WASHINGTON, D.C. –– Today, House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, MD (R-TN) issued the following statement after the release of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) border encounter numbers for April 2024:

“These numbers make one thing clear—we are still in a crisis of the Biden administration’s making. Going from ‘absolutely catastrophic’ in December to just ‘catastrophic’ in April may be acceptable for Secretary Mayorkas and President Biden, but no one else. Frontline law enforcement such as the Border Patrol agents, CBP officers, and AMO agents, remain overwhelmed and overworked. The American people continue to demand a secure border, yet this administration continues to ignore them. 

“Even according to former Obama DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson’s standard, April apprehensions by Border Patrol agents between Southwest border ports of entry alone more than quadrupled crisis level. The fundamentals of this unprecedented homeland security crisis are all the same: illegal aliens know they will likely be released if they cross between ports of entry, and record numbers continue flocking to our ports of entry to take advantage of the Biden administration’s unlawful mass-parole programs. 

“Encounters at Southwest border ports of entry in April 2024 grew ten-fold from April 2021––meaning that hundreds of thousands of inadmissible aliens are now just coming in through a port of entry instead of between the ports of entry. The end result is the same—historic numbers of inadmissible aliens being released into our country. This has to end.”

Background:

According to CBP data, Southwest border encounters exceeded 179,000 in April 2024. Total nationwide encounters exceeded 247,000. Appointments scheduled through the CBP One mass-parole scheme skyrocketed to more than 591,000 since January 2023, while more than 434,000 inadmissible aliens have arrived since the CHNV mass-parole program began. 

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