For Star subscribers: In an interview with the Arizona Daily Star, National Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz talks issues, challenges and steps he's taking in the midst of a record number of apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Danyelle Khmara National Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz says a big reason for the increase in apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border is growing political, civil and economic unrest in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the world.With one month left in the fiscal year, the U.S. has seen a record number of apprehensions at its southern border in 2022, at nearly 2.5 million apprehensions, more than 500,000 of which were in Arizona.
It used to be that a large portion of people migrating to the country were from Mexico and Central America, but that has been shifting in the last few years. This fiscal year, the number of migrants from farther than the Northern Triangle — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — increased by 152%, while the numbers from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador only increased by 1% from last year.
Expanding asylum processOne thing that would help the influx of migrants crossing between ports of entry would be an expanded asylum process, both at the border and in home countries or in a safe third country, Ortiz said. Ortiz said he sees more cooperation than previously with other countries in the region to find solutions.
“That's a better utilization of my workforce,” he said. “For these low-threat, or what I would consider vulnerable populations — families and unaccompanied children — that's just data entry. They’re not a security risk.” The reason for the shift is because the Border Patrol is getting more efficient at processing migrants at the border under immigration law and because of the types of migrants the agency is encountering, Ortiz said. The Border Patrol can only use Title 42 to expel migrants whom either Mexico or their home countries are willing to take.
In some areas where there used to be 40% to 60% of agents processing, that’s down to 20%, with 80% of agents now out in the field. Also, they’re able to do more virtual processing due to newer technologies, increasing efficiency in processing migrants who come undocumented into the country, Ortiz said.
Nonetheless, closing those gaps is still helpful because it funnels more migrants away from dangerous areas where migrants might cross in canals and rivers, Ortiz said. But he said a wall along the entire border may not be the answer in more remote areas. Ortiz said wildlife passages are considered during the planning of border barrier infrastructure but the only wildlife passages that exist or are mentioned in wall remediation plans are small openings in the barrier, about the size of a sheet of paper. He would not say if leaving the floodgates open is a possibility.
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