Despite all the “victory laps” Biden administration officials have taken as they brag that their unlawful policies and processing programs have reduced illegal immigration, recent border data shows the opposite. On top of that, there is an undeniable link between the increase in illegal entrants being welcomed into the country and an increase in violent crime, which is posing a significant threat to public safety.

This is a matter that must be addressed when Congress returns in September, and its resolution is so critical that Congress must tie it to the negotiations for funding the federal government for the new fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

In July, as temperatures soared into the triple digits, Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 132,652 illegal aliens between the ports at the Southwest border—a 33% increase over June, when 99,539 illegal aliens were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico line. The lower total in June was clearly an artificial reduction due to the abuse of the parole system, a tool this administration uses to quickly bring in as many inadmissible aliens without visas through the actual ports of entry (not around them) as possible.

Not all of these illegal aliens are the same, but certain groups present more challenges to an overwhelmed Border Patrol and are able to easily enter the United States—notably adults entering illegally with children as a “family unit” and minors who enter without a parent or guardian, also known as unaccompanied alien children.

On top of increases in both single adult and family unit apprehensions, unaccompanied children at the Southwest border increased by nearly 50% in July compared to June. The same Biden administration officials who have repeatedly begged Central Americans not to send their children on the treacherous journey to the United States at the hands of smugglers and traffickers have done absolutely nothing to slow their entries. Instead, their policies and methods of resettlement are encouraging more.

The fact that unaccompanied children are regularly raped and exploited on their journey to the United States is a heartbreaking reality. And sadly, their lives do not improve once they enter the country, where they are then turned over to questionable, if not dangerous, “sponsors.” Many are also forced to work in unsafe conditions that violate child labor laws, go missing, or are sex trafficked.

Furthermore, teenage members of MS-13 and other violent Central American gangs continue to take advantage of current U.S. policy and the easiest, most vulnerable migrant flow and enter the United States as unaccompanied children.

More than 70% of unaccompanied children are teens, aged 15 to 17, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, with some adults even posing as minors.

Too many Americans and migrants themselves have needlessly died at the hands of vicious gang members who were welcomed into the country and then released into our communities. Yet another tragic instance of this took place mere weeks ago, with the media refusing to explore the reality of the situation.

Juan Carlos Garcia-Rodriguez, a 17-year-old native of Guatemala, illegally crossed into the United States and self-surrendered in El Paso in January. He was quickly turned over to HHS custody as an unaccompanied child and released to a sponsor in Louisiana. On August 19, he was arrested as a suspect in a brutal murder of an 11-year-old migrant girl in Pasadena, Texas.

At the time of his arrest, his address was not in Louisiana with the sponsor but an apartment complex in Texas where the little girl was found after having been sexually assaulted, strangled, put into a trash bag, and hidden under her bed while her father was at work.

The media continue to leave out the immigration details in their coverage of this brutal crime that should have been prevented in a concerted effort to cover for the Biden administration and keep the historic flow of unaccompanied alien children going and viewed in a positive light.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics show a consistent and alarming increase of convicted criminal aliens that it encounters. As such, this horrific crime by Garcia-Rodriguez is just one of the thousands of murders, rapes, and other violent crimes that occur each year at the hands of illegal aliens in the U.S.

What is even more outrageous is the fact that Democrat politicians in the region and here in Washington continue to ignore such crimes. The same folks who claim that everything they do related to border security is humanitarian in nature have shown more outrage over inflatable water barriers that Texas erected than the murder of an 11-year-old girl by a now-18-year-old man allowed into the country by their policies.

Enough is enough.

Republicans on Capitol Hill will soon be at a crossroads when it comes to addressing the Biden Border Crisis and funding the federal government.

It is essential that House Republicans unite behind a reasonable demand to include their already passed border security measure as part of any spending agreement that is passed to avert a government shutdown in late September.

The bill, the Secure the Border Act (HR 2), fulfilled promises made to the American people on delivering solutions to a self-inflicted crisis that harms not just cities and states along the border but every city and state around the country. The bill’s intentions and contents are clear: It would end the crisis and restore sanity, safety, and security at our borders. A key component that helps do that is closing longstanding loopholes in the processing of unaccompanied alien children.

It is vital that this bill is a part of any agreement for the continuation of funding for the federal government.

If the federal government cannot perform the basic task of keeping our border secure and preventing instances like the murder of an innocent 11-year-old girl from happening, it should not be funded.

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