U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded the highest monthly total of migrant encounters at the southern border ever in December, according to agency data updated Friday.
CBP recorded 302,034 encounters at both ports of entry and between ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border in December, bringing fiscal year 2024’s total crossings to more than 785,000, according to the data. Of the more than 302,000 encounters, Border Patrol recorded a total of 249,785 illegal encounters, according to the data. (RELATED: ‘It’s Dynamic’: ICE Chief Asks Congress To Pony Up More Cash For Detention Beds While Thousands Remain Empty)
EAGLE PASS, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 30: Asylum seekers wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States on September 30, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
In fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol recorded more than 2.2 million encounters of migrants crossing the southern border illegally, according to CBP data. The following fiscal year saw more than 2 million additional encounters in the region.
During the month of December, Eagle Pass, Texas, and Arizona’s Tucson border sector were the sites of mass illegal entries that overwhelmed federal resources in the region.
In response to the surge in Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott seized city property known as Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, where his authorities have erected concertina wire to deter crossings. The Supreme Court recently ruled that federal authorities can take the wire down.
The state refuses to stand down from its post along the border to allow federal authorities into the park, where it continues to erect razor wire.
The House Homeland Security Committee plans to hold a markup next week on impeachment articles against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the record surge in illegal immigration.
“Secretary Mayorkas has outdone himself yet again—never have we seen such catastrophic numbers, even with historically high encounter numbers on his watch. December’s numbers serve as more undeniable proof that Secretary Mayorkas must be impeached,” the committee chairman Mark Green said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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