U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reports a record number of encounters with illegal immigrants in October. That announcement is awkward for DHS Secretary Mayorkas, as he is scheduled to face lawmakers today in the first of a series of hearings meant to spotlight their criticism of his leadership (or lack of) at the Department of Homeland Security. Look no further than the chaotic Biden border crisis to see what adhering to an open border philosophy looks like.

CBP announced that 230,678 encounters with illegal immigrants took place during the month of October. That number is up 2% over September. That doesn’t sound like the southern border is closed, despite what Mayorkas, Harris, and Biden say. The number of illegal immigrants coming across the border continues to increase, not decrease. It is intentional. The policy of the Biden administration is clearly to ignore the southern border to allow in as many illegal immigrants as possible. Otherwise, the border would be secured and there would be no Biden border crisis. Presidents before Biden figured out how to control the flow of illegal immigrants into our country. The Biden administration knows what to do but Joe Biden has chosen to stop the agreements and policies of previous administrations. Trump, in particular, was successful in shutting down illegal immigration while partisan hacks like Joe Biden criticized his methods and policies as inhumane and cruel.

What is inhumane and cruel, though, is the Biden border crisis. There is a humanitarian crisis at the southern border that is solely the fault of Joe Biden. The buck stops with him, as he is fond of saying. Drug cartels are running parts of the border and trafficking drugs such as fentanyl that is killing Americans at an alarming rate. Migrants travel from around the world to enter the United States illegally because they receive the word on social media that the border is open and if they successfully cross the border, they will be allowed to stay. A record number of illegal immigrants, 856, died at the southern border in fiscal year 2022. None of this is compassionate, especially for Americans left to handle the influx of millions of apprehensions along the border since Joe Biden has been in office.

CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus resigned, kicking and screaming, last weekend. When he was told to either resign or be fired, he dug in and said he would not resign. The next day he resigned. The person that must go, however, is Secretary Mayorkas. He is responsible for enforcing Biden’s policies. Mayorkas is not providing the resources necessary to Border Patrol agents and they are doing yeoman’s work with little support from the Biden administration along the border. For example, Border Patrol agents are experiencing a shortage in such essential equipment as night vision goggles. They don’t stop patrolling the border when the sun goes down. It’s a very dangerous job and they deserve to have the equipment they need to do it.

Let’s be honest. Magnus is a scapegoat. There’s no way Mayorkas will leave, though he should. So, someone had to in order to pretend that DHS is working on the Biden border crisis. His resignation will not change anything. The department works under Biden’s orders and he doesn’t care about a secure southern border. As I said before, the Biden border crisis is intentional. After Magnus’ resignation, some Republican lawmakers weighed in.

“The Biden administration found their fall guy for the chaos at the border,” Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital. “Responsibility for the border crisis lies with Joe Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and real accountability starts with Mayorkas being impeached. Every moment the border continues to remain open only heightens the present humanitarian and national security crisis.”

“Nothing will be fixed at the border until Biden reverses his open border policies,” Georgia Rep. Austin Scott, a Republican, told Fox News Digital. “Magnus was just another example of the administration’s incompetent handling of our southern border.”

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital that the Biden administration found a “scapegoat” in Magnus and called on Mayorkas to resign.

“The Biden administration has completely failed to protect our borders, and now it’s trying to find a scapegoat,” Burchett said. “Mayorkas should be the one to resign.”
“When Republicans take over the House, we’re gonna bring some rational thought back to our border security operations,” he continued.

Texas Republican Rep. August Pfluger also called on Mayorkas to hit the road, telling Fox News Digital the DHS secretary tried to use Magnus’ departure as a cover-up of his own “failures.”

“Secretary Mayorkas may be trying to cover for his failures by ousting his own CBP director, but he will not escape responsibility for his hand in the border crisis,” Pfluger said. “The leadership change we need is Mayorkas.”

I agree with what they are saying but calling for the impeachment of Mayorkas is futile. Even if that did happen, though it is highly unlikely, he would be replaced with someone else just as willing to do as Biden wants to maintain an open border. Mayorkas has failed Americans but he has not failed Joe Biden.

So, to recap, the number of illegal immigrant apprehensions at the southern border continues to increase on a monthly basis. For reference, there were 60,781 apprehensions in October 2019; 45,139 in 2020; 71,929 in 2021; 164,837 in 2022; and 230,678 in October 2023. The numbers don’t lie. Joe Biden has been a disaster as a president tasked with keeping America’s borders secure. It’s a dereliction of duty, his most basic duty as president. The October number does not include the 2,000 “gotaways” seen by Border Patrol agents every day. Nothing will change until we get a new president, a Republican president that understands the importance of border security and America’s sovereignty.