BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – The U.S. could see a record number of undocumented migrants crossing the southern border this year.
Projections show more than two million people could attempt to cross by the end of September if policies don’t change.
Senators who toured the U.S.-Mexico border last week said they saw the rush of undocumented migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border firsthand.
“It’s like these big, flashing open for crossing signs, figuratively speaking here. And they were taunting us. In fact, they were saying some things that were so vile, the Border Patrol agents wouldn’t even translate it. They just said ‘this is horrible what they’re saying,’” said Sen. Steve Daines, R-MT.
But Sen. Daines said, in his eyes, there is an easy fix to the problem.
“It’s very fixable. Some problems we face in this country are complicated and will take a long time. This one is very solvable. He could fix it in 48 hours,” said Sen. Daines.
Sen. Daines said going back to stricter border policies, like that of the Trump-era, would take away the incentive to cross the border. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., who joined him on the tour of the border last week, agrees.
“The changes they’ve made is what’s leading to this crisis. We were just coming down the road and we saw a group of migrants coming across and they’re actually housed and processed under a bridge,” said Sen. Hoeven.
Both Senators said patrols at the southern border are simply overwhelmed with the influx of migrants, as nearly 172,000 migrants crossed or attempted to cross the border in March alone.
Officials said 18,800 of those were unaccompanied children, which is the most the border has ever seen at one time.
The last time the number of migrants at the border came close to this year’s spike was in 2006, when encounters at the border topped a million.