Migrants share stories of perilous journey to US southern border
‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy shares a look at her exclusive investigation into the migrant crisis in Arizona.
A group of migrants told "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy that they favor President Biden over former President Trump when it comes to policies toward illegal immigration.
Campos-Duffy joined "Fox & Friends" to discuss what she learned from migrants who left their home countries for America. There have been nearly 7.3 million illegal southern border encounters since Biden entered office.
Campos-Duffy said the migrants were "asking for Joe Biden to help us, to help us accomplish our dreams here, so we can get ahead."
Campos-Duffy spoke with migrants on an Indian reservation on the Arizona-Mexico border, which she described as a "soft shelter" and the first stop for illegal immigrants before heading to processing centers.
BIDEN ADMIN WEIGHS EXECUTIVE ACTION ON BORDER CRISIS, DRAWING FIRE FROM LEFT AND RIGHT
"Who is best for illegal immigration? Donald Trump or Joe Biden?" she asked a group of five adult male migrants.
All answered "Joe Biden."
A group of migrants walk to a van as hundreds of migrants gather along the border Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Lukeville, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Other migrants explained that they were coming to America to escape violence and seek safety for their families, with one father stressing that it was "urgent" to leave after his neighbor was killed.
Another migrant told Campos-Duffy he used to be a policeman and had threats against him. He also added that the cartels are "worse than ever" because of corruption.
Duffy said, "the cartels have never been stronger. That corruption is at a sky-high right now in Mexico. Obviously, this operation, the human trafficking operation, is fueling that."
Another migrant, headed to Florida, told Duffy he was kidnapped in Mexico for about a week, leaving his wife traumatized. One migrant told Duffy he paid $3,000 to come to America, while another paid $5,000.
LUKEVILLE, ARIZONA - DECEMBER 08: U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents instruct immigrants on separating important personal items from items to be discarded at a field processing center near the U.S.-Mexico border on December 08, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona (John Moore/Getty Images)
A record-high number of Americans see large numbers of illegal immigrants coming into the U.S. as a "critical threat" to U.S. interests, according to a new poll published Tuesday.
The Gallup poll found that 55% of U.S. adults say that "large numbers of immigrants entering the United States illegally" are a "critical threat" to U.S. vital interests. That is up 8% from 2023 and higher than the previous high of 50% in 2004.
Of those polled, 31% said large numbers of immigrants entering illegally is an "important" threat while 14% said it was not important.
The country is now in the third year of a historic border crisis. The record for yearly encounters at the southern border was broken last fiscal year when more than 2.4 million migrants were encountered at the border. The monthly record for encounters was set in December when there were more than 300,000 encounters for the first time.
Duffy reported Monday from Tucson, Arizona, where she and her camera crew were forced to leave a shuttered hotel that she said is now being used by an NGO to house migrants.
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Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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