The Border Patrol’s union blasted the Biden administration’s press release announcing a “targeted enforcement operation,” calling it a “sad joke” and saying it will aid dangerous illegal immigrants.
“Nothing like publicly announcing that dangerous people will be arrested, while warning them ahead of time exactly where to run and hide to avoid arrest,” the union tweeted on Tuesday. “This entire operation is a sad joke—another pandering PR stunt. Serious law enforcement leaders don’t behave this way.”
The union was responding to a Department of Homeland Security press release that said immigration agents will “conduct a targeted enforcement operation in El Paso, Texas,” where they will “process individuals for vetting and placement into Title 42 expulsion or Title 8 removal proceedings.” That decision comes during an enormous migrant surge on the border between El Paso and Juárez, Mexico. In just 72 hours, the El Paso port of entry has seen “over 26,000 apprehensions and over 7,000 ‘gotaways,'” Fox News reported.
El Paso’s surge is part of the larger border crisis that has only worsened since President Joe Biden announced the end of Title 42, the Trump-era rule that expedites illegal immigrant expulsions. Already-high illegal immigration has skyrocketed in the last few months, with the Border Patrol reporting 162,317 migrant encounters in March alone and with “long lines of migrants” amassing in recent days at the border city of Tijuana. Even though Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has admitted that ending Title 42 will “strain our workforce, our communities, and our entire system,” the administration still plans to end the policy on Thursday at midnight.
The Border Patrol union was not alone in criticizing the DHS press release. Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin said the release is “puzzling,” as it “essentially gives these evaders/gotaways a heads-up that [DHS agents] are coming.”
Melugin is “already hearing from frustrated Border Patrol agents saying the operation will now be worthless,” he tweeted Monday.
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