Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents registered more than 12,000 migrant encounters during the influx, which is the highest total in a single day on record. This included more than 10,200 apprehensions of illegal immigrants by Border Patrol agents. Although it is a shocking number no matter how you look at it, it came after several consecutive days in which migrant encounters along the southwestern border exceeded 10,000.
These figures do not represent all of the migrants who made their way into the country; there are countless known and unknown “gotaways” that do not form part of these numbers, and it is also important to consider the fact that there are numerous illegal entries at other ports of entry and borders every day.
“Gotaways” – people who are known to have gotten into the country illegally and were not caught – can add up significantly, with the first 16 days of October seeing more than 18,000 people evade CBP agents and slip into the U.S.
To put those numbers in perspective, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who held the role from 2013 to 2017, once called 1,000 apprehensions in one day a “bad day”; his idea of a “crisis” was 4,000 – just a third of what we saw on Tuesday.
In an interview only four years ago with MSNBC, Johnson noted: “I know that 1,000 overwhelms the system.”
On Wednesday morning, CBP had more than 22,000 migrants in custody, sending border resources, which were already under great pressure, to the breaking point.
The previous record for migrant encounters in one day was set in May, when 10,000 migrants made their way into the country as Title 42 was set to expire and transform how people are processed. Unfortunately, stricter measures never came to fruition, and we are still seeing thousands of migrants cross the border each day.
In fact, this fiscal year has seen the greatest number of migrant encounters on record at 2.4 million thanks to the Biden Administration policies, with September registering the highest number of illegal crossings ever at 260,000. This October also set a record for October encounters with 240,000 migrant encounters.
One area that has been particularly hard hit is the Tucson Sector in Arizona. Remote parts of the area have seen a surge in migrant encounters, many of whom are adult males from far-flung locations like the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
The Tucson Sector recently set a record for weekly total encounters as 17,500 illegals made their way across the border there.
Border Patrol agents can't protect us from criminals and terrorists when they're too busy processing migrant influxes
Another hotspot is Lukeville, Arizona, where around 1,000 illegal aliens cross into the U.S. each day. Fox News recently reported that adult migrants were camping out for long periods while waiting for Border Patrol agents to process them and release them into the country. They are currently overwhelmed and unable to accommodate everyone. Some of the migrants told a reporter that they are hoping to make their way to places like New York City.
A former Border Patrol chief, Rodney Scott, told the New York Post that when border patrol agents are overwhelmed with influxes of migrants, they have to spend all their time processing them and filling in paperwork. This means they cannot patrol the border to look out for criminals, terrorists, drug smugglers and gotaways.
National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd agreed, saying: “We’re not out there actively doing law enforcement duties — we’re doing administrative duties. We’re not protecting the American people.”
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