Border apprehensions up by 270%, GA Congressman Hice says GOP needs to deliver on funding

As the December 21 deadline for a possible government shutdown looms to fund Trump’s border wall, apprehensions of migrant families are up by 270 percent.

According to a November 2018 report by U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Southwest Border Migration Report released this week, Border Patrol agents apprehended 25,172 Family Unit Aliens (FMUA) along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The current November apprehensions report also represents an increase of 60 percent over November 2016’s. 

“The November 2018 border numbers are the predictable result of a broken immigration system – including flawed judicial rulings – that usurps the will of the American people who have repeatedly demanded secure borders,” DHS Spokeswoman Katie Waldman said in a written statement on Thursday. “To address the obvious crisis at our border, the President has recently deployed the military and signed a new measure that, in conjunction with a joint DOJ regulation, makes illegal border crossers ineligible for asylum.”

During the first two months of Fiscal Year 2019, Border Patrol agents caught a total of 42,287 migrant families which is an increase of 307 over the same period in FY2018.

Georgia Congressman Jody Hice, who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said to Breitbart News in an interview that the Republicans “must deliver” in $5 billion in border wall the funding before the December 21 deadline.

Congressional GOP leaders are expected to propose funding would soon vote on a two-week stopgap funding bill that will fund the government past December 21. The conservatives in the House are worried that a small deadline before Christmas will make it difficult to secure $5 billion in border wall funding for President Trump.

With the Democrats having the advantage of becoming the majority in the House in January 2019, they have said they would agree to $1.6 billion in extra border security, mainly technology, but nothing related to border wall construction.

“The President has repeatedly insisted on $5 billion for border wall funding, and I support his position to build the wall and secure our border,” Hice said to Breitbart News. “Republicans are committed to building the wall, and we need to deliver on those commitments – and that should be part of the first train rather than the sleeper car, but the most important thing is that it leaves the station.”

As migrants continue to exploit gaps and loopholes created by Congress in the immigration system since 2008, expedited removal of minors without a hearing will continue to be a challenge for the court system and impede Trump’s famous campaign promise of a border wall.