President Joe Biden’s border crisis still rages on as Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 began last month. On November 15, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced authorities encountered 164,303 illegal aliens along the Southwest border in October. While the number of detained illegal aliens decreased from the encounters made in September, October has surpassed the 71,929 encounters made the same month last year – a 128 percent increase. Last month’s figures also exceeded the number of illegal aliens encountered at the southern border in October in the past 21 years.
The data also shows that of the 164,303 illegal aliens detained last month, 29 percent had at least one prior encounter with border agents in the past 12 months, which is double the reentry rate before the pandemic began. Based on the recidivism rate, the Biden administration’s anti-borders mandates encourage foreign nationals to make several attempts to enter the United States unlawfully.
The CBP data does not account for “got-aways,” which are illegal aliens who evaded capture or detection by border officials. An estimated 30,000 illegal aliens escape Border Patrol custody each month, but the number of migrants who entered the country unlawfully is likely much higher. Unfortunately, the record-breaking encounters have not prompted the Biden administration to take meaningful action to tamp down the chaos emanating from the porous border. In fact, the administration has prioritized the possibility of awarding $450,000 to migrants who have violated our immigration laws.
Meanwhile, foreign governments have done more to secure the U.S.-Mexico border than our head of state. Under Mexican President López Obrador’s administration, U.S.-bound migration has slowed thanks to Mexican immigration agents turning away migrant caravans. On top of interior enforcement, Mexico has expanded its efforts to enroll more third-country nationals for asylum instead of migrants traversing the country to the U.S. border to apply for it.
One of the few mechanisms President Biden has kept to reduce illegal immigration is Title 42, which allows CBP to return migrants to their home countries for public health reasons. Of the encountered migrants in October, 57 percent were expelled through the public health measure. The continued use of Title 42 is sound immigration and public health policy, but more needs to be done to regain control of the southern border. As things stand, the U.S. is on track to break more records for unlawful entry, which only spells more trouble for the American people.