Congressman Mike Rogers (AL-3), as ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, on Thursday called on Congress to stay in Washington, D.C. through the weekend in response to reports that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) stations are operating dangerously above capacity amid record-breaking migration levels.
This came after CBP on Wednesday announced that the agency had experienced the highest total of apprehensions and encounters in over a decade on Monday, which was then trumped by an even higher total Tuesday.
#CBP saw the highest total of apprehensions and encounters in over a decade on Monday, with 4,000 migrants either apprehended or encountered at ports of entry in a single day. Yesterday, that record was broken again—4,117 in a single day. pic.twitter.com/muQmDfat3L
— CBP (@CBP) March 27, 2019
CBP tweeted, “On Monday and Tuesday, [CBP] started the day with over 12,000 migrants in our custody. As of [Wednesday] morning, that number was 13,400. A high number for us is 4,000. A crisis level is 6,000. 13,000 is unprecedented.”
A CBP press release Thursday added, “Border Patrol processing facilities on the Southwest border have far exceeded capacity and the Border Patrol does not have the personnel to process, care for, and transport individuals in custody.”
The agency is having to temporarily reassign 750 officers from ports of entry “to Border Patrol Sectors that are confronting the unprecedented humanitarian and border security crisis on the Southwest border.”
However, because of this, ports of entry will reportedly be negatively affected in a major way and “impact CBP’s ability to process trade and travel.”
Rogers called on Congress to do its vital part in heeding CBP’s call to action.
“The crisis we are facing at the border is untenable – our law enforcement doesn’t have resources to address the crushing flow of migrants arriving at our southwest border,” Rogers said in a statement. “Democrats in Congress continue to deny that there’s a crisis and blame law enforcement for conditions that are a result of Congressional inaction.”
“Without Congressional action, the situation on the ground poses a serious threat to human life and national security. I call on my colleagues to work over the weekend to address the true emergency at our border. We need to act now, before it is too late,” he concluded.
RELATED: Doug Jones on border security: ‘I don’t think it rises to the level of a national emergency’
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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