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Lord, we pray for Jason Owens. Use him to raise morale, God, and to secure our border!
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A new Border Patrol chief is taking over, inheriting low morale and a border in crisis. As Owens moves into this new position, let’s make sure to lift him up in prayer.

From The Daily Signal. Jason Owens’ greatest challenge as new chief of the U.S. Border Patrol is improving agents’ morale, immigration experts say.

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Border Patrol agents are “overwhelmed,” Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Daily Signal.

“Improving morale amongst Border Patrol agents” will be Owens “biggest challenge,” Arthur said. Those agents, he said, “feel appropriately unappreciated by the Biden administration.”

“Morale must be in the tank,” Heritage Foundation scholar Simon Hankinson said.

Owens takes the helm of the Border Patrol on Friday with the retirement of Chief Raul Ortiz.

Concerns over morale stem in part from the loss of 17 U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees to suicide in 2022, the greatest number in over a decade.

Owens also steps into the chief’s position as encounters with illegal aliens at the southern and northern borders remain historically high compared to the numbers before President Joe Biden took office in January 2021.

Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, reported encountering over 2 million illegal aliens on America’s borders since fiscal year 2023 began Oct. 1. By comparison, in all of fiscal 2020, the agency said it encountered 646,822 illegal aliens.

Critics note that the increase occurred after Biden named Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, parent agency to the Border Patrol and CPB.

“Taking over command of the U.S. Border Patrol under the leadership of Secretary Mayorkas will be a thankless task,” Hankinson, a senior research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said of Owens’ arrival. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.)

Many congressional Republicans have joined Heritage and other conservative organizations in criticizing Mayorkas, arguing that the homeland security secretary has failed to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and Clay Higgins, R-La., introduced articles of impeachment against Mayorkas.

The Border Patrol always could use more resources, Hankinson said, but the problem isn’t a lack of trucks or staff, but “a deliberate policy by the Biden administration to allow as many illegal immigrants in as can physically be processed, and to use Border Patrol agents as social workers.”

The Biden administration pulled Border Patrol agents from the physical border to process the record number of illegal aliens entering the country, according to Mark Morgan, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Trump administration and now a visiting fellow in Heritage’s Border Security and Immigration Center.

Hankinson said he has witnessed “agents at the border handing out luggage tags, forming lines, entering data into a phone app, and helping inadmissible aliens get on buses.”

“Their role was more like Disney cast members than federal agents,” he said.

Hankinson added that the Biden administration’s policies likely harm morale:

The Border Patrol is being hamstrung in its core function—keeping out inadmissible aliens and goods—by their own leaders. No new chief can change that. The [Department of Homeland Security] has turned its resources from deterring and detaining inadmissible aliens towards processing them and moving them inland. Agents who signed on to defend their country are instead assisting illegal aliens to enter. They know this is contrary to the laws they were taught to enforce. Morale must be in the tank.

Given the high influx of migrants at America’s borders, Owens was likely the most apparent choice to take over for Ortiz.

Owens most recently served as chief of the Del Rio sector, consistently one of the busiest sections of the southern border.

He joined the Border Patrol in 1996 and has received numerous promotions throughout his tenure. In 2007, he became assistant chief at Border Patrol headquarters in Washington. After multiple transfers and promotions, he was named chief patrol agent of the Houlton sector, which covers the entire state of Maine.

Owen’s impressive resume indicates he is equipped to do the job, the Center for Immigration Studies’ Arthur said, because “the agents want to have one of their own in charge.”

Owens takes the helm of the Border Patrol less than two months after the public health measure known at Title 42 expired. The measure had allowed the Border Patrol under the Trump administration to quickly expel some illegal aliens from the southern border during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Title 42 expired May 11, the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security implemented new policies that Mayorkas said would allow illegal aliens to enter America through “lawful pathways.”

Mayorkas’ reference to “lawful pathways” includes use of a mobile app called CBP One, which allows illegal aliens to schedule an appointment at a port of entry to seek asylum.

Since the expiration of Title 42, the Biden administration says, illegal entries between ports of entry along the southwest border have dropped 70%.

But Morgan said the administration’s reports of “low” border encounters are “all smoke and mirrors.”

