The Republican National Committee has launched a new video series to draw attention to the crisis at the southern border one month after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents apprehended more than 164,000 illegal immigrants at the border, the highest total for February in 22 years.
The first video of the new series, Unchecked, was released Wednesday and features interviews with Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Representative Tony Gonzalez (R., Texas), former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Ron Vitiello and journalist Julio Rosas.
CBP agents apprehended more than 2 million migrants at the southern border during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, likely the highest number in over 20 years, according to a National Review analysis of CBP data.
In the new video, Vitiello said, “We’ve never seen a number that big, we’ve never seen two million encounters within a year’s time, it’s just never happened. The people that live just north of the border – they see the human trafficking, they see the exploitation, they see the smuggling, and so [Americans] are most effected by it day to day.”
Meanwhile, Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told CNN last week that he is anticipating a record-breaking surge in migrants crossing the border this spring. He told the outlet as many as 8,000 people could be apprehended daily, doubling the daily number of the 2019 surge under the Trump administration.
The record-breaking figure “will probably become the norm over the next 30 to 45 days,” Ortiz said.
Still, the Biden administration is reportedly set to end the use of Title 42, a Trump-era public health order that has allowed U.S. border officials to quickly expel migrant families to Mexico, in the coming days.
A senior official from the Department of Homeland Security warned as many as 18,000 migrants per day could flood the southern border if Title 42 is revoked.
DHS officials told reporters they have “no idea” when Title 42 will be lifted, though the CDC is currently conducting a review of the policy, which must be finished by March 30, according to ABC News. An announcement on whether it will be renewed could come shortly after.
In the newly released RNC video, Cruz called the situation at the border a “human rights catastrophe.”
“We are seeing a public health catastrophe, we are seeing a crime and national security catastrophe … I’ve asked the Senate Democrats to Texas and see the border, not one of them is willing to do it,” Cruz said. “They are literally turning a blind eye, and they are counting on the corporate media to cover it up.”
RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement announcing the video series that Biden is the “root cause of the pain and suffering on the border.”
“Biden and ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris’ failures have put our law enforcement officials in harm’s way, leaving them to defend an open border with drugs, human trafficking, and crime surging,” she said. “Every community is a border community under Biden, as drugs and crime move across the country.”