During an interview with CBS News, US Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens warned that the current situation at the US-Mexico border is a “national security threat.”
Owens expressed alarm amid the ongoing surge of illegal migrants who were able to enter the border without getting apprehended these past five months.
According to the Border Patrol chief, apprehensions of migrants who trespass the southern border in 2024 are “closing in” to about one million.
Owens also noted that the Border Patrol expects to record two million apprehensions by the end of the fiscal year in September.
“That number is a large number, but what’s keeping me up at night is the 140,000 known got-aways,” Owens told CBS.
“Why are they risking their lives and crossing into areas where we can’t get to?” Owens asked.
“Why are they hiding? What do they have to hide? What are they bringing in? What is their intent? Where are they coming from? We simply don’t know the answers to those questions. Those things for us are what represent the threat to our communities.”
The Border Patrol chief remarked that this equates to a “national security threat.”
“Border security is a big piece of national security.”
“And if we don’t know who is coming into our country and we don’t know what their intent is, that is a threat, and they’re exploiting a vulnerability that’s on our border right now.”
He also noted that smugglers “dictate” the number of surges of migrants into the border; they are “setting the rules of engagement.”
Owens relayed how border agents were merely reactors for the ongoing influx of illegals.
“We try to get out in front of it and deny them the ability to use these areas,” he said further.
“But at the end of the day, there’s over 1,900 miles of border with Mexico.”
Owens remarked that the migrants are “exploiting a vulnerability that’s on our border right now.”
However, the border patrol chief quipped that not everyone was a bad apple; most of them were trying to escape miserable economic conditions.
“That doesn’t make them bad people; it’s just that they’re not being respectful of the laws that we’ve established as a country,” he said.
Still, dangerous people are embedded in these numbers, and these people pose risks to the safety of the nation.
Owens argued, “There are still people that we’re finding in those groups though that have criminal backgrounds, that have been convicted sexual predators, that have been convicted gang members—aa very small amount in that population, but they’re still there.”
Border security has been a growing concern among Americans recently, as President Joe Biden continues to support open border policy despite growing concerns.
“I’m talking about jail time. I’m talking about being removed from the country, and I’m talking about being banned from being able to come back because you chose to come in the illegal way instead of the established lawful pathways that we set for you,” he said.
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Author: The Raging Patriot
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