Fox News reporter Bill Melugin said Sunday that Customs and Border Patrol agents did not expect a brief lull in the mass border crossings to be a permanent development.

Melugin said that although there had been a precipitous drop in crossings in the days since Title 42 — a Trump-era policy that allowed deportations based on the ongoing public health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic — agents believe that once focus is diverted elsewhere, the numbers will begin to climb again.

“Illegal crossings in Texas have fallen off a cliff in the last 48 hours since T42 expiration. After a peak of 3,300 on 5/8 in the RGV earlier this week — under 500 in RGV last 24 hours. El Paso big drop too,” Melugin tweeted, attributing the sudden drop to the fact that they were seeing “more enforcement from MX, TX blocking entry, and migrants going to POEs.”

CBP contacts tell me they do not expect this lull to last. They expect numbers to crank back up again – but not to the record setting levels we saw this week of 10,000+ per day.

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 14, 2023

“CBP contacts tell me they do not expect this lull to last. They expect numbers to crank back up again — but not to the record setting levels we saw this week of 10,000+ per day,” Melugin continued.

Despite the rapid and dramatic drop in numbers of illegal crossings since Title 42 was allowed to expire, Melugin also reported that an Afghan national who was on the FBI’s terror watch list was among those who did cross the border illegally on Wednesday.

“Per multiple CBP sources, Border Patrol agents in San Diego sector arrested an Afghan national on the FBI’s terror watchlist after he crossed illegally w/ group of migrants near Otay Mesa, CA on Wednesday. I’m told FBI confirmed the match, & is leading investigation,” Melugin tweeted.

I have reached out to CBP for comment, they tell me they will get back to me.
CA Congressman @DarrellIssa represents the area, and tells me his office has confirmed the arrest with their CBP contact. He released the following statement in response. pic.twitter.com/Gs5TIdfFk6

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) May 14, 2023

Melugin went on to share a statement from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) who said, “Biden’s open borders aren’t just a gateway to five million illegals, record human and child trafficking, and the deadliest drug crisis in out history. Biden’s reckless policy is also an open invitation to even the most wanted terrorists in the world to come to America.”

Rep. Mark Green (R-NC), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, slammed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during an interview over the weekend over his claims that the number of illegal border crossing have plummeted in recent days.

Green’s remarks on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Dana Bash come after the U.S. Border Patrol experienced the highest number of illegal border crossings in history last week at approximately 83,000.

“What the secretary failed to say is that this week has seen more crossings than any time, any week in our history. Yes, there was some anticipation, and so people started coming across at higher numbers, in fact, record-breaking numbers, at the first part of the week,” Green said. “But in the latter part of the week, a judge ruled that they can’t do their plan of just releasing without a court date, which Secretary Mayorkas has said on the news was a bad idea. But that court ruling said he can’t do that. The drug cartels have responded, and the numbers have fallen off for a couple of days.”

“But he admitted just moments ago that they can’t predict the peak. CBP said 40 percent increase is expected with Title 42 gone,” he added. “That’s another nine million people in two years. I mean, they have already let 5.04 million encounters and 1.5 million got-aways as they have tried to manage border security and not secure our border.”

Green said that Congress needed to fix the issue of border security first before working on trying to get the immigration system overhauled.

Green said that he is going to be holding Mayorkas responsible for his actions, or lack thereof, saying that he knows “for a fact he lied to Congress under oath.”

“We have a five-phase — which I have articulated before — a five-phase accountability plan. We’re going to look into his dereliction of duty, the laws he’s intentionally violated and not followed,” he said. “His job is to execute the laws, not write them or make them up himself. And his interim final rule to just speed people into the country is an excellent example of them just making up the laws, which we are the ones, we write the laws in Congress. He executes the laws, right, as the executive branch.”

“We will show the human cost of this open border, fentanyl mothers, Angel Moms, that little baby in Florida crawling around on a VRBO that encountered fentanyl and died,” he continued. “I mean, every American is at risk with this open border. I would be negligent in my job not to look into this guy’s performance.”

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