In a bid to put the issue of illegal immigration back into the presidential debate, outspoken critic Sen. Jeff Sessions on Monday issued a "Critical Alert" warning of a potentially historic surge of over the border.

"We are simply overwhelmed," his statement said. In it he estimated the Fiscal Year 2016 illegal crossings at 817,740.

"There is a crisis at our southwest border — one that in many ways exceeds the crisis we saw just two years ago, one that further undermines the integrity of our immigration system, but one that the most of the media has elected to ignore," said Sessions, an advisor to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Sessions listed the new numbers and details of the surge of undocumented illegal immigrants arriving at U.S. Border Patrol stations or simply crossing over. Among them:

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is currently detaining more than 40,000 aliens, with internal predictions indicating that the number could reach 47,000 in the coming months.
• In fiscal 2016, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 408,870 illegal aliens at the southern border; a number 23 percent higher than in fiscal 2015.
• Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, was quoted as saying just half of illegals are caught crossing the border.
• Calculating illegal entries based on that formula, 408,870 illegal aliens evaded detection in fiscal 2016, for a total of approximately 817,740 illegal entries into the United States last year.

Sessions said the border crisis demands a new president and approach to reforming immigration starting with a closed border.

"The integrity of our immigration system and our national sovereignty require a real change in enforcement. The future of our nation depends on strong, secure borders, and a president willing to enforce our laws. Without a commitment to deport aliens who violate our immigration laws, we lose our ability to protect our communities from criminal aliens, terrorism, and cartel-related crime and violence," he said.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com