In an interview this week, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), whose southern Texas district spans hundreds of miles along the U.S. border, expressed his belief that Mexican drug cartels are reducing their human smuggling activities in an attempt to support President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The U.S.-Mexico border saw record-breaking numbers of illegal border crossings every month until January, when the numbers fell to about 128,410. The administration attempted to spin this as a major victory because it was a significant decrease from the previous month, when there were more than 302,000 illegal aliens encountered, the highest number in U.S. history.
Gonzales said that despite this, the January figures were the highest the US government has ever recorded.
Gonzales told Newsweek, “You’re talking about January having the most interactions ever when you say border crossings are down. Was it really that horrible in December? No, that was the worst January ever, even if it was [an] all-time. That’s not good, then. It isn’t good.”
He went on, “I do believe that the cartels are attempting to give the Biden administration a few more wins.” There’s an election in Mexico in June, but nobody is really paying attention. And everything will get cleaned up a little bit over the course of the next few months, I expect. Even so, 7,000+ individuals a day is still enormous.”
President of the National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd, talked about how Mexican drug gangs are observing American politics and modifying their operations appropriately.
When asked whether he anticipated a significant influx of undocumented immigrants entering the country before November in light of the growing possibility that former President Donald Trump would win reelection, Judd responded in the negative.
Judd said, “We do.” “We saw this during President Trump’s reelection campaign. There was a significant upsurge in support of Joe Biden, and many wanted to be here ahead of Biden’s inauguration because they knew he would implement measures that would safeguard them.”
He went on, “We see the cartels; they are incredibly sophisticated in all that they do. They are aware of the ups and downs in our political climate. They are skilled at making money off of our political stance. They are also aware of what the media is covering.”
