Border Rescues and Migrant Deaths Skyrocket in FY2016

Brittany M. Hughes | August 3, 2016
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While proponents of America’s lenient immigration system continue to tout compassion as a defense for illegal immigration, the human toll of our open border policy has all but gone unnoticed, and grossly underreported.

The number of illegal aliens rescued by border security has continued to skyrocket over the past year, border patrol reported this week – and unfortunately, more than a few of these stories have ended in tragedy. Border rescues in the Rio Grande Valley Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border so far this fiscal year are nearly double what they were during the same time frame in FY2015, Customs and Border Patrol reported in a press release last Friday:

RGV Sector continues to see an increase in rescues. At just over 1000 rescues since October 1, 2015, the numbers have almost doubled from last year.

RGV Sector urges immigrants not to jeopardize their lives by illegally entering the United States or by attempting to circumvent a checkpoint.

CBP also reported Tuesday that at least seven aliens died after crossing the border illegally over the last two months alone, right in the midst of a scorching heat wave that swept across much of the Southwest United States this summer.

“U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to Del Rio Sector have recovered a total of seven deceased individuals during the months of June and July,” CBP reported.

In another press release issued Friday, CBP reported having rescued 39 illegal aliens in one 24-hour span last week. The largest rescue came after agents responded to a 9-1-1 distress call and ended up rescuing a group of 19 aliens who’d been abandoned in the sweltering heat by their smuggler.

During that same time frame, border agents also recovered the body of a man who’d died after crossing the border.

In yet another press release last week, border patrol also reported two separate incidents in which they rescued another two illegal aliens who had called 9-1-1 for help after crossing the border unlawfully. One individual was flown to a hospital in Corpus Christi. The other, a Salvadorian national who was rescued the following night, was taken to a border station for “processing.”

This isn't compassion. This isn't helping folks from other countries in search of a better life. This is a standing administrative policy that encourages people to risk their lives -- and the lives of their children -- to come to a country they know will allow them to stay, if they can only make it here. 

It's a terrible policy -- and it's not compassionate. It's deadly. 

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