U.S. Border Patrol officials reportedly opened more than 100 floodgates in the southern border wall due to the annual monsoon season in Arizona, but the move allowed more illegal immigrants to flow freely into the U.S.
The federal law enforcement agency took responsibility for the open border wall doors in a statement to the New York Post after the outlet published exclusive images showing busloads of migrants causally walking through the floodgates. They were reportedly first opened nearly two months ago.
“USBP makes the final decision on opening gates based on operational conditions and forecasted weather,” the agency said.
Border Patrol sources told the outlet that various federal agencies, including the National Park Service, ordered the agency to open 114 floodgates along the Arizona border to allow the monsoon waters to flow easily while endangered antelope species migrate in the region. However, some federal agents said the gates should have remained closed to reduce illegal immigrant crossings.
“We tried to shut the gates, but the order came down that we had to leave them open,” one of the sources reportedly said. “You wouldn’t leave the front door of your house open in a bad neighborhood.”
Border agents shut the floodgates at the border wall but open them during monsoon seasons to maintain the structure’s condition. The department reportedly claimed the high water flow mixed with excess sediment and debris buildup could compromise its integrity.
However, the open pathway allowed approximately 1,400 migrants from China, Egypt, and other parts of the world to enter the U.S. daily over the last nearly two months.
Roughly 42,000 migrants crossed the U.S. last month through the point of entry in Tuscon, Arizona, showing a massive increase of 27,294 migrants crossing in June, according to recent data reported by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
“We haven’t seen this many migrants since about 2008,” Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America, told The Post. “With the end of Title 42, in a way that nobody oversaw, it seems to come back to Tucson.”
After the Biden administration ended Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that allowed for the immediate expulsion of illegal immigrants due to the pandemic, border agents recorded another nearly 145,000 migrant encounters in June — a sharp decrease from about 208,000 in June 2022.
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Large groups of migrants willingly surrender themselves to Border Patrol agents to claim asylum, Isacson said.
“Tucson has also traditionally been where smugglers concentrate Mexicans and Central Americans who don’t want to be detected,” he said. “Now they’re seeing 100 people at a time who are not running away.”
“It’s really becoming an epicenter,” he added. “This is big.”
Brandon Judd, the president a union representing Border Patrol agents, told The Post that authorities should never open the gates, claiming top USBP officials endangered agents’ lives after clearing the path for illegal immigrants to cross.
Judd previously said that open gates at the southern border signal the cartels are “exploiting” the agency.
In this case, however, the union official said the situation “exploded almost immediately, which shows you how adept the criminal cartels are at exploiting any weakness at any time that we show them.”
“Those gates should never open up. What would be the reason for it? Why would you do it?”