Record numbers of illegal aliens have been arrested crossing the United States southern border, according to new data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
So far, this fiscal year —which runs from October through September — border patrol agents have arrested more than 1.82 million migrants. This number is a jump from the previous fiscal year when roughly 1.6 million migrants were arrested. It is also four-and-a-half times higher than CBP border encounters in the 2020 fiscal year.
Why Are Crossings Surging?
A large driver of the spike in illegal border crossings is tied to the pandemic response by governments in South America.
“The pandemic hit Latin America’s economies harder than any region in the world, throwing millions of people out of work and creating a far greater supply of low-wage labor looking for jobs,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “At the same time, the U.S. economy rebounded quickly, creating strong demand for the kinds of low-paying jobs that migrants normally take. Smugglers also told migrants that President Biden’s immigration policies would prove more lenient, an idea that took hold once word spread through WhatsApp chats and Facebook posts that at least some people who had attempted to reach the U.S. were allowed to stay.”
Since President Joe Biden took office, 4.9 million illegal aliens have crossed the southern border and disappeared into the U.S., as shown in border security data from the Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
NEW: We’ve already witnessed 500+ migrants cross illegally into Eagle Pass, TX this morning alone, including this huge single group of 290. You’ll see part of the group walk to the edge of a local highway before being stopped by TX DPS troopers. Almost all single adults. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/O5ySjZqYD3
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 14, 2022
“Roughly the equivalent of the entire population of Ireland has illegally entered the United States in the 18 months President Biden has been in office, with many being released into American communities,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.
“In that time, the Biden administration has blamed an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration on all sorts of external factors, except their own sabotage of our nation’s immigration laws,” he stated. “The endless flow of illegal aliens and the incursion of lethal narcotics pouring across our border will not end until this administration demonstrates a willingness to enforce our laws.”
In July 2022, CBP had 199,976 encounters at the southwest border, marking a 325 percent increase from the average number of July arrests under the Trump administration.
Suspected Terrorists & Cartel Members
CBP data also shows that for Fiscal Year 2022, border patrol agents have already apprehended 66 individuals on the U.S. Terrorist Screening Dataset (TSDS), commonly known as the Terrorist Watchlist.
TSDS is a federal database that contains sensitive information on terrorist identities and has evolved to include affiliates of watch listed individuals, CBP says.
There have also been 627 apprehensions of individuals affiliated with Mexican gangs and drug cartels, including MS-13, 18th Street, Paisas, and the Texas Syndicate.
Illegal Drug Smuggling
The cost of illegal immigration is not just measured by the numbers of crossings and arrests. Thousands of pounds of illegal drugs are crossing the southern border and entering American cities.
In July 2022, 2,071 pounds of fentanyl and 12,989 pounds of methamphetamine were seized at the southern border.
The amount of fentanyl seized is equivalent to 469 million lethal doses, FAIR says.
