Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) posted alarming video of a cramped migrant camp along the southern border and apparent cartel members and human traffickers taunting Border Patrol agents from the Rio Grande.
Cruz, who made a trip to the border on Friday with 18 other senators, ripped President Joe Biden for his immigration policies and implored the president to reverse course.
“These are the Biden cages,” the Texas senator captioned video of a cramped migrant camp.
“Thousands of kids, in the midst of a pandemic, crammed in at 1500% capacity. This is just one of the ‘pods’ at Donna,” he said. “There are SEVEN more, equally full.”
These are the Biden cages. (Faces blurred.) Thousands of kids, in the midst of a pandemic, crammed in at 1500% capacity.
This is just one of the “pods” at Donna. There are SEVEN more, equally full. pic.twitter.com/zyMm5yiIPZ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 27, 2021
“We encountered human traffickers & cartel members tonight, yelling at us across the Rio Grande and preparing to cross,” Cruz captioned another video.
We encountered human traffickers & cartel members tonight, yelling at us across the Rio Grande and preparing to cross. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/yXl3AyUIPd
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 26, 2021
“We have been listening to and seeing cartel members, human traffickers right on the other side of the river, waving flashlights yelling and taunting Americans, taunting the Border Patrol because they know under the current policies of the Biden administration they can flood over here,” the senator detailed in a Twitter video, MRC reported.
Cruz added, “They’re getting paid $4-5000 a person to smuggle them into this country and our policies, when they smuggle them in, the Biden administration releases them.”
Live footage from the banks of the Rio Grande.#BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/aO4EyANrRQ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 26, 2021
Moderate Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine made the trip to the border, too. Despite the Biden administration downplaying the chaos at the border, Collins emphasized that it is indeed a “crisis.”
“1 AM – I spent the last 3 hours with Border Patrol on night shift in McAllen, TX. 18 Senators learning about the huge influx, 3,000 people per day, including unaccompanied children, illegally entering,” Collins posted to Twitter.
“Mexican cartels control who crosses the border,” she detailed. “A young mother from Guatemala, sitting on an aluminum blanket with her 1-year-old, told me she paid smugglers $6,000.”
“Border Patrol is overwhelmed, overworked, & discouraged by new policies,” she blasted the Biden administration. “Agents took us through a dangerous path to the Rio Grande where we could hear the Cartel members taunting us across the river. Human trafficking, child abuse, & drug smuggling are rampant.”
“This is a crisis.”
1 AM – I spent the last 3 hours with Border Patrol on night shift in McAllen, TX. 18 Senators learning about the huge influx, 3,000 people per day, including unaccompanied children, illegally entering.
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) March 26, 2021
Border Patrol is overwhelmed, overworked, & discouraged by new policies. Agents took us through a dangerous path to the Rio Grande where we could hear the Cartel members taunting us across the river. Human trafficking, child abuse, & drug smuggling are rampant. This is a crisis.
— Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) March 26, 2021
A crisis at the southern border has exploded under Biden. As highlighted by The Daily Wire, the president quickly moved to do away with Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which held foreigners who tried to enter the U.S. illegally in camps in Mexico while they await hearings. Biden, instead, returned to the so-called “catch-and-release” policy in which illegal migrants are allowed to enter the U.S.
“Suddenly, the flow of foreigners to the border exploded,” The Daily Wire outlined. “Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents apprehended nearly 100,000 people at the border in February. Last April, just more than 16,000 were captured at the border, according to Pew data.”
The crisis, however, was largely ignored by the mainstream press until last weekend when images from crowded migrant camps leaked. The Biden administration has reportedly put what’s effectively a “gag order” on Border Patrol agents with the media, according to sources. The administration has denied the “gag order” reports.