At least 216,000 illegal immigrants crossed the border in January

At least 156,274 illegal immigrants crossed the U.S. border during January, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This does not account for another estimated 60,000 migrants who managed to elude Border Patrol and remain unaccounted for.

This data represents a 40% decrease from December's numbers, when there were 251,978 migrant encounters, in addition to some 87,631 that managed to evade border authorities. During Joe Biden's presidency, apprehensions of illegal immigrants have exceeded 150,000 per month for 23 consecutive months.

Twenty-three consecutive months with at least 150,000 migrant encounters

According to CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller, "The January monthly operational update clearly illustrates that new border enforcement measures are working, with the lowest level of Border Patrol encounters between Ports of Entry since February of 2021." Miller further analyzed that "those trends have continued into February, with average encounters of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans plummeting."

Border Patrol data indicate that Texas continued to bear the brunt of irregular immigrants entries. The El Paso and Del Rio sectors recorded the highest amount of migrant traffic.