Sen Hagerty Raises Alarm From The Frontline: 'The Border Is Going To Collapse!'
So Biden lifted Title 42 and that was the last tool Border Patrol had to slow the flood of illegals and drugs crossing the Southern US border. Sen Bill Hagerty from Tennessee visited the border to get an idea of what's next..
"It is a crisis beyond measure," Hagerty told Fox News Digital from Texas, where he had visited the border along with a group of Tennessee mayors and sheriffs.
"The border agents are so overwhelmed right now that they are spending more time processing than they are doing their job defending the border," he said. "That’s the goal of the cartels, to get the Border Patrol distracted and overwhelmed so they can move the high-value cargo -- the fentanyl, the methamphetamine, the ‘high value’ people, meaning those who are on the terror watch list, and things of that nature who would otherwise suffer terrible consequences if they're caught."
Hagerty is visiting the border just as the Biden administration on Friday announced that it is ending the use of the Title 42 public health order to quickly expel migrants at the southern border in May. The order was implemented by the Trump administration in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020 and has since been used by both the Trump and Biden administrations to expel a majority of migrants at the border.
While it is a public health order, not an immigration policy, it has become one of the central border policies in place as the U.S. faces a continuing crisis of numbers at the border. In February, approximately 55% of the more than 164,000 migrants encountered were returned due to the order, rather than being released into the U.S.
Democrats and Republicans, as well as law enforcement officials at the border, have been sounding the alarm about a potential surge on top of the already high numbers being encountered at the border. The Biden administration has said it has a plan in place to deal with what it has said will likely be an "influx" of migrants.
Sources told Fox News that there were approximately 8,000 migrant encounters on Friday, higher than the 7,000 a day agents were recently averaging. DHS estimates for the coming months have ranged to up to 18,000 a day.
Hagerty was present at a muster of Border Patrol agents when their superiors told them the news of Title 42’s lifting and described a sullen atmosphere among the agents.
"You could have felt the weight of the cloud of depression falling over the room. There was just silence, dejection," he said. "The last tool they had at their disposal to turn these people back is going to be taken away. It's as if the Biden administration sent out an invitation to come crash the border on May 23."
"Now they have to look forward to a massive tidal wave of people coming across that border they won't be able to handle," he said.
States across the country are suing the Biden administration over the decision to rescind the Title 42 public health order, which allows swift removal of migrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A case was originally brought by Louisiana, Arizona and Missouri, but a new amended complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Louisiana adds 18 more states as plaintiffs.
"The Biden Administration’s border policies are a disaster for our country and the safety of our citizens." said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, whose state is one of the new additions to the case. Moody called President Biden’s decision to lift Title 42 a "reckless" one.