Record Number of Apprehensions Along Southern Border in March

On April 8, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released the latest apprehension numbers at the Southwest border for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021.

The data show that border officials apprehended 172,231 migrants last month – a 71 percent increase from the 101,028 arrests made in February. The March numbers at the southern border are the highest total for that month since FY 2000.

The number of unaccompanied alien minors apprehended by immigration officials reached 18,890 last month – a 100 percent increase from February, another record-breaking figure for a single month. The main countries of origin of these migrants are Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

Only six months into FY 2021, the Southwest border has experienced a total of 569,879 apprehensions. This is more than the totals of both Fiscal Years 2018 and 2020. FY 2021 has already surpassed half of the border arrests of FY 2019, during a similar border crisis.

According to NPR, a CBP official noted that Border Patrol agents have also witnessed an increase of “got aways,” which are illegal aliens who have been detected by surveillance cameras or border agents themselves but were not caught. This issue is seldom covered by the mainstream media, but poses an important question: How many illegal aliens have actually entered the United States without being processed by border agents?

This shocking data should concern every American. Considering that apprehension numbers typically soar in the warmer months of May and June, the southern border has already reached alarming numbers of immigration arrests. At this rate, the U.S. is on track to reach unprecedented apprehensions for FY 2021.

CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy Miller commented on the recent numbers, saying, “CBP has experienced an increase in encounters and arrests. This is not new. Encounters have continued to increase since April 2020, and our past experiences have helped us be better prepared for the challenges we face this year.”

Commissioner Miller is representing the facts. As he pointed out, the number of apprehensions has indeed risen since last April, but the rise increase has been exponential since President Biden’s election. Despite this, the Biden administration has continued to implement several disastrous immigration policies and scrapped effective ones, exacerbating the border crisis.

Some of the discarded protocols that helped ease tension on the border were the asylum agreements with Mexico and the Northern Triangle nations. By requiring migrants to apply for asylum in neighboring nations and not being allowed to wait in the U.S., it turned off a magnet for illegal immigration to the southern border.

Adding to this self-induced crisis, the administration has reinstated “catch and release.” Many illegal aliens have been released into the country’s interior thanks to this procedure – some of whom have not been assigned immigration court dates. 

President Biden has not only failed to mitigate the problem of illegal border crossings; his faulty asylum protocols and promise of amnesty have enticed foreign nationals to flood into our nation. Unless his administration reverses course and implements sound immigration policies, this crisis will worsen, and Americans will pay an even more devastating price than they are already bearing.