(CNSNews.com) – U.S. Border Patrol Chief Chief Carla Provost told the House Homeland Security Subcommitee on Border Security on Thursday that more than 100,000 illegal immigrants have gotten away from the Border Patrol after they illegally crossed the border into the United States.
"This fiscal year through May, Border Patrol has apprehended over 593,000 illegal aliens between ports of entry along the soutwest border," Provost said in written testimony.
“In addition to the nearly 600,000 apprehensions to date, Border Patrol has documented more than 100,000 individuals who successfully crossed the border illegally and disappeared into border communities before agents could respond,” she said.
That number “is the highest level of ‘got aways’ since Fiscal Year (FY) 2014,” she wrote in her written testimony to the subcommittee.
It is also the result of Border Patrol agents being reassigned to provide humanitarian support for detained migrants instead of patrolling the border,” the CBP chief said.
“This is the highest level of observed ‘got aways’ since Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. This high level of ‘got aways’ is a direct result of agents being reassigned away from the frontline to provide humanitarian support to the unprecedented numbers of individuals and families in custody. In FY 2019 to date, UAC and family units represent 66 percent of all southwest border inadmissible individuals and apprehensions,” she stated.
In addition, CBP “set an unfortunate new record of the largest migrant group ever apprehended—more than a thousand migrants illegally crossing the border together in El Paso, Texas, in late May,” Provost wrote.
“The demographic shift towards more vulnerable populations, combined with overwhelming numbers, has caused 40 to 60 percent of Border Patrol agents to be pulled away from our border security mission to provide humanitarian support—that’s 40 to 60 percent of our frontline workforce that is not available to stop drugs, gang members, and dangerous criminals from entering our country,” she added.