U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the Trump administration “knows more about what’s crossing our borders than at any time in U.S. history.” (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott said Tuesday.
Scott At a policy event in Washington, D.C., with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, he spoke about the stark differences between the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and the Biden administration’s open borders.
“Just talk to us about the huge difference in numbers between the Biden administration and the Trump administration,” Boyle said.
“Simply put: it’s day and night,” Scott replied. “So because of the Trump administration’s — not just words — but actions and then backing up those words, working with Congress and the Senate to provide us with additional funding, we do capture the border that was completely out of control during the Biden administration. [and transformed it]”.
“as you know, [the Biden administration] Totally open,” he continued. “I really want to stress to everyone: There are hundreds of miles of border with no agents, no technology, or anything, for weeks and months. So these chaotic numbers, which I think peaked at about 18,000 a day during the Biden administration, have basically disappeared, and why did they disappear? Good policy. Agents and officers are actually doing their jobs, enforcing the law, and we’ve taken away the appeal that no administration could take away before, which is catch and release.”
Watch the full event:
“It’s not official yet, but we will soon be reporting no releases from the border and no new entrants for the entire year,” he announced. “This sends a message to the world that you are not getting a return on your investment. Why are you going to pay the cartels?” [and] Put yourself in such danger? And cartels – and people sometimes overlook this – cartels need illegal aliens. It’s a little extra money, but really, they need them to overwhelm border enforcement so they can bring in higher-threat goods, whether it’s narcotics, whether it’s people paying more to avoid being fingerprinted, terrorists, criminals, but they need the clutter to keep costs down. Now they don’t have any. “
Scott said aggressive border security enforcement has significantly reduced the number of people crossing the border illegally every day, sometimes to less than 200.
“The numbers can get skewed in any way over time. I don’t pay much attention to the numbers. Today, we know more about what’s going on across the border than we’ve ever known in the history of the United States. Situational awareness validates those numbers, and we know that the number of escapees is in the double digits, low, low, low double digits, because we know what’s going on. Those numbers used to be just guesswork. Now, there’s a lot of science behind them.
Tuesday’s events include a discussion with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on border security, public safety and U.S. sovereignty. The event is organized in partnership with CGCN and ALFA Institute.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.