U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported a record-breaking number of encounters with unlawful migrants along the southern border during FY 2023, with significant increases clocked each year under the Biden administration.
A CBP report stated that there were a total of 3,201,144 enforcement actions taken along the border during FY 2023, comprising the 1,137,452 encounters reported by the Office of Field Operations and the 2,063,692 encounters reported by Border Patrol.
The total number of enforcement actions logged by CBP has skyrocketed since President Joe Biden became commander in chief, with jumps of more than 400,000 total encounters each fiscal year.
The number of encounters in FY 2024 is also on pace to mark the second-highest number in the last several years, logging 988,819 encounters between October 1, 2023, and January 26, 2024. If the current pace holds steady, roughly 2.97 million enforcement actions will be documented in FY 2024.
Additionally, the House Homeland Security Committee has reported that there were more than 1.7 million “got-aways” — unlawful migrants that the CBP was not able to apprehend — since Biden assumed office.
During each of the first three years of the Biden administration, CBP reported a higher number of encounters than any year during former President Donald Trump’s term.
Although the highest number of encounters during Trump’s presidency was 1,148,024 in FY 2019, no other year during the former president’s administration clocked more than 700,000 encounters.
These figures increased each year since Biden became president, with the record-breaking FY 2023 numbers closing in on the total number of births in the United States that calendar year.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there were 3,745,361 births in the United States in 2023.
The total number of births reported by UNICEF in 2023 was slightly higher than in 2021 and 2022, with the CDC reporting 3,659,289 and 3,661,220 births, respectively.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Biden administration has come under fire for paroling unlawful migrants to await immigration proceedings inside the United States rather than keeping them in detention facilities or deporting them from the country.
More recently, Biden claimed he was prepared to shut down the southern border if Congress passes a bipartisan border security bill the Senate was negotiating, citing certain encounter thresholds that would have to be met to trigger federal action. However, under the thresholds, some 1.8 million unlawful migrants would be able to enter the United States annually before a border shutdown is ordered.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rebuffed the outlines of the proposed border bill, as previously reported by The Dallas Express:
“… President Biden can begin to secure the border by ending catch-and-release, ceasing exploitation of parole authority, reinstating the Remain in Mexico program, expanding the use of expedited removal authority, and renewing construction of the border wall. The President must start by using the broad legal authority he already possesses to reclaim our nation’s sovereignty and end the mass release of illegal aliens into our country.”
For his part, Biden has defended the Senate proposal, swearing he would exercise his authority to shut down the southern border:
“Let’s be clear. What’s been negotiated would – if passed into law – be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country. It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law. Securing the border through these negotiations is a win for America. For everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it. If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill and I will sign it.”