Tackling the border emergency at the source

The situation at our southern border has gone from a crisis to near system-wide meltdown. As the president has declared – this is a national emergency.

Late last year, we were apprehending 50,000 – 60,000 migrants a month at the southern border. Last month, we apprehended more than 75,000, the highest in over a decade. And now we are nearing 100,000 migrants per month.

Compared to past flows, these migrants are arriving in enormous groups unlike any we’ve seen before. In most years, only one or two “large groups” of more than 100 migrants would arrive at our borders. Already in this fiscal year, we’ve seen more than 100 such large groups. This is entirely unprecedented.

The system is breaking. It was not designed to handle the volume of vulnerable populations – especially families and children – who are arriving. The result is a humanitarian and security catastrophe.

We are unable to efficiently process the mass arrival of migrants.  And because of outdated laws, misguided court decisions, and a massive backlog of cases, the majority of those who do not have a legal right to stay in the United States will never be removed.