Jake Dima on July 31, 2019
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents apprehended over 300,000 illegal immigrants attempting to cross the U.S. border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in Texas so far this year, setting a record for the agency, according to Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy.
Roy calling for an end to the border crises Tuesday after talks with CBP officials.
I am told the RGV Sector of our southern border just cracked 301,000 apprehensions – dwarfing any full year previous totals. Meanwhile @HouseDemocratshave left town and ignored our calls to stay in town to #DoWhatWeSaid & #EndBorderCrisisNow.
I am told the RGV Sector of our southern border just cracked 301,000 apprehensions – dwarfing any full year previous totals. Meanwhile @HouseDemocrats have left town and ignored our calls to stay in town to #DoWhatWeSaid & #EndBorderCrisisNow.
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) July 30, 2019
The Rio Grande Valley has been the most popular location for migrant apprehensions for five consecutive years going back to 2013.
CBP agents captured a total of about 397,000 illegal aliens in fiscal year 2018 in nine sectors — 162,000 of which were nabbed in the Rio Grande Valley. Fiscal year 2019 isn’t over yet, and agents have reportedly already captured over 300,000 in the valley alone — almost double 2018s totals.
No year since 1960 has seen 300,000 apprehensions in the RGV, according to CBP data.
These numbers alarm Roy, and he blames Democrats for obstructing solutions to the crises.
“Democrats don’t care. They’d rather go home for a month to campaign and vacation than provide Border Patrol and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] the tools and resources they need to deal with the hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing our southern border,” Roy told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Because they have refused to act, we now have an unprecedented 301,000 apprehensions in the RGV sector, up 100,000 from earlier predictions this year — insanity. [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi should bring the House back from recess to solve this.”
Roy’s office has another concern: underfunding and understaffing of CBP enforcement facilities.
“One guy for one mile” is how Robert Donachie, Roy’s communication director, described the situation.
“The agents were telling us that oftentimes they’re patrolling areas without radio communication or even cellphone communication,” Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquín Castro told POLITICO in February. “It was clear that the agency is not staffed with the medical supplies and training and personnel they need to take care of somebody if they encounter an emergency. … So yeah, it is a tough job in that way.”
A Rio Grande CBP regional spokesman told the DCNF that official statistics will be available to the public in a few days regarding these numbers.
