March Illegal Border Crossings Hit 221K, Highest In 22 Years

Illegal border crossings hit 221K this past March, breaking a 22 year old record.

A CBS News report published last Friday illustrated the historical nature of March 2022 border crossings.

“Nearly 210,000 of the migrant encounters last month were recorded by Border Patrol, which arrests migrants who entered the U.S. illegally. The last time monthly Border Patrol apprehensions were higher was in March 2000, when the agency reported 220,063 migrant arrests, according to historical CBP data.”

The crisis at our southern border under the Biden administration has been pronounced to say the least.

The previous high during Biden’s time in office was 213,593 apprehensions in July 2021.

The NY Post reported the numbers from March were a significant increase from February’s numbers.

The disclosures, which were made in response to a lawsuit by the attorneys general of Texas and Missouri supporting the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy toward asylum-seekers, indicate a 34% increase in the number of encounters over February, when 164,973 stops were reported.

CAPS has covered this topic extensively and warned of a historic border crisis this spring into the summer, especially once Title 42 is rescinded.

As the NY Post pointed out, this policy is set to be lifted in just five weeks.

Once this policy is lifted those numbers at the border have the potential to drastically increase.

Of further note is an important statistic about border detention facilities cited in the lawsuit response by the attorneys general of Texas and Missouri.

DHS reported that the current average daily usage rate throughout March 2022 for CBP detention was 24.5% for OFO facilities and 244% for Border Patrol facilities, Ex. A at 3 & n.11, and approximately 77.75% for ICE detention facilities.

So we’re facing an ever increasing, record breaking wave of illegal border crossings, the Biden administration is rescinding policies which would mitigate the crisis, and our border detention facilities are already at or nearing capacity?

That sounds like a recipe for a national disaster.

We’re in uncharted territory and unless the Biden administration starts to take this crisis seriously, it’s going to become increasingly difficult to stem the tide.