Biden budget director labels record-breaking border crossings a 'traditional pattern'

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OMB director claims 'historic pattern' of migration at US-Mexico border

OMB Director Shalanda Young answered questions on the Biden administration's immigration policies during a Senate Budget Committee hearing March 30, 2022.

Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young argued that the U.S. is preparing to address a "traditional" increase in migration at the U.S. border this spring, despite border crossings already sitting at record-breaking levels.

Young made the statement during Wednesday testimony before the Senate Budget Committee regarding President Biden's budget plan. Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham pressed Young on whether U.S. border agencies had enough resources to address the ongoing crisis, and Young stated that the Biden administration anticipated a "traditional pattern" of increased migration and that authorities had enough funding.

"Look we have a pattern of migration, and we are preparing to ramp up for a traditional pattern of additional people coming across the border," Young stated.

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"My question is do you support eliminating Title 42 deportation authority?" Graham asked.

Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young appears before the Senate Budget Committee at the Capitol, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

"I don't have a personal opinion," Young responded. "I believe we, from a resource position, are putting forth enough money to deal with a historic pattern."

Title 42 is a border protection put in place under former President Donald Trump. The policy was meant to address the impacts of COVID-19 at the U.S.-Mexico border and allows authorities to rapidly deport asylum seekers. The White House has admitted that ending Title 42 would cause a further increase in migration.

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U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Chief Raul Ortiz has sounded the alarm that this year's migration trends at the southern border are far from "traditional," however. The USBP is on track to see 1 million border encounters in Fiscal Year 2022 by the end of next week. FY2022 began in October 2021.

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""Probably in the next two or three days we’ll get over a million encounters or apprehensions along the southwest border," Ortiz said at a border security conference in San Antonio, Texas, adding that "every sector is busier than they were back in ‘21."

FY 2021 itself set an all-time record for border encounters at 1.7 million.

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The Biden administration has repeatedly attempted to dismiss border surges as a yearly pattern. While the southern border has seen a pattern of increases in migration each spring, the surges in both 2021 and 2022 have far outpaced previous years.

"What is happening today, and I’d like to think it’s happening because I’m a nice guy, but it’s not – because it’s what happens every year," Biden said in March 2021.