US border agents apprehended a record-breaking 67,759 illegal migrants in the past week alone — including sex offenders and gang members — as well as a massive stash of fentanyl, officials said Friday.
Another 15,780 illegal migrants eluded capture, tweeted US Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz.
Among those caught were five sex-offenders, four gang members and two felons, authorities said. Agents also seized 56 pounds of fentanyl, 179 pounds of methamphetamine, 34 pounds of cocaine, five pounds of heroin and seven firearms.
Border officials have struggled to manage an overwhelming surge in illegal immigration after the expiration of the Title 42 public-health order, which allowed for expedited deportations during the coronavirus crisis.
Migrants have been massing at the southern border in recent days, with officials reporting that at least 10,000 people have been streaming across it each day.
As concern of the surge soared, a Florida federal judge halted a Biden Administration plan to release the migrants into the US without giving them notices to appear in court to process their asylum requests.
Spurred by a lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Judge Kent Wetherell put in place a restraining order that will remain for two weeks until the issue can be sorted out.
Wetherell has denounced the federal response to the spiraling crisis, asserting that lax policies have transformed the border into a “meaningless line in the sand.”
Moody, in arguing for the restraining order, said there was no mechanism to track the movements of released migrants once they enter the country.
According to reports, thousands of migrants were already released from custody Thursday before Wetherell’s ruling came down.
Officials reported that 28,000 people were in custody Wednesday, before an order came down from Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz to begin releasing migrants.
Biden Administration officials said the Florida judge’s ruling will lead to overcrowding at swamped processing centers but agreed to abide by the decision.
“CBP will comply with the court order and is assessing next steps,” Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. “This is a harmful ruling that will result in unsafe overcrowding at CBP facilities and undercut our ability to efficiently process and remove migrants, and risks creating dangerous conditions for border patrol agents and migrants.”
In his sobering inventory of last week’s border chaos, Ortiz also reported the assault of three border agents, along with the seizure of $83,557 in cash.
“We’re already breaking, and we haven’t hit the starting line,” a Department of Homeland Security official told NBC earlier this week, warning that conditions will likely worsen.