipated caucus in modern history,” RAICES said. “We’re doing this because almost no politicians in this country are laser-focused on immigration. While some do far better than others, the horror at our border still goes ignored far too often, absent from the policy debates and statements from elected officials.”

But our nation’s immigration system doesn’t have to be this way. The group points to its Migrant Justice Platform, which pushes for major changes to our current and unjust system, including “a full moratorium on deportations, an end to immigrant detention, citizenship for all 11 million undocumented people in the country, demilitarization of the border, the dismantling of ICE and CBP, and the formation of truth and reconciliation committees examining the human rights abuses committed against immigrants by past administrations,” the group said.

“The horrors at our border and throughout our immigration system are too often ignored by the public and politicians,” chief advocacy officer Erika Andiola said in the statement. “We’re asking people in Iowa and across the country: Don’t look away from the terrors enacted in your name. Don’t look away from the kids in cages, the asylum-seekers turned back at our border, the deportation raids destroying communities across the country. This anti-immigrant crackdown has to end.”