Trump Blames Biden for the Border Mess, Says It Will 'Destroy Our Country'
Former President Donald Trump has slammed President Joe Biden for the current situation at the southern border. The U.S. Border Patrol has arrested more than 100,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border last month, the tenth consecutive month of increased apprehensions.
It had declined in April 2020 when the pandemic forced the closure of the border. However, migrant crossings are increasing once again, causing a border crisis during Biden's first month in office.
According to a Fox News report, Donald Trump said that he and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had a "great relationship" with the same interest in controlling illegal immigration.
"We had a very good relationship. They had 28,000 soldiers on our border while we were building the wall... and they were also stopping them at their northern border by Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala," Trump told "Fox News Primetime."
Donald Trump added that illegal immigrants are coming in from everywhere and pouring into the country and "they are going to destroy our country if we don't do something about it."
He also mentioned the Border Patrol leadership, saying it was a disastrous one. He also cited Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials willing to remove these "convicted criminals" but that Biden will not let them.
Migrants Influx
Last month, the apprehension of migrants crossing the border was higher than the typical monthly number in recent years, except for the dramatic rise in 2019 during the Trump administration.
In response, the Trump administration implemented a series of new restrictions to block migrants from traveling to the U.S. to seek asylum.
One of these policies is the "Remain in Mexico" program, which Biden suspended as part of his efforts to reverse some of Trump's immigration policies.
According to a Pew Research report, Mexican migrants comprise the greater share of apprehensions in the recent past, while Central Americans account for a smaller portion.
Forty-two percent of those detained at the southwestern border of Mexican origin increased from 13 percent in May 2019.
On the other hand, migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras account for 46 percent of apprehensions in February. This was a decline from 78 percent in May 2019.
Seventy-one percent of the apprehended are single adults, while people traveling families and unaccompanied minors are 20 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
Unaccompanied migrant children can only be detained no longer than the three-day limit due to lack of space at holding facilities. After the limit, children should be transferred to relatives or sponsors.
Meanwhile, Mexican authorities reported on Tuesday that 20 migrants were held at a highway checkpoint for using fake paperwork with letterhead from the United Nations refugee agency, UNCHR.
The migrants showed letters allegedly from the UNCHR stating that they were refugees and had requested refugee status, ABC News Go reported.
Mexico's National Immigration Institute said the documents were confirmed to be falsified by UN officials. Mexico's immigration department said the detained migrants were from Honduras and El Salvador.
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