Border Crisis Reaches New Record, Fuels Drug & Crime Problem

WASHINGTON, DC – Southwest border encounters continued to defy historic norms and reach record highs in November 2021. Clearly, the border crisis is not a “seasonal phenomenon,” but rather the consequence of misguided policy decisions by the Biden administration.

Today, Homeland Security Republicans released the latest edition of the “Startling Stats” fact sheet, detailing new data on the crisis at the southwest border.

Download the fact sheet here.

Key Facts:

• 173,620 migrants were encountered along the southwest border in November 2021. This is the highest number of encounters for November in recorded history.

• November was the 9th straight month with more than 160,000 encounters – a trend never before recorded.

• Migrants crossing the southern border are not just coming from Latin America. Many are coming from outside the Western Hemisphere.

• In just the first two months of this fiscal year, CBP arrested 1,682 individuals with criminal convictions and dozens of known gang members, including 42 members of MS-13.

• Nationwide, drug seizures were up 90% in November over the prior month — with cocaine seizures up 41%, methamphetamine seizures up 164%, and fentanyl seizures up 7%.

Ranking Member Katko, along with Homeland Security Committee Republicans and House Republican leadership, introduced the Border Security for America Act of 2021 (H.R. 4828), which would secure our borders by resuming construction of the border wall system, deploying effective technology, and placing more boots on the ground. The legislation earned the support of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents approximately 18,000 Border Patrol Agents and support personnel.