Questions about how to qualify statistics from the U.S.-Mexico border are being raised after U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas refused to call the situation at the border a “crisis” on "60 Minutes."
“I think that we face a very serious challenge in certain parts of the border,” Mayorkas said, when asked why he would not characterize the situation as a crisis. “You know what? Because I have tremendous faith in the people of the Department of Homeland Security. And a crisis speaks to me of a withdrawal from our mission. And, we are only putting more force and more energy into it.”
According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a variety of factors aimed at evaluating immigration enforcement are incomplete and not completely accurate.
The Center for Immigration Studies explains that part of the issue is that the statistics can be politicized from any angle. As an example, if encounters at the border are up, that could be used to say that border agents are keeping immigrants out or that more migrants are coming over illegally. Alternatively, if encounters at the border are down, that could be used to say that illegal immigration is down or that border agents aren’t doing their job.
Mayorkas’ refusal to call the border a crisis has raised eyebrows when there were 1.7 million encounters at the border in 2021 and a record 2.3 million in 2022, Fox News reported. Republicans have linked the greater number of people coming to the border with Mayorkas’ inadequate response and the current administration’s border enforcement policies.
In the first five months of FY23, Border Patrol agents and CBP officers seized over 208,000 pounds of narcotics, including 59,156 pounds of meth, 55,843 pounds of marijuana, 21,291 pounds of cocaine, 11,039 pounds of fentanyl and 751 pounds of heroin, according to Troy Miller, acting commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
CBS News reported that over 850 migrants died along the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022, a record high. The number of migrant deaths has risen for two straight years. This does not account for the number of deaths of migrants attempting to reach the U.S. border, as the U.S. only counts those who died on U.S. territory.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates that over 600,000 illegal immigrants evaded agents and entered the U.S. in 2022, the highest number in over a decade.
Mayorkas was sworn in as secretary by President Joe Biden on Feb. 2, 2021.
