WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, the House Committee on Homeland Security released its July “Startling Stats” factsheet reflecting the July 2024 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) border encounter data. According to CBP, total nationwide encounters exceeded 170,000 in July, including 104,116 along the Southwest border—bringing the grand total of nationwide encounters under the Biden-Harris administration to 10.1 million, a staggering 200-percent increase from FY17-FY20 combined. Notably, this does not include the roughly two million known gotaways recorded by CBP since the start of FY21.

The crisis at America’s borders is still out of control, despite the Biden-Harris administration’s attempt to selectively report on a subset of CBP encounters. The truth is that the administration is playing a mass-parole shell game, incentivizing otherwise-inadmissible aliens to cross at ports of entry instead of between them. This spares Biden and Harris the damaging optics of overcrowded Border Patrol facilities and overwhelmed agents, but the result is the same—hundreds of thousands of inadmissible aliens being released into the interior. In fact, nationwide border encounters at ports of entry alone (110,615) have now surpassed 100,000 for the 15th month in a row. Over half of all nationwide encounters in July were recorded at ports of entry, while only 14 percent of all encounters were at ports of entry in July 2021.

Since January 2023, more than 1.2 million inadmissible aliens have been granted entry to our country at ports of entry through just the CBP One and Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) mass-parole programs President Biden and his “border czar” Harris have created. In the middle of July, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) even paused travel authorizations for the unlawful CHNV parole program due to widespread fraud uncovered in the sponsorship process. In addition to the unlawful abuse of parole, this Committee has repeatedly warned about the security deficiencies of the CHNV program, including insufficient vetting and screening, as well as cartel abuse of CBP One. The Biden-Harris administration’s abuse of parole continues to incentivize masses to flood across our borders and presents a homeland security vulnerability. 
 
The same disastrous catch-and-release policies that let the killers of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray loose into the country are also still in use by this administration––regardless of the consequences. In fact, this fiscal year alone, more than 1.2 million inadmissible aliens have received a “Notice to Appear” from CBP and have been released into our communities with inadequate vetting and screening. The list of preventable crimes committed by those here illegally unfortunately continued to grow last month. On July 28, Jorge Chacon-Gutierrez shot a San Antonio police officer who was responding to a domestic violence call. Chacon-Gutierrez reportedly entered the U.S. illegally through Eagle Pass, Texas, in November of 2023 and was released with an April 2026 court date. According to a DHS memo revealed on July 30, more than 1,000 known members of the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua (TdA) are in the U.S. and have been encouraged to attack state and local law enforcement in our communities. 

Key Facts:

• There have been more than 10.1 million encounters nationwide and more than 8.2 million encounters at the Southwest border.
• Nationwide border encounters by the Office of Field Operations (OFO) at ports of entry (110,615) surpassed 100,000 for the 15th month in a row. This represents an increase of more than 230% from July 2021, the Biden-Harris administration’s first July in office.
• Since January 2023, 765,000 inadmissible aliens have scheduled appointments with the CBP One app.
• Since the program began, 520,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans have been mass paroled under the administration’s CHNV parole program at ports of entry.
• 378 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist have been apprehended between ports of entry at the Southwest border since FY21.
• This fiscal year alone, CBP, including Border Patrol, has given a Notice to Appear (NTA) to more than 1.2 million inadmissible aliens and released them into our communities. 

 
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