The historic Biden-Harris border crisis has “devastated our safety, security, and sovereignty”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Committee on Homeland Security released the “Startling Stats” factsheet outlining U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) border encounter numbers for the final month of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, the fourth fiscal year under the Biden-Harris administration. Read Chairman Green’s full statement on the sky-high numbers here.

Yet again under President Biden, ‘border czar’ and Vice President Kamala Harris, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the annual border encounter numbers have once again proven to be catastrophic. Since the start of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, CBP has recorded more than 10.8 million encounters nationwide, including more than 8.72 million at the Southwest border. By contrast, CBP recorded around 3 million encountersnationwide, including 2.37 million at the SWB, from FY2017-2020. Nationwide border encounters this fiscal year increased nearly 50 percent compared to FY2021. Of the 2.9 million nationwide encounters in FY2024, nearly half were at ports of entry, while only 15 percent of nationwide encounters were at ports of entry in FY2021. In addition to these encounters, CBP has recorded another roughly 2 million known gotaways since the start of FY2021, roughly four times the number recorded from FY2017-2020.

It is clear that the Biden-Harris administration has intentionally used unlawful mass-parole schemes to shift hundreds of thousands of inadmissible aliens to ports of entry for release into the interior, often with little or no vetting. It is a massive shell-game to relieve them of the terrible optics of unchecked crossings between official ports of entry. However, the end result is the same—tens of thousands of inadmissible aliens being released into the interior every month. This is evident through the number of appointments scheduled through the CBP One mass-parole program, which skyrocketed to more than 852,000 since January 2023. Through CBP One, inadmissible aliens with insufficient vetting and who might be a national security risk can even pass through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening, a process about which the DHS’s own Office of Inspector General (OIG) has said, “TSA cannot ensure its vetting and screening procedures prevent high-risk noncitizens who may pose a threat to the flying public from boarding domestic flights.”
 
In addition, more than 530,000 inadmissible aliens have arrived in the U.S. since the inception of the unlawful Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) mass-parole program. In July 2024, DHS paused the program after an internal review revealed widespread fraud in the program. They resumed the program just weeks later. Via just the CHNV and CBP One programs, the Biden-Harris administration has released more than 1.4 million inadmissible aliens into the United States. While CHNV parole is for two years, the Venezuelans who were paroled in October 2022 are most likely still in the interior despite their parole expiration and DHS’s decision not to extend it. In fact, the Biden-Harris administration likely has no plan to remove or reassess the status of these inadmissible aliens after parole expiration, as a May DHS OIG report indicates that the administration has no plan to do so for the smaller population of 77,000 Afghan nationals paroled into the country following the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. 
 
As the influx at our Southwest border continues to overwhelm Border Patrol agents, Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents, and CBP officers, our northern border has also experienced a surge of illegal crossings. Encounters at the northern border in FY2024 increased more than 600 percent compared to FY2021. The number of Mexican nationals encountered at the northern border increased 1,000 percent in FY2024 compared to FY2021, showing that as resources were shifted to the Southwest border crisis, many inadmissible aliens sought to take advantage of potential new vulnerabilities at the northern border.

The Biden-Harris administration has released millions of inadmissible aliens into the country without adequate vetting or screening, to say nothing of the roughly two million more who have entered as known gotaways. In testimony before the Committee last year, then-chief of Border Patrol Raul Ortiz said the total number of gotaways could be underreported by as much as 20 percent. There is no way to know how many more potential national security threats, violent criminals, and hardened gang members are now at large in our country. More than 390 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist have been apprehended attempting to cross our Southwest and northern borders between ports of entry since the beginning of FY2021—an increase of more than 3,000 percent compared to FY2017-2020. Individuals from more than 160 countries have been apprehended crossing the border illegally, including aliens from countries on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. The Committee has documented how DHS’ processes for screening and vetting of inadmissible border crossers are wholly inadequate.

Not only are more suspected terrorists illegally crossing our borders, but apprehensions of Chinese nationals illegally crossing the border have also increased over 1,000 percent under the Biden-Harris administration compared to FY2017-FY2020. These encounters have included individuals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army, according to information obtained by Chairman Green. The potential national security implications of this unprecedented influx are concerning, especially as the Committee has just released a new report detailing the growth in CCP-related espionage and acts of transnational repression in the United States under this administration. Unfortunately, reports from last year revealed Secretary Mayorkas’ DHS had instructed Border Patrol agents to drastically reduce the number of vetting questions for Chinese nationals in order to more quickly process these aliens into the interior.

The same dangerous policies that set the killers of Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and Jocelyn Nungaray loose into the country are still in use by this administration––regardless of the human cost. In fact, data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows that, as of July 21, 2024, nearly 650,000 criminal illegal aliens were currently on ICE’s Non-Detained Docket (NDD).
 
All along, the Biden-Harris administration has spurned commonsense solutions that would end this border crisis in favor of an anti-enforcement agenda, mass-parole schemes, and catch-and-release policies. They refuse to enforce longstanding immigration laws that administrations of both parties have long enforced. Until that ends, this crisis will continue to rage on at the expense of Americans and our sovereignty.
 
Key Facts: 

• Since the start of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has recorded more than 10.8 million encounters nationwide, including more than 8.72 million at the Southwest border. 
• Since January 2023, more than 852,000 otherwise inadmissible aliens have scheduled appointments through the app. 
• Since the program began, 531,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans have been mass paroled under the administration’s CHNV parole program at ports of entry. 
• Since FY2021, CBP has encountered 5.50M single adults, 2.66M family unit individuals, and 546,255 unaccompanied children at the Southwest border. 
• 385 illegal aliens on the terrorist watchlist have been apprehended between ports of entry at the Southwest border since FY2021. 
• Encounters at the northern border surpassed half a million from FY2021-FY2024. NB encounters in FY2024 increased more than 600% compared to FY2021.
• Since FY2021, Border Patrol has recorded 55,106 arrests of aliens with criminal convictions or outstanding warrants nationwide. 
• Since FY2021, 9,055 pounds of fentanyl were seized between ports of entry by Border Patrol, compared to just 1,604 pounds from FY2017-FY2020.

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