On Monday’s edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” NBC News Homeland Security Correspondent Julia Ainsley reported from Eagle Pass, TX and stated that officials are “trying to release these migrants as quickly as possible so they can take in more and more,” and that doing this is encouraging more migrants to come to the U.S.
Ainsley said, “[A]ccording to some new data we just obtained, border processing centers here are over double their capacity, meaning they’re trying to release these migrants as quickly as possible so they can take in more and more, because they keep coming.”
She added, “We know that most of the migrants crossing now are not sent back. They’re released with a notice to appear in immigration court. Sometimes that date can be set years into the future. And it’s really calling into question the effectiveness of the new Biden border policies. The COVID-19 policies that really restricted a lot of immigration came to an end in May. They replaced that with something that they thought would be even stricter, that would keep a lot of migrants from coming here and claiming asylum, but instead, these numbers now are just getting so overwhelming that they’re getting more and more and releasing more. The word gets back, more migrants come. But I will say, some of the migrants we spoke to today said they wish they hadn’t come, that the journey was just so dangerous.”
Ainsley concluded, “I’ve been covering this issue for almost ten years now, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a day like today with these numbers and this kind of desperation.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett