Border authorities recorded more than 2.2 million immigrant encounters in fiscal year 2022 (October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022). In September alone, the number of encounters at the border was 227,547, up 12% from August.
New data released by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) points to a large increase in illegal alien crossings from Mexico, many of them attempted to cross the border repeatedly. In FY 2021, 1.7 million encounters were recorded, which includes Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations Title 8 apprehensions and Title 42 removals.
The Administration points to the arrival of immigrants from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua as one of the main causes of this increase. Only in September, border authorities apprehended 77,302 illegals of these three nationalities, 245% more than in September 2021. However, Chris Magnus, commissioner of CBP, assures that this massive arrival is decreasing.
While failing regimes in Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua continued to drive a new wave of migration across the western Hemisphere, the number of Venezuelans arriving at the southern border decreased sharply nearly every day since we launched additional joint actions with Mexico to reduce irregular migration and create a more fair, orderly and safe process for people fleeing the humanitarian and economic crisis in their country.
Multiple border crossing attempts
According to the Administration, the large number of removals during the pandemic contributed to the higher than usual number of immigrants making multiple attempts to cross the border. In CBP's view, these repeat crossings "overstate" the total number of illegals attempting to enter the country.
However, the truth is that border crossings increase with each new official report. Some reports indicate that more than five million illegals have arrived in the country since Joe Biden took office.
