Intelligence officials within President Joe Biden’s administration are secretly warning about a massive flood of illegal immigrants expected at the U.S-Mexico border in the next few months, with numbers likely to exceed 170,000 people if COVID restrictions are lifted, according to an Axios exclusive report on Thursday.
Private discussions among intelligence officials indicate that human trafficking groups across Mexico and Central America intend to “generate a mass migration event” when COVID policies end.
Biden administration officials from several agencies are reportedly devising a plan to address the likely record-breaking influx of illegal immigrants, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is calling the “Southwest Border Mass Irregular Migration Contingency Plan.”
The strategy includes the creation of the “Southwest Border Coordination Center (SBCC),” which Axios reported will act as a war room to organize an interagency response. The SBCC will be headquartered in Washington, D.C., at the old St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
Biden’s DHS warned that possibly 25,000 migrants are currently waiting in Mexico just south of the U.S. border until COVID policies are lifted.
In an email reviewed by Axios, DHS Deputy Secretary John Tien asked personnel “to consider stepping forward to support the DHS Volunteer Force” due to the massive numbers of illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
While the administration would not confirm or deny the details in Axios’ report, White House spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement, “Of course the Administration is doing our due diligence to prepare for potential changes at the border.”
Axios also found that Biden’s DHS is considering requesting aircraft from the U.S. Marshals Service to transport illegal immigrants to other areas if the anticipated influx occurs.
The department may also ask the Department of Defense for additional air and ground transportation support, as well as dozens of buses from the Bureau of Prisons.
Moreover, the DHS is preparing to expand and erect new soft-sided facilities to hold a maximum of 2,000 illegal immigrants each.
In March 2020, then-President Donald Trump’s Centers for Disease Control issued an order which allows illegal immigrants to be deported due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden administration has maintained the order, but officials are expected to end the policy in the coming weeks.
“We continue to defer to the CDC on the use of Title 42 and how long it might remain in effect,” a White House official told Axios.
Last month, Biden’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released its new “inclusive” mission statement in which it calls the United States a “nation of welcome” in a move that is expected to invite more illegal immigration.
During Biden’s first year in office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested a staggering 1,734,686 illegal immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Another 838,685 illegal immigrants have already been arrested just five months into FY22.
