The Biden administration does not have a policy to deal with an impending flood of migrants at the southern U.S. border if the pandemic-era Title 42 policy ends, Lt. Christopher Olivarez of the Texas Department of Public Safety told Newsmax on Monday.
Olivarez told "American Agenda" he's worried that up to 15,000 people a day might try to cross through Mexico, straining Border Patrol resources and leaving the border vulnerable to drug- and human-smuggling cartels.
"You're going to pull federal resources even more now, [taking] Border Patrol agents from the line to process [migrants]," Olivarez said. "That's going to leave checkpoints unmanned. That's going to provide more opportunities. More vulnerabilities along the border, where the Mexican cartels can continue to smuggle more drugs, more criminals.
"Human smuggling is going to increase, and it's all because of the fact that there's no policies in place. And this is going to pull more resources, more viable resources from the border to conduct administrative duties."
Title 42, a Trump administration policy that allowed for the rapid deportation of many illegal immigrants from the border, even asylum-seekers, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, was set to end Dec. 20. But the U.S. Supreme Court granted a temporary extension last week after 19 Republican-led states filed a petition to preserve it. The high court's definitive ruling could come any time.
Meanwhile, record numbers of migrants have been crossing the border. In November, there were 233,740 encounters at the border, according to Customs and Border Patrol statistics, a record for the month.
"Historically, the months of November, December, during the holiday months have always been low in terms of encounters," Olivarez said. "With this current crisis, that has been quite the opposite. We're seeing record number after record number, not just encounters but also got-aways, drugs that are coming across our border, as well."
Olivarez said even with Title 42 in place, the percentage of people who are sent back to Mexico is small now compared with those who are released into the U.S.
"Over the Christmas holiday, there were over 16,400 encounters throughout the various sectors along the border," Olivarez said. "Of those, 2,100 were expelled under Title 42. Another 14,300 were released into the country. So, it really goes to show you that even without a Title 42 in place, the federal government is still mass-releasing people into the interior of our country."
Olivarez said migrant enforcement at the southern border under President Joe Biden pales in comparison to the Trump administration.
"The numbers speak for themselves," Olivarez said. "Prior to 2021, we had the record low as far as encounters in the highest enforcement action taken [by] the federal government. And then once 2021 came into play with the new leadership, we saw a complete opposite, where every effective policy tour strategy was completely reversed and canceled."
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