On Saturday, Governor DeSantis was able to obtain confirmation that Border Patrol would halt the previously covert plans to relocate approximately 1,000 illegal immigrants seeking asylum, per month, to South Florida. This after President Trump was made of aware of what was happening within the bureaucratic side of the Border Patrol.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, had this to say on Saturday, "It appears that Border Patrol has backed off its initial plans to transport a thousand illegal immigrants to South Florida. Because of everybody’s efforts, we are able to stop what appeared to be a crisis for our community.”
He’s right. But make no mistake there’s still very much a crisis at the border and within Border Patrol. Just because we were able to get this stopped in South Florida this time doesn’t mean it isn’t happening across the country as we speak. After breaking this story on Thursday, I got to work attempting to raise awareness and to get to the bottom of who pulled the trigger on this decision, prior to it being exposed. I can confirm that President Trump, Governor DeSantis, and Senators Rubio and Scott were not aware.
While we were able to stop the previously covert plan to move 1,000 undocumented immigrants crossing the southern border in South Florida, the fact remains, there’s a crisis at the border and this practice of relocation of illegal immigrants is likely still taking place elsewhere. Here are the latest facts about the border crisis using DHS stats:
- 248,197 migrants arriving in “family units” apprehended through April.
- 500% increase of illegal immigrants apprehended as “family units” year-over-year.
- 40,000 that had been “released” inside the US through April.
Keep in mind these are just detained illegal immigrants. There’s no telling how big the actual number may be. This is why it’s critical to have an “all of the above” approach to address this crisis. The reason illegals destined for South Florida were set to come here is because they told Border Patrol agents who apprehended them it was their intended destination. Once they touch US soil, we must process them. With the system bogged down and detention facilities full all along the border, this was the chosen alternative. A version of the catch and release you've heard so much about.
Photo by: John Moore/Getty Images