Expert Explains the Massive Surge at America’s Southern Border

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - With the expiration of Title 42 that had been keeping illegal immigrants in Mexico until midnight on Thursday, hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children streaming across the southern border seeking asylum, jobs, and freedom in the USA.

KGVO News reached out to Eamon Fahey with the International Rescue Committee based in Missoula who spelled out several reasons why the unprecedented numbers are streaming across the border.

There are Many Reasons why Thousands are Streaming over the Southern Border

“What's going on at the southern border and in the world in general is that today there are more displaced people than ever in history and that number continues to grow each and every day,” began Fahey. “Why are people displaced? There are a number of reasons; first, conflict. If you think about things like Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and now what's going on in Sudan, there are two examples of recent conflicts that have added to this number of displaced people.”

Fahey continued with more reasons why so many are looking to America for a new start.

Political Instability is Another Reason Why so Many are Coming to America

“Other reasons include political instability,” he said. “We're seeing that in places like Venezuela, which is in our hemisphere. They have had a decade or so of great political instability, so a lot of people are leaving Venezuela due to that. Another big driver is impact of climate and environmental disaster. A couple of examples of that include the earthquake in Turkey and Syria; another event that has caused great displacement.”

U.S. politicians have emphasized the role of Mexican drug cartels using refugees, especially children, as drug mules or using them as sex slaves.

“That's a reality, too,” he said. “There's a whole illegal system there that is pushing against our border as well, and that's absolutely true. Again, it's illegal. They're getting paid a lot of money to do this, and folks are willing to pay that money to hopefully get a chance to live in our country. So that is certainly an issue that's going on at our southern border as well.”

Unfortunately, the Numbers Probably won't Slow Down Anytime Soon

After the initial rush of legal or illegal immigrants comes through the southern border, KGVO asked Fahey if the numbers might eventually slow down, but he said, probably not anytime soon.

“I don't see any of these things changing anytime soon in terms of the things that are driving this,” he said. “I don't necessarily see a political solution or a legal solution that's really going to stem the tide anytime soon. There are some things we can do, including getting more human resources and folks down to the southern border to process those legal claims for asylum. Other than that, these are global issues that are driving this surge, and I don't see anything changing anytime soon, I'm afraid.”

Fox News reports that the U.S. Border Patrol encountered 10,000 migrants for the third day in a row.