Illegal Border Crossing Top 12.5 Million

Despite claims of improved border control, the number of illegal border crossings has soared to over 12.5 million under the Biden-Harris administration—surpassing the populations of 45 U.S. states and setting new records.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently released data showing that southwest border encounters have dropped to their lowest level in nearly four years. According to CBP, illegal border crossings fell by 34% from June to July, a decline attributed to a presidential proclamation issued in June.

Troy Miller, a senior official currently acting as the CBP Commissioner, credited recent Biden-Harris administration policies for the reduction, stating that these measures led to the lowest number of encounters along the southwest border in over three years.

However, despite these reported decreases, the total number of apprehended illegal border crossers exceeded 10.5 million as of July, with two months still remaining in the fiscal year. This figure does not include approximately 2 million “gotaways,” individuals who entered the country illegally and evaded capture. When combined, the total number of illegal border crossers reaches more than 12.5 million, which surpasses the populations of 45 individual U.S. states. If these individuals were considered a state, they would rank as the sixth most populous, ahead of Illinois.

This marks a significant increase compared to previous years. In March, the number of illegal border crossers was greater than the populations of 43 states, up from 23 states in June 2022 when The Center Square first began making such comparisons. No other presidential administration in U.S. history has reported numbers close to this level within a single term.

Since the start of fiscal year 2021, the total number of apprehended illegal border crossers has reached 10,522,029, excluding the 2 million gotaways. For context, Illinois has an estimated population of 12,516,863.

The Center Square has reported consistently since early 2021 that the number of illegal border crossers has increased since President Joe Biden took office. The publicly reported CBP apprehension data does not include gotaways, nor does it account for those labeled as “inadmissible” but released into the country through a CBP One phone app or through various parole programs established by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Several of these programs were deemed illegal by the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security and were cited as evidence in the impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas in February.

The CBP data also excludes hundreds of thousands of individuals admitted through parole programs from specific countries, facilitated by processing centers opened in Colombia and Guatemala.

U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., criticized the administration’s handling of the border, stating, “Despite the false narrative they’re attempting to project, the unprecedented border crisis the president and his ‘border czar’ have created continues to rage on.” He accused the administration of creating the illusion of improved border control by encouraging inadmissible aliens to cross at official ports of entry rather than between them, which he said places a growing burden on communities.

Green further noted that total encounters at U.S. ports of entry, including land, sea, and air, have risen sharply compared to the first year of the Biden-Harris administration and are on track to surpass last year’s totals. He highlighted that since January 2023, more than 1.28 million inadmissible aliens have been granted entry to the U.S. through the CBP One and CHNV mass-parole programs.

He also condemned the administration’s border policies for causing long-term damage, referencing the tragic deaths of Americans such as Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray, who were allegedly killed by criminal foreign nationals released into the country.

Nationwide, 2,597,784 illegal foreign nationals have been apprehended so far this fiscal year, following a record 3.2 million in fiscal 2023. Fiscal years 2022 and 2021 also saw record-breaking numbers, with over 2.7 million and nearly 2 million apprehensions, respectively. The majority of those apprehended each year are single adults.

At the southwest border, 1,925,773 illegal border crossers have been apprehended this fiscal year through July, following a record nearly 2.5 million in fiscal 2023. This continues a trend of increasing apprehensions, with nearly 2.4 million in fiscal 2022 and over 1.7 million in fiscal 2021.

The northern border has also seen unprecedented numbers under the current administration, with 162,865 illegal border crossers apprehended so far this fiscal year, following a record nearly 190,000 in fiscal 2023 and nearly 110,000 in fiscal 2022. These numbers are a stark increase from the 27,000 apprehended in fiscal 2021.