Under former President Trump and currently the Biden administrations, immigration has become one of the most controversial issues in American politics.
For border states like Texas, increased unlawful migration has increased questions of public security.
As a result, the state government has been compelled to launch its immigration enforcement program — Operation Lone Star — to stem the flow of unlawful migration.
Recent numbers from the United States and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have not allayed fears.
For example, the CBP reported 1.66 million land border apprehensions in the American southwest from October 2020 to September 2021. In this figure are roughly 1.15 million apprehensions in Texas border patrol sectors such as Big Bend, Del Rio, El Paso, Laredo, and Rio Grande Valley sectors.
When it comes to the nationalities of people apprehended at the border, an average of 26,010 Mexican nationals were arrested in Texas border sectors every month during the current Fiscal Year. On top of that, an average of 24,529 Honduran citizens was apprehended monthly in Texas sectors.
Each month, an average of 95,984 apprehensions occurred in Texas border patrol sectors. The Rio Grande Valley experienced the highest monthly average of 45,756. Del Rio sector came in second place, with it witnessing 21,608 apprehensions each month.
Hayden Sparks of The Texan interviewed a former CBP officer Rodolfo “Rudy” Karisch, the chief of border patrol in the Del Rio, Rio Grande Valley, and Tucson sectors.
In the interview, Karisch broke down how prevalent drug trafficking and the unlawful movement of people were at the border during his public service career.
“Back when I was around, the estimate was […] for every person that we apprehended, two were getting away,” Karisch remarked. “Now you also have to factor in how many people have actually been pulled away from traditional law enforcement duties to do the humanitarian piece, which includes the care, the feeding, the hospital, lunch.”
He continued, “Nobody also seems to be talking much about narcotics, because that’s another problem that you have. It’s not only the people, it’s the drugs.”
Karisch described illegal drug trafficking as a “multi-billion dollar business,” which provides drug cartels plenty of resources to finance their border penetration efforts.
“So, they can afford to buy the best technology, they can afford the engineers to be able to tunnel under the borders. They can find ways of getting over fences that we’ve got in place, they can defeat technology,” Karisch said to The Texan.
“This is not simply about illegal immigration. This is for people who are coming to the United States with other intents, and we are so focused on families with children that we’re not necessarily focusing on people from the high-risk countries that are coming here,” Karisch commented.
The former Border Patrol chief laid out how uncontrolled immigration has a multinational component to it.
“When I was in [the Rio Grande Valley sector], I think we were up to 62 different countries, and I’m talking about places like Syria, Yemen, China, Pakistan, so I’m sure the numbers at this point in time on what’s happening on the border have increased, and you’re probably seeing a wider range of demographics of people coming from all over the world,” Karisch observed.
Karisch also alluded to the federal government’s immigration policies and how they could potentially impact the number of border crossings.
“So, there’s going to be a lot of different factors, which I will talk about, but as long as the administration sends mixed messages on enforcement and does little to enforce the laws of the land including deporting people who do not belong here, you’re going to have a continuous flow of people and caravans that will continue to come to the U.S. borders,” Karisch noted.
Victor Avila, a Supervisory Special Agent in the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was also in touch with The Texan.
Avila is the survivor of a violent ambush by the Los Zetas drug cartel in 2011.
Over the past year, Avila has been warning Texans about the heightened risks of unlawful migration by drug traffickers and other people from across the globe who are not always screened adequately.
“In my estimate, and when I talked to the agents firsthand, they think it’s at least at minimum, for every apprehension they have, there’s at least one other individual that has gotten away or that got away. So you’re looking at over three to four million individuals that have entered,” Avila commented.
Avila continued, “In my personal experience and my professional experience, it’s at one, possibly two. So if you just double the 1.7 million, there you go.”
“No one is actually voluntarily walking up to border patrol and turning themselves in like we see in Mission, Texas, and Del Rio, which you would think they could do because that’s the policy right now — turn yourself in and get processed under the catch and release policy of this administration,” Avila told The Texan.
Through his experience dealing with cartel activity, Avila believes that these criminal entities exert significant power in Mexico.
Avila said, “The cartels control Mexico, not just the border of Mexico. Of course, the border of Mexico, they have a clear control of that area, but keep in mind that they have control of most of the country in Mexico and the Mexican president has done nothing about it.”
Republicans will be looking to capitalize on the immigration issue heading into the 2022 midterms. Dallas Express has reported on Republicans’ strong chances of dominating the 2022 midterm elections. Part of their campaign to retake Congress and flip state-level positions will likely feature tough stances against unlawful migration.