Hoeven Travels to Southern Border as Title 42 Expires

Senator Met with Border Patrol Officials in Brownsville to Draw Attention to Surge in Illegal Immigration

BROWNSVILLE, TX – Senator John Hoeven traveled to Brownsville, Texas to meet with Border Patrol agents and see firsthand the surge of illegal immigration at the southern border as Title 42 expired.

In fiscal year (FY) 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered almost 2.4 million individuals attempting to illegally cross the southern border. In the first six months of FY 2023, CBP has encountered more than 1.5 million individuals, a pace that will surpass last year’s record numbers. On Monday and Tuesday this week, Border Patrol reported 10,000 encounters each day leading up to the expiration of Title 42.

“Over the last several years, I’ve traveled repeatedly to the southern border and each time I go I see more and more people coming here illegally. We are not just seeing an increase in illegal immigration, but also human and drug trafficking at the border. This could change immediately if the Biden administration truly enforced the Remain in Mexico and the Third Safe Country protocols, and enforced them as we did under the prior administration. We could stop this. Every American needs to tell the Biden administration to enforce the law. That message needs to be heard across this country. We could stop this if the Biden administration enforced these policies and people knew they had to follow the law.”

Last night’s trip to Brownsville is part of the senator’s ongoing efforts to support Border Patrol and draw attention to the southern border crisis. Over the last several years, Hoeven has met with North Dakota National Guard members in Del Rio and Eagle Pass, Texas to highlight their mission in support of Customs and Border Protection operations. The senator has also reviewed border operations in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, and traveled with a bipartisan congressional delegation to Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Guatemala to outline the need to work with these nations to stop illegal immigration and prevent human and drug trafficking. 

Hoeven has been pressuring the Biden administration to secure the border and enforce the law in order to. The senator has been pressing President Biden to:

• Reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or Remain in Mexico Policy, which required people seeking asylum at the southern border to wait in Mexico while their case was adjudicated.
• Strictly Enforce the Safe Third Country Agreements requiring that those coming from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala seek asylum there first, otherwise be returned to await the outcome of their claims.

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