EAGLE PASS, Texas — U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, accompanied by a group of 64 other Republican legislators, visited the small Texas border city of Eagle Pass to receive a security briefing on the latest surge that saw more than 70,000 migrants cross the Rio Grande into the Del Rio Border Patrol Sector in December. Although the pace of migrant crossings has slowed in recent days, on Wednesday, Johnson made clear the responsibility for the record-breaking crossings at the border falls directly on the President’s failed policies.
“Last month alone, we saw the most illegal border crossings in recorded history,” Speaker Johnson said after touring the border region, visiting a Border Patrol processing facility nearby, and receiving a security briefing. “It’s an unmitigated disaster, it’s a disaster of the president’s own design.”
Johnson says one Texas Sheriff who formerly worked for the Border Patrol told him it took less than six months for the Biden administration to dismantle what took 100 years for the Border Patrol to achieve.
A migrant family crosses the Rio Grande as a Border Patrol boat carrying Del Rio Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Juan Bernal. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
Johnson laid the blame for the border crisis squarely at the feet of President Joe Biden, saying, “Some of the first actions Joe Biden took when he rolled into the Oval Office were that he rolled back border security measures that were put into place under the Trump administration, remember, it was on his first day in office that President Biden stopped construction of the southern border wall and he ended the remain in Mexico policy.”
House Republican congressional leaders prepare to address the press in Eagle Pass following a border security briefing by Texas Department of Public Safety officials. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
The Speaker told reporters that 312 migrants on the FBI’s Terrorist Watch List have entered the country under the current administration’s watch. Johnson described the current situation as unsustainable without immediate policy changes, including the reinstitution of the Remain in Mexico policy to stem abuse to the asylum system. The speaker also called on President Biden to halt the widescale use of parole authority to admit migrants at ports of entry and to end “catch and release” practices at the border.
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As reported by Breitbart Texas, a source within Customs and Border Protection says efforts were taken to reduce crossings in the area and reduce migrant detention numbers by conducting mass migrant releases in recent days. Despite the reported attempts by the Biden administration to reduce crossings and empty detention facilities in preparation for the Speaker’s visit, a group of migrants managed to successfully cross the Rio Grande as the press event was being conducted, Breitbart reported.
Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas
In December, more than 70,000 migrants made landfall in the Del Rio Sector. Most entries centered around Eagle Pass and the outdoor staging site near the Camino Real International Bridge. The record-breaking influx of migrants prompted U.S. Customs and Border Protection to shut down cross-border rail operations at Eagle Pass, the second busiest rail port of entry in the state of Texas.
Although the rail line has since re-opened, one of two official ports of entry into Mexico from Eagle Pass remains shut.
The Biden administration continues to shatter Border Patrol records dating back to the Clinton administration during Fiscal Year 2000.
Agents in the Tucson Sector, with the apprehension of approximately 80,000 migrants in December, broke a record of 76,245 migrant apprehensions set in March 2000. Del Rio Sector agents also obliterated a record set just over a year ago with the apprehension of approximately 71,000 migrants.
Migrant gather in Eagle Pass, Texas, after being released by Border Patrol. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
The prior record for migrant apprehensions in the Tucson Sector was set in March 2000 when agents encountered 76,245 migrants, according to U.S. Border Patrol Encounter Reports. The December report of approximately 80,000 migrants beats that record by nearly five percent.
The Del Rio Sector’s prior record was set in August 2022 when agents apprehended 52,735 migrants. The December apprehension of more than 71,000 migrants exceeds that record by nearly 35 percent.
Agents in the nine southeast border sectors apprehended a total of nearly 250,000 migrants in December, the unofficial Border Patrol reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas revealed. This exceeds the Border Patrol’s previous southwest border apprehension record of 239,289 migrants set in September 2023 by approximately 4.5 percent, reports indicate. More than 125,000 of these entered through the five Texas-based border sectors.
During the first three months of Fiscal Year 2024, which began on October 1, Border Patrol agents in the nine southwest sectors apprehended 673,000 migrants who illegally crossed the border between ports of entry.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Apprehension numbers for December come from unofficial Border Patrol reports reviewed by Breitbart Texas. The numbers are subject to change in official reports when they are released. The December Southwest Land Border Encounters report is due to be released by mid-January.
