From Border Surge to Expedited Afghan Refugees, Ex-Homeland Security Chief Warns: 'It Only Takes One'

For two consecutive months this summer, U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 200,000 people trying to enter the country illegally. Then, in September, the Biden administration's push to remove 15,000 Haitian refugees from the Texas town of Del Rio sparked a fresh crisis. Now, a new warning is emerging over another significant surge of migrants in Central and South America heading north.  

Thousands of Haitian migrants who once gathered under the bridge in Del Rio, Texas are now in the United States. And another massive wave, as many as 400,000, may be coming to the border.

Appearing on the CBN News program "The Global Lane", former U.S. Acting Secretary Homeland Security Chad Wolf explained why.

"They're incentivized because of the success of those Haitians in Del Rio getting across and now into American communities. So, I think it is the Biden administration's job right now to break up those caravans and they need to do that by working with Mexican officials and others, but they also need to do that by, not only the messaging but the policies that they put in place."

An appeals court recently ruled the Biden administration can continue deporting migrant families trying to cross the U.S-Mexico border under a COVID-19 pandemic rule. Known as Title 42, the Trump administration issued the order in March 2020 to slow the spread of the virus coming into the country.

Wolf says with tens of thousands more on the way, the U.S. Border Patrol will have insufficient personnel to process the migrants. That's partly because the federal vaccine mandate may cause many agents to lose their jobs if they don't get vaccinated. 

"The Biden administration certainly has a double standard here that doesn't make a lot of sense to most Americans. You have law enforcement officers who are dealing with these migrants and coming into contact with these migrants every day. The migrants have a choice on whether or not to take the vaccine, but the Border Patrol and the law enforcement don't," Wolf said.

Meanwhile, meth and fentanyl seizures at the border have increased dramatically this year. So, how concerned is he about gangs trafficking drugs and even humans?

"When you have 15,000 folks under that bridge in Del Rio, it takes an immense amount of Border Patrol time and attention to care for and to process those individuals, and that's time that you don't have Border Patrol on the line, on that international border making sure that you're not only keeping migrants out, but you're keeping illegal narcotics and other contraband out. And so when you have something like Del Rio, it just sucks up all the resources," he said. 

Immigration concerns go well beyond the southern border. Many Afghan refugees brought to the U.S. are being vetted after they arrive, rather than beforehand. And at least 700 reportedly have left their housing at U.S. military bases without completing their processing.

Wolf said, "We're doing it when they are already here in the country versus doing it overseas in a safe third country so, I've got some real concerns about the manner and the speed in which they are trying to do these background checks. The system is not designed to do it in the manner in which they want it to be done. We're gonna miss things and it only takes one or two bad individuals to have something significant happen here in the homeland."

READ 'A Giant Can of Worms': Hundreds of Afghans Leaving US Bases Before Being Fully Processed