More Than 10K Migrants Nabbed Last Week at Texas Crossing Members of a caravan of Central Americans walk from Mexico to the U.S. side of the border to ask authorities for asylum in Tijuana, Baja California Norte, Mexico. (David McNew/Getty Images)
By Michael Katz | Wednesday, 23 November 2022 06:05 PM EST
Since the midterm elections, Republicans have been focusing on the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Tuesday calling for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The concern was made clearer in a tweet posted Tuesday by Jason D. Owens, chief patrol agent for the border sector in Del Rio, Texas, which showed more than 10,000 migrants were apprehended last week, including six sex offenders.
In a video shared on the tweet, Mickey Donaldson, the patrol agent in charge at the Eagle Pass North Border Patrol Station in Del Rio, said last week the total apprehended was 10,343, including 21 large groups, the largest of which had 383 people. He added a total of 5,903 "gotaways," migrants who escaped capture.
"Del Rio agents were able to rescue eight individuals, and in coordination with our state and local law enforcement partners, 87 smuggling loads were intercepted, which resulted in 503 apprehensions and seven firearms seized," Donaldson said.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol statistics, there were 230,678 encounters along the U.S.-Mexico border in October, a 1.3% increase over September. And 19% of the individuals had at least one prior encounter with the border patrol in the past 12 months.
The crisis could worsen as the Biden administration seeks to rescind Title 42, a Trump-era public health order during the COVID-19 pandemic that allowed the rapid explusion of asylum seekers to Mexico or the country of their origin.
U.S. Senate-elect Markwayne Mull, R-Oklahoma, told Newsmax rescinding Title 42 will allow dangerous migrants to flood the border. Mullin said last month immigration officials caught nine men traveling alone and determined they were on the terrorist watch list.
But without Title 42, the men would have been released within 24 hours, meaning there would have been a "huge national security issue," Mullin said.
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