'Get Serious and Stop Rewarding Illegal Immigration,' Border Patrol Agent Says to Congress

Border Patrol Agent Hector Garza told Fox News that Congress needs to “get serious and stop rewarding illegal immigration.” His comments follow one of the busiest weeks in Texas immigration history that saw nearly 1,700 migrants illegally cross the border in the Rio Grande Valley Sector in a single day.

“We have lost the ability to know who or what is coming across the border,” Agent Garza told Fox & Friends during an interview on Thursday morning. The agent spoke to Fox News in his capacity as Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council.

“If you live in a poor country like those in Central America and you make your way into the United States knowing that you are going to be released into the United States,” Garza stated, “why wouldn’t these people come? That’s why Congress needs to get serious about this — they need to change the laws so that people are not encouraged to come into the United States (illegally).”

Garza’s comments come during a week where Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector apprehended nearly 1,700 migrants in a single day, Breitbart News reported. Border Patrol officials said the apprehensions represented the largest single-day total for the sector since 2014.

“We don’t know who or what is coming across because now our agents are having to process these people, transport them, feed them, care for them, and now we can’t even do our job of border security,” the veteran Border Patrol agent stated. “That’s unacceptable.”

Border Patrol officials reported that during the month of February, more than 66,000 migrants were apprehended after illegally crossing the border from Mexico. Officials are now predicting that more than 100,000 will be apprehended in March.

During a speech at the Texas-Mexico border near El Paso, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan said, “On Monday, we saw the highest total of apprehensions and encounters in over a decade, with 4,000 migrants either apprehended or encountered at Ports of Entry in a single day. That was Monday.”

“Yesterday, we broke the record again with 4,117,” the commissioner stated. “We are now on pace for over 100 thousand apprehensions and encounters with migrants in March, with 90 percent of those, 90 thousand people, crossing the border illegally between Ports of Entry. March will be the highest month since 2008. The arriving flows are made up primarily of Central American families and unaccompanied children.”

Garza explained the impact of new Border Patrol policies calling for the near-immediate release of most of the migrants that are currently being apprehended. “Out of those 100,000 that are going to be coming in during the month of March, 90 percent are being released into the community.” He said that many of those being released have violent criminal records. 

“A lot of these people do commit dangerous crimes,” he explained. “A lot of these people do bring serious diseases into our communities.” He went on to say that agents have been faced with many diseases in the processing centers.  

“Congress needs to stop playing politics,” Garza concluded. “They need to make sure that they pass laws and that they provide resources for Border Patrol agents so that we can prevent all of thes mayhem that is happening on the border.”