Lankford Slams Chaos at the US-Mexico Border as CBP Encounters Highest Number of Illegal Crossers Ever

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) responded after the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told the public that it has encountered the highest number of illegal border crossers in recorded history. CBP stated that it encountered 1.7 million people in FY 2021 from 149 countries, the majority of which crossed the border after Biden’s inauguration. This year alone, CBP set 20-year records for encountering the highest number of illegal border crossers per month in March, April, May, June, and July. As the top Republican on the subcommittee on Government Operations and Border Management, Lankford is demanding that Biden take responsibility for this national security and humanitarian crisis and is holding the Administration to account for the crisis they created.

“Our nation has had more than 1.7 million illegal border crossers this fiscal year, the highest number in American history. Biden and his team clearly have no plan and no intention of stopping the chaos at the border and seem to spend most of their time trying to find a way to avoid saying the word ‘crisis,’” said Lankford. “Migrants from over 145 countries have crossed the southern border this year alone. This is not a random or seasonal surge. The drug cartels and the rest of the world knows that our border is wide open and that our laws are not being enforced. We need to finish building the wall, install technology to deter people from walking across the border, enforce our nation’s laws, and restore the international agreements for asylum. The answers are not difficult for anyone willing to enforce American law. Last night, Biden said he guessed ‘it’s time to visit the border.’ Today’s numbers prove that this prolonged crisis of the Biden Administration’s own making needs their full, undivided attention. Yes, it’s time for him to visit the border.” 

Since March, Lankford has worked to ensure Oklahomans and Americans are aware of Biden’s lack of enforcement at the border, including visiting the border to see first-hand the number of illegal migrants crossing, visiting both the Arizona and Texas borders to slam what was happening. In July, Lankford released a report that exposed billions in waste to pay contractors to babysit the border wall materials while the Biden Administration “studies” it, even though Congress already allocated the money to build the wall. Lankford grilled Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Mayorkas on his ongoing delay to finish the wall.

Lankford successfully blocked President Biden’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office from opening a “surge overflow temporary facility” at the Great Plains Correctional Institution in Hinton, Oklahoma, that would have been used to process migrants who crossed the border illegally and release them into western Oklahoma.

Earlier this week, Lankford grilled Biden’s CBP nominee on what he plans to address the crisis. Biden’s CBP nominee stated that he had no plan to solve the crisis.

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