Over 200,000 Migrants were Encountered at the Border in July

The Biden administration can no longer deny the crisis unfolding at the southern border. 

On August 12, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that Border Patrol agents encountered 212,672 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in July. This represented a 13% increase in comparison to the 188,000 migrants that Border Patrol encountered in June.

For comparison, the number of migrant encounters in July 2020 was 40,929, per Fox News.

Mayorkas revealed that 95,788 of the 212,672 migrants were removed by Title 42 protections. Under Title 42, most single adult migrants were removed. However, only 12% of families were removed. Mayorkas described the current predicament at the border as “one of the toughest challenges we face.”

“It is complicated, changing and involves vulnerable people at a time of a global pandemic,” the DHS Secretary declared.

Mayorkas alluded to “root causes” such as corruption, poverty, and violence were propelling migrants to head to the U.S. The resurgence of the American economy has made a trek to America even more tantalizing. In addition, Mayorkas also called attention to how reversing Trump administration border policies and re-establishing asylum laws have played roles in the current migrant surge.

“We have a plan, we are executing our plan and that takes time,” Mayorkas stated.

Mayorkas’ statements should be campaign fodder for Republicans in 2022. There clearly is a crisis taking place at the southern border and voters are demanding some type of solution to this problem. Republicans who have their bases covered and run on explicitly pro-immigration restriction policies will go far in 2022.

The perennial question remains: Will Republicans answer the call of immigration restriction? That has yet to be determined. 

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