A gap in the U.S. border wall near Otay Mountain, California, has become a focal point for illegal immigrants still surging into the United States despite Joe Biden‘s alleged border crackdown. The unprotected stretch of the U.S. border sits about a mile and a half from the Otay Mesa port of entry. It was slated to be walled off by former President Donald J. Trump as he left office. However, the Biden government suspended construction on the border wall in early 2021.
“It has a very significant impact on operations because it’s an open area where migrants can walk right into the United States unimpeded, and when there’s an influx of migrants, they just use that instead of climbing the fence and just walk in that open area,” said National Border Patrol Council in San Diego president Manuel Bayon in a recent interview.
Bayon continued: “It was almost completed. You’re looking at possibly approximately two football fields. It’s just an open gap. It’s a beacon that here you’re allowed to cross into the United States.”
Agents describe the long stretch with no barrier to entry as “frustrating.”
Under mounting public pressure, the Biden government announced a quasi-crackdown on illegal immigration in early June. Despite the White House’s claims that the Biden executive order aimed to end the border crisis, it actually will allow approximately 1.5 million illegal immigrants to cross the U.S. border annually.
The National Pulse reported earlier this year that an internal memo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) advises San Diego sector agents to release single adult migrants from over 100 countries, with only six designated high-risk nations receiving proper scrutiny.