He said illegal aliens simply go to ports of entry and continue to be released into the United States. And CPB’s recent encounter numbers don’t show a dramatic decline in the number of illegal aliens entering the country.

CPB publishes the number of migrant encounters for each month on its website. Encounters by “Border Patrol” refer to encounters between ports of entry; encounters by the “Office of Field Operations” refer to those at ports of entry.

The official number of border encounters for May shows a slight decline compared to April in the number of migrants entering between ports of entry, but an increase in those arriving at ports of entry.

Under the Biden administration’s new policies, Heritage’s Morgan said, families and unaccompanied children are not being turned away at the border.

Looking ahead, Arthur said he anticipates the situation at the southern border will become “much worse in the next couple of months.”

“I think that the population of migrants, in response to the administration’s latest policies, is going to shift,” Arthur told The Daily Signal. “We’re going to start to see a lot more family units entering the United States illegally. So, you know, that’s going to be very difficult; dealing with kids is always the biggest challenge for Border Patrol.”

How are you praying for Jason Owens, our Border Patrol, and our nation’s border? Share this article to encourage others to pray.

(Used with permission. From The Daily Signal. Photo Credit: CBP)

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Dee Jacobsen
July 8, 2023

Father God, please equip our new Border chief with all 6 pieces of Ephesians 6 armor. May he be covered with your protection 24/7 with the Helmet of salvation firmly on his head, the belt of truth encircling his waist, the breastplate of righteousness keeping his heart engaged, the shield of faith to ensure he is trusting You, the feet of readiness to step wherever you lead him and the sword of the spirit to reveal to him your words of courage as he needs them. Be his Everything and enable him to feel your presence, peace & provision as he tackles this job You entrust to him!

3
Darlene Estlow
July 8, 2023

Father encourage him and give him favor. May he trust you and receive your strength and wisdom.

2
Hj
July 7, 2023

Lord you are the God of the impossible.. and we see that you have lifted up a mortal man to be a conduit through which your miraculous mind and power can work.. because Lord -,that is the only way that the situation can be resolved.. and we know that you created the Earth in a very short period of time..and you can move mountains into the Sea- Lord-,so we just pray and ask that your glory will be manifested through Jason Owens-, that his mind will be stayed in your rest -,he will be hungry for your word- and time will be shifted -situations will be adjusted -that it is apparent that you’re miraculous glorious power is working through Jason Owens- and that however you work through the situation in whatever time frame Lord that Jason Owens will not grow weary in well doing- and our prayers will still emanate out from us-,that you provide for America , as you provide the solutions here Lord -,and however long it takes in whatever way it takes- we will worry,in Lord Jesus name’, amen amen

5
Gail Segars Rainey
July 7, 2023

I am in total agreement with these prayers for Jason Owens! Thank You, Lord, for his willingness to take on this very difficult position. Father, in the Name of Jesus Christ, we ask that you would give to Jason Owens the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that the eyes of his understanding would be enlightened; that he may know what is the hope of Your calling, what are the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of Your power toward us who believe, according to the working of Your mighty power which You worked in Christ when You raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And that You would grant to Jason Owens, according to the riches of Your glory, to be strengthened with might through Your Spirit in his inner man, that Christ may dwell in his heart through faith; that his being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that Jason Owens may be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen and amen.

4
Judy Dodson
July 5, 2023

Lord give your servant wisdom and discernment how to proceed. Bless Him in Jesus Name.

12
Peg B
July 5, 2023

Heavenly Father, we lift up Jason Owens to You and give You thanks. Please give this servant an understanding mind to govern Your people in the position he has been assigned. That he may discern between good and evil, just as King Solomon prayed for. Let him be a man after Your heart Lord and surround him with Your wise counsel. Let his decisions be pleasing in Your sight and bring honor and glory to Your name. Grant him supernatural peace and may Your words be ever present on both his mind and on the staff he is appointed over. Cause wickedness to flee and confound every divisive act along our borders. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.

18
    Laura K
    July 6, 2023

    Amen and amen and Lord make this man a steady rock for others to look to as You inspire him to do and say the right things. Let him be a Godly encouragement to those who are boots on the ground.

    6

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