The number of migrants encountered attempting to enter the United States illegally from Mexico hit the highest level in March since President Joe Biden took office and came close to surpassing the all-time record, an indication of the scale of the illegal immigration crisis.
U.S. border officials intercepted 221,303 migrants attempting to enter the country illegally last month, according to a new federal court document. In the first 14 full months of Biden’s term in office, U.S. border officials have stopped 2.5 million people attempting to cross the southern border unlawfully.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that inspects people and goods entering the country, said 11,397 people tried to cross at the land ports of entry but were denied. The remaining 209,906 came across the border between the ports of entry, where the Border Patrol agents work. Historically, more than 90% of encounters occur along the border rather than at ports.
CBP data show the last time the Border Patrol apprehended more migrants was in February 2000 and March 2000. The agency does not publish earlier data, and the figures from 2000 are likely the highest monthly figures since the Border Patrol was formed in 1924.
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The number of encounters rose by nearly 60,000 from February’s 165,000, as rumors spread that the Biden administration would stop immediately returning illegal immigrants in the coming months. The administration later announced a May end date to Title 42, the pandemic policy for turning away all migrants crossing the border illegally.
The 221,303 total encounters in March are a far cry from the 50,000-encounter average over the past decade. They do not include people who successfully evaded detection when crossing the border illegally.
Of the 221,303, border officials immediately returned 123,304 to Mexico or another country. More than 80,000 people were released into the U.S. to await appearances in immigration court, likely years down the road, due to the 1.5 million cases on the docket.
Encounters at the southern border have fluctuated month to month for years, but they dropped to a historic low of 20,000 in March 2020. Illegal crossing attempts from Mexico began to rise as the Border Patrol turned away migrants under pandemic restrictions rather than referring them for prosecution, essentially giving migrants unlimited tries to get into the U.S. without facing consequences. The 20,000 figure hit 71,000 by December 2020, weeks before Biden took office.
When Biden took office in January 2021, his administration stopped turning away children who showed up alone at the border, as had been protocol under Title 42. In that time, more children have arrived at the southern border than at any time in U.S. history.
Biden also attempted to halt deportations for 100 days, suspended border wall construction, and vowed to rescind initiatives that turned away asylum-seekers at the nation’s borders, moves that sent a signal to the world that likely prompted many to travel to the U.S. In addition, the pandemic has had the harshest economic effect on Latin American nations, leading more people to flee to the U.S.
Illegal entry attempts quickly rose, topping 169,000 in March as Biden eased border policies, including ending the Migrant Protection Protocols, implemented under then-President Donald Trump and also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy, that had forced migrants to live in Mexico while asylum cases were processed in the courts.
Biden initially downplayed the uptick in illegal migration this spring as “seasonal.” But the numbers continued to spike through the summer, when fewer migrants have historically been apprehended at the border because the heat acts as a deterrent. Encounters topped 210,000 in July and 195,000 in August. The numbers dropped through the fall and winter months but have begun to climb, now blowing past last year’s summer levels.
Last spring, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas rolled out a four-pronged plan to stem the flow of migrants illegally entering the country. The plan included addressing the root causes that lead people to leave their home countries, rebuilding the asylum process, improving border security management, and taking down smugglers. To date, the Biden administration has not made substantive progress in any of the four areas.
The CBP has yet to release March data.
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The extent of illegal immigration is not fully known because federal data only track those who were intercepted and cannot account for people who were not detected or evaded arrest. Because Border Patrol agents have been pulled from the border to transport and process those arriving, areas of the border have been left unmanned.
