270,000 Migrants Tried to Cross into US Over Southern Border in September—Highest Number Ever; High Migrant Numbers Break Multiple Records in New Blow to Biden Border Strategy

270,000 migrants tried to cross into US over southern border in September—highest number ever:

More encounters were recorded on the United States’ southern border in the 2023 fiscal year than any other since the government began collecting those records in 1960, shocking new data showed.

September alone also broke monthly records on the border, with 269,735 apprehensions recorded, according to new figures released by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The record had previously been set in December 2022, which saw 252,315 people try to cross into the US. The third highest month recorded was August this year with 232,963 people.

Border officers saw over 2.4 million encounters in the last fiscal year ending on September 30, according to the federal agency’s stats — capping off the third year in a row southern border apprehension numbers smashed records set the year before.

More than 2.3 million people tried to enter the US in the 2022 fiscal year, while the year before that the record was set at over 1.7 million.

In 2020, the fiscal year before President Biden took office, there were just 458,088.

That figure does not include “gotaways” — those who are known to have made the crossing into the US but not been apprehended, either those who had been seen on camera but not been apprehended to those who had been able to get away from border patrol officers.

Earlier this month, CBP chief Jason Owens warned that with border agents overwhelmed by having to process migrants handing themselves in legally at points of entry on the southern border, an average of 1,125 gotaways were slipping into the country daily. Fox news reported on Monday there were 23,000 “known gotaways” since Oct. 1.

“These are individuals whose identities & purpose we do not know. That is why you need every Border Patrol agent to be in the field and on patrol,” he wrote on X. —>READ MORE HERE

High migrant numbers break multiple records in new blow to Biden border strategy:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Saturday announced that migrant numbers at the southern border for the month of September had reached new levels with the highest monthly encounters on record as well as the highest fiscal year total on record, in a significant blow to the Biden administration’s border strategy.

There were 269,735 migrant encounters in September, of which 218,763 were encountered entering illegally by Border Patrol agents. That brings the yearly total for migrants at the southern border for FY 23 to 2.48 million, higher than the 2.38 million in FY 22 and 1.73 million in FY 21. There were just 458,088 encounters in FY 2020.

Of those who entered, 43,000 individuals were processed in through ports of entry via the controversial CBP One app, which allows migrants to schedule an appointment to be paroled into the U.S.

Meanwhile, there were 18 encounters of people on the terror watch list between ports of entry at the southern border, taking the total for FY 23 up to 169 — a new record and more than the last six fiscal years combined.

In a statement, acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said that the agency is surging resources and personnel “in response to high rates of encounters” at the border. The White House this week asked Congress for $14 billion in funding for its border strategy, including more staffing and money for migrant services.

Miller also noted the start this week of deportation flights directly to Venezuela, where a significant part of the migrant population is coming from.

“We are continually engaging with domestic and foreign partners to address historic hemispheric migration, including large migrant groups traveling on freight trains, and to enforce consequences, including by preparing for direct repatriations to Venezuela,” Miller said. “CBP will continue to remain vigilant, making operational adjustments as necessary and enforcing consequences under U.S. immigration law.”

“The supplemental funding request announced yesterday would provide critically needed additional resources, including additional CBP agents and officers to support our essential missions: from border and migration management, to countering fentanyl and keeping dangerous drugs out of our communities,” he said. —>READ MORE HERE

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