U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens says the migrant crisis poses a serious “national security threat” as terrorists slip through the border and smugglers may “direct” flows into the United States. He said that it has become.
“They decide what the flow is going to be and we respond to it,” Owens said in an interview This was aired on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday when a question was asked if smugglers “have rules of engagement.”
“We’re going to get in front of that and deny them use of these areas,” he continued. “But at the end of the day, our border with Mexico is over 1,900 miles long.”
Under the Biden administration, the United States is enduring record levels of migrants flooding across its southern border, including thousands who have applied for asylum and are released into the country.
According to the latest count through fiscal year 2024, the Border Patrol reported 1,151,448 encounters at the southern border. Last year, the number was 2,475,669. According to the agency.
Owens worried that terrorists or other dangerous people might slip through the cracks.
“That number is a big number, but what keeps me up at night is the 140,000 known fugitives. That’s not part of it,” he said, referring to the official figure. “And that’s what we know.
“It’s a national security threat. Border security is an important part of national security, and when we don’t know who’s coming into our country and their intentions, that’s a threat,” he continued. “They are now exploiting vulnerabilities at the border.”
The border chief noted that most of the encounters are people who have turned themselves in and are trying to escape dire economic conditions.
“[That] It’s not that they’re bad people, it’s just that they don’t respect the laws that we have as a country,” he said.
There are still dangers people buried in the population That poses a risk to the United States, Owens argued.
“What we find within these groups are people with criminal records, people who are convicted sex offenders, people who are convicted gang members. There are very few of them, but they still exist,” he said. He explained.
Owens said this year alone the U.S. has encountered migrants from “more than 160 countries” ranging from Central and South America to Africa, and attributed this to a variety of smuggling organizations.
Border security has risen to the top of voters’ attention ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, a series of polls show.
President Joe Biden is trying to flip the Republican Party’s script by accusing them of abandoning a bipartisan agreement to tackle border issues proposed in the Senate last month.
Mr Owens argued that tougher penalties for offenders could help slow the progress of the crisis.
“I’m talking about prison sentences. I’m talking about deportation because you chose to enter the country illegally rather than through the legal channels we have established. We’re talking about being banned from returning to the country,” he said.
