Smuggler salutes camera as he leads migrants through broken section of border wall

close

Video

Migrants thank Biden after entering US: 'America is the land of opportunity'

Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb joined 'FOX & Friends First' to discuss how Biden's 'weakness' has enabled the surge of migrants at the southern border and why he considers it 'unacceptable.'

In new footage obtained by FOX News, a migrant is shown saying "I love you, Joe Biden" and a smuggler waves and salutes a camera as he helps migrants through an open section of border wall.

As the border crisis continues to impact the United States, Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb says President Biden's "weakness" is what led to this situation in the state. 

The U.S. Senate candidate joined "FOX & Friends First" to react to this footage and migrants calling America the "land of opportunity." 

"These guys have been asleep at the wheel. They have allowed these people to come into this country, people from countries that don't love America," Lamb said about the federal government. 

Dec. 5, 2023: Migrants flee through a gap being repaired in the border wall in Lukeville, Arizona. (Fox News)

One of the thousands of illegal immigrants who crossed into the U.S. at an overwhelmed part of the southern border in Arizona had warm words for the president as he hoped to be released into the country.

"I love you, Joe Biden, thank you for everything, Joe Biden!" the male African migrant told FOX News in Lukeville, Arizona.

"I'm a good person, I want to be good person here in the United States," he said.

FOX News' Bill Melugin has reported extensively this week from the area, explaining that the vast majority of crossers are single adult males.  

Video

Lamb blamed Biden's weakness and "inability to secure the southern border" for causing the influx of migrants.

Additionally, Lamb added that while American families are struggling under the Biden economy, migrants will receive financial support. 

"They're going to give them a plane ticket to wherever they want to go in this country. And they're going to give them a Visa card with $5,000 on it," Lamb said.

"While American families are struggling to pay bills to keep their lights on, keep the rent paid and put presents under their Christmas tree, our government is going to get people that came into this country illegally a phone, a plane ticket and a $5,000 gift card," said Lamb, calling it "unacceptable."

This comes as FBI Director Christopher Wray warns of an increase threat of terrorism in the United States.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Wray to describe the current "threat matrix" facing the United States at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

"What I would say that is unique about the environment that we're in right now in my career is that while there may have been times over the years where individual threats could have been higher here or there than where they may be right now, I've never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated, all at exactly the same time," the FBI director replied. 

Video

In response, Lamb said, "it's almost impossible to spot it because you have 17,500 coming in a week in a 24-hour period. You had 10,000 people come in, not to mention 10,000 unaccompanied minors that they have in custody. The numbers are insurmountable and there's not enough Border Patrol staff to deal with it."

"There's no way for them to process that," he continued. "There's no way for them to catch all the blinking lights that are coming in. And then what they do is put the rest of our communities at risk, across this country. We're worried because this is a reality." 

CBP has been surging resources and personnel to the Tucson Sector -- which typically sees less traffic than other sectors like the Rio Grande Valley-- and has been focusing on transporting migrants laterally to other parts of the border, combined with a greater use of expedited removal as an alternative to them being released into the U.S. 

It is the latest part of a years-long migrant crisis that has engulfed the border since 2021, leading to knock-on crises in major cities like New York City, Chicago and elsewhere.

There were more than 2.4 million migrant encounters in FY 23, a new record. September saw a record for encounters at the southern border, while October saw a record for encounters in October -- with more than 240,000 encounters border-wide.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

FOX News' Bill Melugin, Adam Shaw, and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.

Video