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Fact Sheets

The Crisis at the Southern Border Is Too Urgent to Ignore

Immigration

Issued on:

FLOOD OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Our porous border and weak laws allow for illegal immigration to go unchecked.

  • Newly released data shows that December was a record-breaking month for family unit aliens apprehended at the border.
    • 27,518 family unit aliens were apprehended illegally crossing the border last month.
    • So far in fiscal year (FY) 2019, there have been more family unit apprehensions through December—75,794—than the FY totals in 5 of the last 7 years.
  • For the last three months, an average of 2,000 inadmissible migrants have arrived at our border every day.
  • A monthly average of more than 31,000 family units and unaccompanied minors are being apprehended at the border or deemed inadmissible at ports of entry in FY 2019.
    • This marks a 136 percent increase from FY 2017.
  • There has been a sharp increase in the number of aliens claiming a fear of return at the southern border over the past several years.
    • This allows illegal aliens to remain in the United States while their claims are processed.
    • These instances have spiked by over 1,700 percent since 2010.
  • This flood of migrants to our border has overwhelmed our immigration system.
    • There are currently not enough resources to hold those apprehended for the duration of their immigration proceedings.
    • Loopholes in our immigration laws hamper authorities from promptly sending family units and unaccompanied minors back to their home countries.
    • Immigration courts are severely backlogged—with over 800,000 cases pending.
GANGS AND DRUGS DESTROYING COMMUNITIES: Criminal gangs exploit our weak border in order to deliver violence and drugs to American communities.
  • Gangs like MS-13 use our weak borders to gain entry into the country and target unaccompanied minors for recruitment.
  • 300 Americans die every week from heroin and 90 percent of all heroin originates from south of the border.
  • The amount of fentanyl seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in FY 2017 (2,370 pounds) was enough to kill every American citizen by overdose.
  • The southern border is the main entry point for cocaine entering the United States.
  • The border is also used to smuggle firearms, weaponry, and other dangerous materials into the United States.
WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT RISK: Human traffickers exploit our border and immigration system for profit, putting women and children at risk.
  • Human traffickers use our porous border and loopholes in our immigration system for their own gain, while preying on those who make the dangerous journey north.
  • More than 30 percent of women are sexually assaulted on the trek to the border.
  • Nearly 70 percent of migrants are victims of violence on the journey.
  • Border Patrol refers an average of 50 cases a day to medical providers.