U.S. Border Patrol on track to make more than 2 million arrests this fiscal year, shattering records

The Biden administration reported this week that the United States Border Patrol is on track to make more than 2 million arrests of illegal border crossers before the end of the current fiscal year, the first time Customs and Border Patrol arrests have ever reached the 2 million mark.

Republicans have long criticized the White House for what the GOP has labeled a crisis at the Southern border, and the lack of efficient response by the President. In recent weeks, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ramped up his outcry over the border situation by transporting busloads of migrants from the Southern border to “sanctuary cities” New York City and Washington, DC. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey followed suit.

“Joe Biden is making a lot of records when it comes to illegal immigration and drugs but all of them are bad,” said Heritage Foundation director of border security, Lora Ries, to ABC4. “Whether it is the number of migrant deaths at the border, the pounds of fentanyl and other poisonous drugs that are crossing the border, etc.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alexander Mayorkas has repeatedly refuted claims that there is a crisis at the border, saying the southern border is “closed and secure.”

According to CBP numbers, 71 percent of those arrested at the border were adults with no legal claim for refugee status, seeking a better economic life. While the number of total migrants encountered at the border has remained high relative to past years, the July numbers were lower than those of previous months. 

Border Patrol agents did report a higher number of repeat offenders this fiscal year than previous years, saying they encountered 43,000 illegal migrants at the border in July who had already been apprehended in the past year.