WASHINGTON, D.C — Today, the House Committee on Homeland Security released the December “Startling Stats” factsheet, outlining the catastrophic U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data for December 2023. In December, our nation’s borders saw record-breaking encounters sparked by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and his breach of public trust. Nationwide encounters (371,036) increased 80 percent, and Southwest border encounters (302,034) increased 68 percent, compared to December 2021 (Fiscal Year 2022).
 
December 2023 marked the most encounters ever recorded by the Office of Field Operations (OFO) at the Southwest border (52,249), and the third-highest for nationwide OFO encounters (119,814). The surge of encounters at ports of entry underscores Secretary Mayorkas’ unlawful use of mass-parole schemes, such as the CBP One app and the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) parole program, among others. As a result of numerous parole programs implemented by Secretary Mayorkas, over 1.7 million inadmissible aliens have been paroled into the country in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
 
As threats from America’s adversaries continued, another 19 individuals on the terrorist watchlist were apprehended crossing our Southwest border between ports of entry in December, bringing the total since FY21 to 331. This total does not include the potential terrorists who could have crossed in the 1.8 million known gotaways under this administration.

Key Facts:

• Since President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas took office, there have been 8.5 million encounters nationwide and over 7 million encounters at the Southwest border.
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded 371,036 encounters nationwide in December, including 302,034 at the Southwest border (SWB).
• Over 1.8 million known gotaways have evaded U.S. Border Patrol.
• So far this fiscal year, CBP has arrested 9,052 aliens with criminal convictions nationwide.
• In December, CBP seized 1,147 pounds of fentanyl coming across the Southwest border, bringing the total for the fiscal year to 4,324 pounds.
• So far in FY24, 15,038 Chinese nationals have been encountered at the Southwest border––with December breaking a new record.
• 45,770 inadmissible aliens were processed by OFO with CBP One app appointments in December. Since January 2023, 413,300 individuals have scheduled appointments with the app.

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