WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, issued the following statement after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released operational statistics for May 2021 regarding the crisis at our southern border:
“I find it very troubling that once again, CBP operational statistics show the situation at our border getting worse. The surge in illicit narcotics coming over our border this fiscal year so far is already 56 percent higher than all of last year. These illicit narcotics, including deadly fentanyl, are taking lives in communities across our country. CBP also reported more than 180,000 total encounters at the border, an increase from last month’s record of the highest amount in more than two decades. This includes more than 44,000 migrant family members, 40 times more than in May 2020; more than 120,000 single adult migrants, five times more than last year; and more than 14,000 unaccompanied children, bringing the three-month total number of children to more than 50,000, ten times more last year.
“The Biden administration’s border crisis of surging numbers of illicit narcotics and unlawful migrants is a direct result of its decision to dismantle the previous administration’s policies with no consideration of the ramifications. This situation is unacceptable and unsustainable. It’s time for action from the Biden administration.”
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