1.2M 'GOT AWAY'
More than 1 million illegal migrants reportedly have evaded authorities while crossing the border since President Biden took office.
Customs and Border Protection sources told Fox News that border agents have tallied 1.2 million migrants who got away after an illegal crossing since January 2021.
CBP records the number of migrant encounters at the southern border monthly; it doesn’t compile how many are on authorities’ radar but aren’t taken into custody.
Monthly record
Since Biden took office, the flow of migrants has jumped drastically.
Federal officials tracked 251,487 illegal entry encounters at the USMexican border in December 2022. That figure — a record for highest monthly total — tops the 179,253 in December 2021 and the 73,994 in December 2020, CBP data states.
The migrant surge in December 2022 intensified as the Trump-era Title 42 policy was set to expire — before the Supreme Court kept it in place for now.
Amid migrant surge, many evade patrols
The order lets Border Patrol agents quickly return migrants to Mexico in order to fight the spread of COVID-19.
Last month’s tally comes after a record-breaking 2022 fiscal year that notched more than 2.4 million migrants crossing the border. Republicans have sharply criticized Biden’s handling of the border — and recently introduced articles of impeachment against Homeland
Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The massive influx prompted the Texas border city of El Paso to declare a state of emergency in December — and Mayor Adams has assailed federal leaders for inaction in dealing with the migrant surge into New York City.
The Big Apple has received tens of thousands of migrants arriving in buses since last year, which Adams said has placed a heavy burden on municipal services.
Adams’ plan
The Democrat visited El Paso last week, a week after Biden made his first trip to the border since he became president.
Afterward, Adams called on Biden to close the southern border to migrants until after their asylum applications can be reviewed — embracing a key aspect of Donald Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy in a bid to stem the escalating crisis in New York City.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Adams outlined a “decompression strategy” that would also include establishing plans to settle the migrants in the US prior to entry.
In addition, he demanded that there be a system “to fairly distribute newcomers regionally.”
The mayor’s plan also includes federal funding for border screening and “localities where the migrants end up,” as well as “expedited right-to-work status,” and a “clear, congressionally passed pathway to residency or citizenship” for those who are admitted.