11 Iranians Arrested In Arizona After Jumping US-Mexico Border As Former DHS Exec Says Illegal Crossings Back To ‘Crisis’ Levels
The US Border Patrol has arrested at least 11 Iranian citizens caught illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in Arizona — in what could be a prelude to more incidents like this, with the new Joe Biden administration signaling more relaxed border security compared to the tough border measures implemented by former President Donald Trump.
Reports said the Iranian nationals were apprehended after the Yuma Sector Border Patrol unit encountered the group near San Luis, a city southwest of Arizona, and was said to have entered from Mexico. The CBP said the group consisted of six males, and five females — all from Iran.
The agents also warned that they regularly encounter individuals from all over the world seeking to enter the US illegally including “Special Interest Countries” such as Iran.
According to reports, border patrol agents at the Yuma Sector have stopped more illegal crossers from Iran than all other patrol agents across the US-Mexico borders. The Yuma Sector encompasses 126 miles of international border with Mexico located at the southeast corner of Arizona with an area of responsibility covering 181,000 square miles of primarily desert terrain divided between California and Arizona. There are three stations — Yuma, Wellton and Blythe — including three checkpoints, manned by over 700 Border Patrol agents.
Halt in Mexico border construction
Meanwhile, Democratic President Biden earlier ordered a halt in the construction of more walls along US-Mexico. He said in an executive order that the border wall project — launched by the former President to help control the tide of immigration to the country was “not a serious policy solution” and is just a “waste of money.”
Immigration experts have warned, however, that there could be a surge of people from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras trying to cross the US-Mexico border this year under the Biden government following four years of hardline border and immigration policies under former President Trump.
Former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said the situation at the southern border has become “very dangerous” in recent months, following Biden’s move to reverse many of Trump’s strict border policies.
Wolf noted that daily apprehensions at the border has returned to “crisis level” for authorities. The former DHS secretary said 1,000 border apprehensions per day represented a “crisis level” for authorities and the current rate is at 3,000 to 3,500 illegal border-crossers per day.
Illegal Crossings Back To ‘Crisis’ Levels
“The situation on the border right now is very dangerous. And if we go back to the previous DHS secretary under Obama, he said a thousand a day is a very bad day for DHS and at crisis level. We are three times that at the moment,”
“It’s very concerning the number of things that are occurring down there. And, again, I think it’s a direct result of some of the things that we have heard this administration do. Sending a signal to those south of the border, those wanting to cross illegally, to the cartels, the smugglers and the traffickers. Now is the time to send those individuals across the border,” he added.
The new Democratic president has earlier also promised to give amnesty to the roughly 11 to 22 million illegal aliens residing in the US in his first 100 days in office — a move that will undo former president Trump’s tough policies on illegal immigration.
