When John Modlin, the chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Feb. 7, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) asked him a straightforward question.

"How many agents roughly do you guys think that the Border Patrol needs right now?" she said.

"So, the Border Patrol is at about 19,300 or so," he said. "I think a reasonable amount of agents for the Border Patrol would be about 22,000."

Yet, during President Joe Biden's time in office, as Jake Smith of the Daily Caller News Foundation has reported, Customs and Border Protection has faced two challenges: a surge in illegal immigrants coming across the border and a stagnation in the number of Border Patrol agents deployed to stop them.

On May 3, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security issued a report entitled "Intensifying Conditions at the Southwest Border Are Negatively Impacting CBP and ICE Employees' Health and Morale."

"CBP and ICE workloads have grown significantly due to factors beyond the Department of Homeland Security's control, namely increasing border encounters and travel volume," said this report. "Despite greater workloads, staffing levels have remained the same, with CBP and ICE using details and overtime to temporarily address the rising number of encounters along the Southwest........

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