Former DEA Agent: Biden’s ‘Lack of Law and Order’ to Blame for 53 Deaths in Texas Lorry Incident
© AP Photo / Eugene Garcia
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A total of 53 migrants hoping to enter the US were found dead in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this week after the air conditioning unit of the tractor-trailer stopped working, a federal criminal complaint filed on Wednesday states. The driver and suspected conspirator of the human smuggling incident are facing charges that carry the death penalty.
Members of the Border Network for Human Rights and other immigration advocates held a candlelight vigil in Texas on Thursday in honor of the hundreds of individuals whose lives were lost while attempting to enter the US.
Memorials in honor of the 53 lives lost earlier this week were placed near the border wall as speakers at the event decried the horrific incident and continued border policies of US President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Migrants, refugees and entire families are using more distant and dangerous routes to come to the United States due to border policies that pretend to deter migration,” said Border Network for Human Rights member Irma Cruz, as reported by Border Report. “We demand immediate action to prevent more unnecessary deaths and we demand border policy solutions that save lives, not lead people to their deaths.”
Derek Maltz, a national security and public safety executive and former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, tells Sputnik that border policies implemented by the Biden administration have exacerbated the US border situation and a “lack of law and order” is overwhelming US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents.
“The poor migrants that were cooked to death in a tractor-trailer is a result of failed immigration and border security policies that have been implemented under this current administration,” Maltz said, referring to the Texas lorry incident.
“And we have 155-160 countries taking advantage of the weak policies that have been implemented by the current administration in America,” Maltz said. “They want to come to America. Many of these people are living in horrible conditions in their own countries, and they want to come to America because it's a great country and we want them to come to America.”
In acknowledging the rise in the number of legitimate asylum seekers, Maltz emphasized that US leadership is sending “mixed messages” to migrants.
He noted that Tom Homan, retired acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), recently told Fox News that, in the eyes of the Biden administration, “[b]eing here illegally is no longer illegal.”
“Illegal immigration is no longer a priority of this administration,” said the retired acting director. “I think they are going to continue that.”
20 June 2022, 03:44 GMT
Last year, US Vice President Kamala Harris, the nation’s point-person for immigration issues at the nation's southern border, took her first international trip and plainly urged would-be Guatemalan migrants to not make the “dangerous trek” to the US.
“Do not come,” Harris said. “The United States will continue to enforce our laws and secure our borders."
Harris’ June 2021 speech included an announcement of 500,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Guatemala, as well as $26 million in aid to fight the pandemic.
Many have argued that if US officials were truly concerned for the safety of asylum-seeking migrants, the administration would have promptly lifted Title 42, the Trump-era policy that employed COVID-19 and public health as the basis for the expulsion of asylum seekers.
While Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other Republicans have attributed the rise in asylum seekers at the border to Biden’s “open border policies,” Title 42 has remained in place since March 2020. Under the order, US border agents have been able to swiftly expel most asylum seekers.
Many migrants are sent back into Mexico without detention or any criminal penalties, which notably has contributed to a rise in repeated encounters with US border agents. CBP data shows 25% of encounters at the border in May were with migrants who attempted to cross into the US within the past year.
Furthermore, the rise in activity at the border has been accompanied by an increase in the trafficking of fentanyl.
“We have more deaths in America now than ever in the history of the country because of poisonous fentanyl that's coming in from Mexico on a daily basis,” Maltz said, noting that the DEA recovered enough fentanyl in 2021 to kill every American.
This estimate was based on the determination that it would take approximately two milligrams of fentanyl to kill a human.
“We're losing about 300 Americans a day to drugs, and the majority of the deaths are from the poisonous fentanyl that are coming from labs in Mexico,” he added.
