DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Biden administration is grappling with a severe border crisis, resulting in an influx of illegal aliens into the United States that surpasses the entire populations of most states.
Joe Biden’s border crisis
Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, a staggering 7 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border, surpassing the individual populations of 35 U.S. states.
Recent figures from RNC Research reveal that, in June alone, authorities encountered a record-breaking 144,571 illegal immigrants at the southern border — the clearest indication yet that Biden’s border crisis is not, in fact, “under control,” as his administration has claimed.
The only states with a recorded population over 7 million are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, and Massachusetts.
“At least 140 individuals on the terror watchlist have been arrested at ports of entry so far this fiscal year — a MASSIVE increase from the previous administration,” the Republican National Committee reports.
The surge in illegal immigration has also paved the way for drug smuggling, with a staggering 22,000 pounds of fentanyl seized at the border during the 2023 fiscal year (October 2022–June 2023). Shockingly, the total drug confiscation during the same period exceeded 411,000 pounds.
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The Washington Post noted in 2022 that federal agents “estimate that they are seizing about 5 to 10 percent of the drugs coming from Mexico — if that much.”
In April 2023, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing: “It is my testimony that the border is secure.”
Americans, however, don’t seem to agree with him.
A poll this month by Newsweek claims, “When respondents were asked if they believed the U.S. had control over its borders, 62 percent said the country did not. Twenty-five percent said the U.S. did control its borders, and 13 percent didn’t know.” Only 35% of Biden voters believe the United States has control over its borders.
US Bishops Complicit
Meanwhile, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, the USCCB, continues to rake in millions of dollars each year from illegal immigration based on its relationship with the federal government.
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The USCCB’s 2021 annual financial statement reveals the bishops received over $67 million from “government contracts and grants” for “migration and refugee services.”
One of the most prominent pro-open–border bishops, Abp. Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio, tweeted last year, “Banishment is not an option. Think about the homeless, migrants and refugees.”
“Migrants and refugees that come to our country are legal. They come from our East and West borders as well [as] form (sic) the North and the South. It is a shame how we treat those from the South: as pawns for personal and political gains. Manu (sic) of them women and children,” posted the Texas prelate.
Banishment is not an option. Think about the homeless, migrants and refugees.
— Archbishop Gustavo (@ABishopGustavo) October 16, 2022
The U.S. bishops’ conference migration chairman — El Paso’s Bp. Mark Seitz — recently lauded a new family-reunification plan by the Department of Homeland Security while pushing for further open border policies.
The Texas bishop declared:
This is why my brother bishops and I, along with the vast majority of civic leaders and the American public, know immigration reform is ultimately the only true and sustainable solution to these challenges. We continue to urge Congress to come together on a bipartisan basis to achieve this, a difficult, but not impossible, task, as demonstrated by recent measures such as the Dignity Act.
Blowing the Whistle
The bishops’ ‘America last’ agenda, which includes their anti-border stance, was one of the four topics discussed at the Deposit of Faith Coalition’s July 20 press conference in Washington, D.C.
Sheena Rodriguez, president and foundress of the Alliance for a Safe Texas, spoke about the complicity of the U.S. bishops, and especially Catholic Charities USA, in the border crisis.
Rodriguez remarked:
Catholic Charities and the conference of Catholic bishops displayed strong public opposition against the recent congressional Secure the Border Act of 2023, along with continued opposition against the building of the southern wall and any efforts that they perceive or categorize as “restricting Asylum,” claiming that it would “cause the United States to violate its international obligations.”
“Catholic Charities often teams up with other open-border advocacy groups such as RAICES, or Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services. RAICES maintains deep ties with several Soros-funded groups,” continued Rodriguez.
George Soros is a chief funder of leftist causes, including those that have been alleged to destabilize and topple sovereign governments. He recently passed the baton to his son, who professes to be “even more radically leftist than his father.”
The Deposit of Faith Coalition’s press release proposes three ways to defund the bishops and Marxist Catholic charitable organizations:
Stop congressional appropriations committees from granting them contracts
Force the churches to publish their tax filings (990s) by amending the IRS code
Cancel the tax-exempt status outright for blatant partisan politicking
The Epoch Times and PJ Media have both covered the DC press event so far.
Michael Voris has done several interviews on the topic of the first-of-its-kind event; among those are Steve Bannon’s War Room and The American Journal.