The Customs and Border Protection is expecting a massive surge in migrant encounters as “Title 42” is set to expire on December 21.
The U.S. has been seeing massive migrant numbers since Biden announced in April that he would be lifting “Title 42,” a controversial border policy implemented by former President Donald Trump back in March 2020 that allowed the border agency to turn migrants away.
Since then, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reported that nearly 2.4 million migrants were detained at the border for the fiscal year ending in September, breaching the already-historic 1.7 million migrant detainees last year.
NEW: Our team on scene as another group of several hundred migrants crossed illegally into Eagle Pass, TX before sunrise this AM. The overwhelming majority of the people crossing there continue to be Dominicans, Nicaraguans, Colombians, & Cubans. Almost all adults. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/H9tWhSXPkJ
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 10, 2022
“The nearly half-million encountered since October means the numbers are outpacing FY 2022, when there were over 517,000 encounters by the end of December, and FY 21 where there were just over 216,000 in the same period. In FY 2020, there were only 458,058 encounters for the entire fiscal year,” Fox News reported.
Additionally, new data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform showed that at least 6,200 illegal immigrants are entering the U.S. every day.
According to the data, nearly 87,000 illegal aliens entered the country through the southern border without being apprehended in October alone, while around 105,000 illegal aliens were released into the U.S. as part of the Biden administration’s catch and release network.
Together, this brings the total preliminary number of border crossers who entered American communities to about 192,000, just for October.
The Biden administration’s border policy appears to have affected voting among members of the Hispanic population, a group of voters who normally support the Democratic Party in large numbers. Hispanic voters in the most recent midterm election appeared to change their political philosophies.
The numbers are likely only to increase with the impending ending of “Title 42.” The DHS has said repeatedly that it has a six-point plan in place to deal with the imminent influx in population that it anticipates will occur.
That plan includes an increase in resources and manpower, as well as a greater use of alternative authorities—such as expedited removal and penalties for unlawful crossings—more frequently. The administration has also emphasized its anti-smuggling initiatives and partnerships with nations in the Western Hemisphere.
