Exclusive–Marsha Blackburn: Illegal Aliens from 88 Gangs Caught at Border this Year

Illegal aliens from 88 different international gangs have been caught at the United States-Mexico border this year, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) says.

In an exclusive interview with SiriusXM Patriot’s Breitbart News Daily, Blackburn disclosed details about her recent trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, where she spoke to Border Patrol agents.

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“What Border Patrol and Texas Highway Patrol told me is that they have apprehended from 88 different gangs — 88 different gangs — that are violent-prone entities that are coming into this country,” Blackburn said.

“In Texas, they have apprehended 1.1 million people so far this year and they think that the [Department of] Homeland Security number of 1.6 million is low because they know what they’ve got in Texas and they know that in addition to that, there are several hundred thousands got-aways that are the really, really bad guys that are moving drugs and weapons and whatever else,” she continued.

Since October 1, 2020, Border Patrol agents have apprehended at least 325 illegal alien gang members attempting to cross the southern border — including more than 100 from the violent MS-13 gang.

Blackburn also detailed how Mexican drug cartels use Facebook, among other social media apps, to entice desperate migrants into the long journey up to the U.S.-Mexico border.

“They pay the cartel a fee, the cartel gets them to Mexico, they move them to the river, they pay a river tax, and all along the way, there is physical, emotional, sexual abuse of these individuals,” Blackburn said.

“The cartel says, ‘We will get you to the border and then the U.S. taxpayer, the federal government will get you where you want to go in the country,'” she continued.

Border Patrol agents, Blackburn said, need a continuation of border wall to reduce illegal immigration, as well as a reinstatement of the Remain in Mexico policy that prevented most asylum fraud and effectively helped end Catch and Release.

As Breitbart News exclusively reported, the U.S. has seen just short of about two million migrant encounters at the nation’s border over the last 12 months — 1.6 million of which occurred after President Joe Biden took office in late January.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.