U.S. Border Patrol agents made 1.9 million arrests at the southern border in 2021. | Wikimedia Commons
U.S. Border Patrol agents made 1.9 million arrests at the southern border in 2021. | Wikimedia Commons
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested approximately 1.9 million immigrants at the southern border in 2021.
An immigration facility in southern Georgia is on track to become one of the largest immigrant detention centers in the nation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Georgia's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center has plans for expansion.
"All the states' governors are going to have to deal with this influx of illegal people that are coming across the southern border," Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told Fox 5 Atlanta. "It's going to put a strain on social services, a lot of other things that we have to deal with."
Charlton County and The GEO Group signed a document in 2021 that increases the beds available for detained immigrants from 780 to 3,018 — approximately four times the amount, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The expansion impacts Folkston's ICE detention center, which sits just along the Florida border.
Kemp was among many Republican governors throughout the country who demanded a meeting with President Joe Biden regarding the southern border in September.
"The current policies are not working and it needs to be changed and I'm hopeful they'll take the meeting," Kemp told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Border Patrol agents reportedly made 851,508 arrests at the southern border throughout the 2019 fiscal year, The Wall Street Journal reported. This has increased to approximately 1.66 million arrests in the 2021 fiscal year, a 95% increase in arrests over a two-year span. This has led to frustration for those in charge of controlling the high number of immigrants, former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott told The Wall Street Journal.
Republican attorneys general from Texas and Missouri recently filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration concerning illegal immigration, The Wall Street Journal reported. As the case has made its way through court, data has been disclosed showing that approximately 20% of the arrested immigrants in 2021 were permitted to await their asylum application hearings in the U.S., down 56% from the surge predating COVID-19. Of the 1.9 million arrested, 402,0000 were released into the U.S. while the rest were sent back to their home countries under Title 42.
Alerts Sign-up