A former acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection under President Donald Trump slammed President Joe Biden’s border policy in a Daily Wire interview amid expectations of a record-breaking migrant surge, and suggested that the Biden administration seems to be more focused on securing the Ukrainian border than America’s.
“If your policies are encouraging, incentivizing, illegal immigration, you’re making our border less secure,” Mark Morgan told The Daily Wire in an interview Monday afternoon. “You’ve got people that think they’re trying to secure the border. But the problem is they’re actually being led by ideology rather than reality. I’ve served in this country for 35 years, six administrations, both Republican and Democrat. I’ve never seen an administration filled with so many ideologues.”
Morgan’s comments come on the heels of Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz telling CNN last week that he is preparing for an unprecedented surge of migrants. Ortiz said as many as 8,000 people could be apprehended daily, which, according to CNN, is “more than double the daily number of the 2019 surge under the Trump administration.”
“We’re managing a flow that’s significant,” Ortiz said. “As I get to, you know, 7,000 to 7,500 a day average, that’s going to put additional strain.”
The latest border controversy fueling debate surrounds Title 42, a policy first implemented by Trump in March 2020. The pandemic-era policy, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), allows for the swift deportation of some migrants encountered at the border. It is responsible for the expulsion of about 1.7 million migrants.
Internal Department of Homeland Security documents obtained by The Washington Free Beacon show that the agency has been preparing meetings on Title 42’s termination, only a day after a few Democrats urged Biden not to end the policy. Morgan says “everything” he has been “hearing” indicates the White House will terminate it before the CDC rolls it back.
“The cartels and smugglers are paying attention to the policies,” he said. “They’ve started to exploit that. I’m hearing the March numbers are going to be in excess of 200,000. That’s the highest monthly numbers in our lifetime.”
There has been a continued uptick in drug trafficking from Mexico, border officials said recently.
The El Paso, Texas, sector seized more than four times the amount of methamphetamine in 2021 compared to 2018. Last month, CBP announced it has seen a “substantial increase” in fentanyl seizures since just January — with 839 pounds seized that month compared to 682 in 2021 and 139 in 2020.
“Mexican criminal drug networks are harnessing the perfect drug trafficking tool: social media applications that are available on every smartphone,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said after the release of a report showing a “direct link between fentanyl-related overdose deaths and criminal drug networks in Mexico.”
CBP did not return The Daily Wire’s request for comment Monday morning.
The Biden administration announced a new federal regulation last Thursday that would lessen the amount of time migrants have to spend making an asylum claim. Attorney General Merrick Garland says it “will help reduce the burden on our immigration courts.” Morgan calls the process a “rubber stamp” that will provide many illegal aliens with a swift path to citizenship.
Biden has sought to supplement existing border resources with technology to detect illicit activity and disrupt the flow of drugs. The agenda was laid out in the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which was proposed by the president on his first day in office and introduced by Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA).
But Morgan said there is “not enough technology” stop the surge right now. He called it a “f***ing joke,” remarking, “Until you stem the flow of illegal immigration, you’re never going to be able to secure this border.”
Law enforcement officials are on pace to record over 200,000 detentions of migrants along the southwest border this month, according to preliminary data obtained by The Washington Post. This would signal the highest levels since August. Last year, the U.S. had the most migrant arrests on record — nearly 1.6 million — while migrant encounters were over 2 million.
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