Border Protection officials are continuing to highlight the crisis that is gripping the southern border of the United States.

During testimony before the Senate Homeland Security Committee today, U.S. Border Patrol Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Rodolfo Karisch told senators that the situation is worse than ever.

“In my 30 years as an agent, I have never witnessed the conditions we are currently facing on the southwest border,” Karisch said.

“This is not a manufactured crisis created by those of us who live and work in the border area. Border patrol continues to apprehend record numbers of people who purposely violate U.S. immigration laws, we are taken advantage of by gaps in our legal framework that undermine the rule of law,” he told the committee.

“Criminal organizations along the border capitalize on these issues and make tremendous profits at the expense of both migrants and the American people.

Karisch said the RGV sector is relatively small — the southern tip of Texas — but accounts for 38 percent of all illegal immigration along the southwest border.

He anticipates his sector alone will see 260,000 apprehensions this fiscal year.

RGV agents apprehend 1,000 illegals every day, he told senators, the equivalent of “17 commercial buses.”

“Much media attention has focused on caravans from Central America, but the fact is RGV is receiving caravan-equivalent numbers of migrants every 7 days,” Karisch said.

“It’s never been easier for us to get families in,” Germán, a client recruiter for human smugglers in Guatemala, recently told The Guardian. “People want to leave, and we help them. And I happen to make money in the process.”

Intentionally or not, CNN exposed how illegals are exploiting the system.

“Kudos to Chris Cuomo for revealing that what’s driving illegal immigration from Central America are job opportunities in the U.S. and asylum loopholes,” Numbers USA posted to Twitter with a video of Cuomo’s interview. “Very few have legitimate credible fear claims. This is how reporting is done. Congress continues to allow this crisis to build.”

“Is he here to work, or is he here for asylum?” Cuomo asks in the segment.

“He wants to work, but if he gets asylum, he’s willing to ask for asylum,” the interpreter said.

“Why did he take his kid to come here if it’s just to work?” Cuomo asked.

“It’s what you and I were talking about,” the interpreter said. “He said that if he comes here with his son, then he’s allowed to stay.”