‘I love you Joe Biden:’ Migrant thanks POTUS after crossing illegally in Arizona
One of the thousands of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border in Arizona expressed gratitude to the president of the United States, hoping to be released.
He told Fox News in Lukeville, Arizona, “I love you Joe Biden, thank you for everything, Joe Biden!”
“I’m a good person, I want to be good person here in the United States,” said.
He and another migrant said they wanted work and opportunity in the U.S., not asylum.
“I came here because I want a quality life, America is a land of opportunity,” said the other African migrant.
Both planned to visit New York City, which has seen over 140,000 migrants since last year and has had to cut budgets due to the crisis.
Both migrants were part of a massive influx into the Tucson Sector, Arizona, overwhelming authorities. In Lukeville, Fox News cameras captured migrants waiting to be processed at the border wall. The Tucson Sector had nearly 3,000 encounters per day and 17,500 per week, the most ever.
Many Africans from Senegal, Guinea, Mauritania, Egypt, and elsewhere camped out to be processed and released into the U.S. Others were Middle Eastern and Asian.
CBP has increased resources and personnel in the Tucson Sector, which has less traffic than the Rio Grande Valley, and focuses on transporting migrants laterally to other parts of the border and using expedited removal to avoid releasing them into the U.S.
It is the latest part of a years-long migrant crisis that has plagued the border since 2021, causing crises in New York City, Chicago, and elsewhere.
FY 23 saw a record 2.4 million migrant encounters. Encounters at the southern border set a record in September, and over 240,000 encounters occurred border-wide in October.
Meanwhile, Washington D.C. is negotiating an emergency supplemental funding request for $14 billion for border operations. Republicans have demanded asylum and parole restrictions, which some Democrats have opposed.