Biden Border Crisis: Illegal Crossings Up 63%

While much of the media attention continues to center on the war in Ukraine, the crisis on our southern border continues. Customs and Border Protection encountered 164,973 immigrants illegally crossing the southern border in February. That is 63 percent higher than February 2021 and a 350 percent increase from February 2020. It remains unclear how many of the immigrants were released into the interior of the country.

Fox News: There were 164,973 encounters in February, compared to 101,099 encounters in February last year — a month that preceded a massive surge in numbers in the spring and summer months that overwhelmed Border Patrol but that the administration denied was a crisis. In February 2020 there were just 36,687 encounters.Numbers have decreased since August, but remained high compared to past years. There were 153,941 migrant encounters in Jan. 2022 compared to 78,414 migrant encounters in Jan. 2021. February marks a 7% increase over January’s numbers.

Reporters and CBP officials at the southern border warned that illegal crossings are likely to increase and that the CBP’s numbers do not include the hundreds of thousands of immigrants that evaded law enforcement officials.

A reminder, the busiest spring months are still ahead, and encounters do not account for "gotaways". Last year, there were over 400,000 known gotaways.
This fiscal year, since October 1st, a high level DHS source tells me there are already over 220,000 known gotaways. @FoxNews

— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) March 15, 2022

Republicans slammed the Biden-Harris administration for neglecting the border and allowing the crisis to continue. GOP officials in border states, including Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, are taking action at the local level to manage the crisis.

New York Post: Republicans were quick to slam the administration for the rise on Tuesday, accusing it of refusing to secure the border. . .

“Biden’s border crisis is out of control. Nearly 165,000 illegal immigrants were encountered at the southern border last month, the highest total for February in the history of the Department of Homeland Security,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. “Joe Biden and Democrats’ reckless open border agenda created this crisis, and American families are paying the price with more violent crime, dangerous drugs, and millions of illegal immigrants crossing the southern border.”

Bottom Line: The Biden-Harris administration’s refusal to secure the southern border has created an ongoing, and intensifying, crisis.