Mark Green downgrades border crisis from 'absolutely catastrophic' to just 'catastrophic'

House Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green categorized the border crisis as "catastrophic" on Wednesday, after the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released its monthly border encounters for April.

Illegal migrants were encountered 128,900 times in April, along the U.S. southern border, according to the CBP, which is down six percent from March. The categorization is also a downgrade from the "absolutely catastrophic" numbers the country witnessed in December, Green said.

“These numbers make one thing clear—we are still in a crisis of the Biden administration’s making," Green said in a statement. "Going from ‘absolutely catastrophic’ in December to just ‘catastrophic’ in April may be acceptable for [Homeland] Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas and President [Joe] Biden, but no one else. Frontline law enforcement such as the Border Patrol agents, CBP officers, and AMO agents, remain overwhelmed and overworked. The American people continue to demand a secure border, yet this administration continues to ignore them."

Green noted that the arrests are quadruple the threshold for a crisis as described by former President Barack Obama's Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and blamed the Biden administration's lack of action in stemming the flow of illegal immigrants on the ongoing crisis.

"The fundamentals of this unprecedented homeland security crisis are all the same," Green said. "Illegal aliens know they will likely be released if they cross between ports of entry, and record numbers continue flocking to our ports of entry to take advantage of the Biden administration’s unlawful mass-parole programs."

United States officials have credited the downward trajectory of arrests to Mexico, which will not allow more than 4,000 migrants to cross into the U.S. each day, according to the Associated Press. Another 41,000 migrants have entered the country legally in April, through a CPB online appointment app called CBP One.

Nearly 435,000 migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua also entered the country in April through a legal parole process where eligible migrants can apply for admission to the U.S. online if they have a financial sponsor in the country.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.