Biden's border: 2.7 million ‘encounters’ for year, 1 million 'gotaways'

FPI / October 24, 2022

In a move critics say was made to limit political fallout, Team Biden waited until late Friday evening to release a report on the number of illegals encountered at the U.S. southern border in September. That number, 227,000, shattered past records set on Joe Biden's watch.

For the fiscal year, there were 2,766,582 encounters, also a record. In the last full fiscal year for President Donald Trump, there were 646,822 encounters.

In a report released just before midnight, Team Biden also said that so-called “got-aways,” or those who slipped into the U.S. without being caught, has reached 1 million during this administration.

Border Patrol agents also apprehended 20 terrorism suspects in September, setting a new monthly record.

Tom Homan, former acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, said: “This is a shameful episode in our history, and the ones who are suffering are not the elites in their gated and secured Beltway communities. It’s the Border Patrol agents being overwhelmed on a daily basis. It’s the families who have been ripped apart losing a loved one to fentanyl or other drugs. And it’s the migrants themselves, who are worthless to the cartels once they’ve been paid. The next Congress better do something about it.”

Federation for American Immigration Reform spokesman R.J. Hauman slammed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for playing games with the release of the numbers.

“Secretary Mayorkas clearly hid these border numbers on behalf of Biden and the Democratic Party for political purposes, which is why he released them late on a Friday night. How can anyone vote for a party that puts politics first and America last?” said Hauman.

In an interview with NBC News last month, Kamala Harris asserted that the U.S. has “a secure border in that that is a priority for any nation, including ours, and our administration.”

After the late-Friday report, Texas Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar said it’s clear to him that the southern border “is not secure.”

“No, the border is not secure. When you had 1.7 million individuals last year, and now another 2.7 [million], that’s over 4.5 million individuals encountered at the border, plus if you add the getaways, that’s going to be over 5 million individuals in just two years,” Cuellar, whose district sits on the border, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “No, the border is not secured, and we’ve got to make sure that we have repercussions there.”

Mark Morgan, former acting Customs and Border Patrol commissioner, said: “As bad as it has gotten, things will only get worse, and I fear what major catastrophe could come next. But make no mistake — responsibility for what has happened, and what will happen, lies squarely with this administration.”

Free Press International
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