CV NEWS FEED // New reports show that nearly a quarter-million encounters between migrants and enforcement agents occurred at the southern border last month alone.
Data from Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) released last Friday showed there were 242,418 encounters in November 2023, an increase of 1,500 from October.
Last month’s total was the second-highest number of encounters in the last three years.
According to the available data listed by the CBP, the only higher total was recorded in September. In that month, there were a record-breaking 269,735 encounters.
In January 2021, the month President Joe Biden took office, only 78,414 encounters were recorded. Just six months later, the total was 213,593 – almost three times higher.
CBP is an agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-TN, commented on the timing of the DHS’ release of the data.
“By strategically holding the release of these numbers until the Friday before Christmas, [DHS] Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is unabashedly showing the full measure of his duplicity,” the Green stated:
These numbers are so bad, [Mayorkas] wants as few Americans to see them as possible.
This cowardly quest to evade accountability is further reason why my committee is initiating impeachment proceedings against Secretary Mayorkas early in the new year.
The Daily Wire noted that the
newly released numbers come amid a broader surge in illegal immigration, with an estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrant gotaways being recorded since Biden took office in 2021. The figure marks roughly a quadrupling of illegal immigrant gotaways compared to 2018, 2019, and 2020 under the Trump administration, when about 415,000 gotaways were reported by CBP.
On a Wednesday appearance on FOX News, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels of Arizona said he has talked to migrants who crossed the southern border. “[They say] ‘we’re here because of your president,’” Dannels said. “We’re here because of President Biden, and that’s why we keep coming.”
Dannels stressed that he believes Biden must “quit relying on everybody else to secure [the border].”
“He needs to take charge,” the border county sheriff said. “He’s our president. He’s taken an oath to protect our country, our citizens, and our borders.”
Multiple Democratic mayors have gone on the record saying that Biden should take more action to address the skyrocketing migrant populations in their cities. Among these mayors are New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Both have been supportive of maintaining their respective cities’ “sanctuary” status.
In addition to the compounding migrant problem, many observers have noted a surge in the trafficking of deadly drugs across the border during the ongoing crisis.
The CBP revealed on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday night that they “seized more than 3,400lbs of fentanyl nationwide” in the last two months.
According to an official Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) website, fentanyl overdose is now the leading cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 45. In addition, over 70% of drug overdose deaths in the past year have been due to fentanyl.
