U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) apprehended 234,088 illegal aliens at the Southwest border in April, a roughly 6 percent increase over March’s 221,303 encounters, which at the time was the worst month ever recorded, according to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
"To put these numbers into perspective, we now have consecutive months setting the all-time border apprehension record and four total months above the 200,000 threshold already in the Biden administration’s first 16 months (the others being July (213,593) and August (209,840) in 2021). Prior to the Biden administration, border apprehensions last exceeded 200,000 in March 2000 (220,063), a time that precedes the creation of DHS," CIS noted in a May 17 report.
The numbers cited by CIS did not come from Team Biden, but from a court-mandated monthly filing in Texas v. Biden, a lawsuit brought by the states of Texas and Missouri in April 2021 challenging the Biden administration’s termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP, or “Remain in Mexico”).
Even though the April data is readily available via the court case, Team Biden's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has yet to update its Southwest Land Border Encounters data. Team Biden has "utilized this delay tactic throughout the Biden administration in an effort to hide the full extent of its border crisis from the American people," the CIS report said.
The court filing revealed other facts that occurred at the U.S. southern border in April:
• Of the 234,088 encounters, 96,908 aliens were expelled under Title 42’s emergency health authority and 137,180 aliens were subject to Title 8 (immigration law).
• Adding this figure to previous numbers, CBP has now encountered more than 1.2 million illegal aliens thus far in fiscal year (FY) 2022.
• Of the aliens subject to Title 8, CBP paroled into the country 88,452 aliens and released another 21,755 aliens into the country with a Notice to Appear (NTA) and an Order of Release on Recognizance.
• Adding the 110,207 illegal aliens let into the country last month to previous numbers, the Biden administration has released nearly 950,000 aliens into the interior thus far in FY 2022.
• The 950,000 illegal aliens released into the country combined would make this population the 13th largest U.S. city, just behind Fort Worth, Texas (958,692).
As illegals continue to pour across the border and are released into the U.S., Team Biden is attempting to end Title 42’s expulsion authority on May 23.
"Attempting" being the key word as several states sued after the Biden administration announced in late March it would allow the Title 42 authority to lapse on May 23.
Federal district court judge Robert Summerhays temporarily blocked the lifting of Title 42 and heard arguments on the case on May 13. He has indicated he will rule before May 23 on whether or not the Biden administration is allowed to end its application of Title 42.
While the Biden administration fights to end Title 42 in court, it has already conceded that doing so could result in as many as 18,000 illegal alien encounters per day.
Or, as CIS's Andrew Arthur framed it, “Simply put: Title 42 is the only thing standing between the current chaos at the Southwest border, and no border there at all.”
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