CNN anchor expresses shock over Border Patrol chief's prediction on border crisis: 'That's a huge number'

CNN host Brianna Keilar expressed shock Friday over Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz's prediction that hundreds of thousands of migrants could be intercepted at the southern United States border over the next 45 days.

What happened?

The border crisis may not be front page news anymore. But that does not mean the situation has improved. In fact, Ortiz told CNN in an interview that his agency is preparing to apprehend a staggering 8,000 migrants per day.

Ortiz told CNN that figure "will probably become the norm over the next 30 to 45 days." He added that he is currently "managing a flow that's significant," but is under 8,000 per day, thus the influx of migrants is "going to put additional strain" on his resources and agents.

As CNN noted, the Border Patrol apprehended — at times — 8,000 migrants in a single day in 2021. But that number has never been the norm.

Keilar reported on Ortiz's remarks Friday morning. She said, "U.S. Officials are scrambling to prepare for a record-breaking surge of migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border this spring. In a CNN exclusive interview, the chief of Border Patrol says he is bracing for a staggering 8,000 apprehensions a day.

"That is a huge number," Keilar exclaimed.

Indeed. If Ortiz is correct, that means Border Patrol agents could apprehend more than 350,000 migrants over the next 45 days, an unfathomable number of people, considering more than 800,000 migrants have already been apprehended in the fiscal year that began in October 2021.

CNN Reports On Biden’s Border Crisis: “Record-Breaking" "Staggering"www.youtube.com

CNN reporter Priscilla Alvarez explained why Ortiz's prediction is highly concerning.

"So there’s a couple reasons why the concern is right now: number one, typically, border arrests go up in the warmer months and we’re heading into the spring so we’re already starting to see that happen," Alvarez said.

"Number two, we are waiting for a decision on a Trump-era pandemic emergency rule. What that rule did is allow authorities to turn people away at the border. We are waiting next week for a CDC decision whether that stays in effect. If it doesn’t, that means we go back to the traditional protocols, which would be releasing migrants, sometimes monitoring them when that happens, detaining them, or removing them if they don’t have an asylum claim," she explained. "But that takes processing, that takes time.

Compounding the problem, according to Alvarez, is that Border Patrol resources are already "over capacity."