Five Facts on the Border
As Congress returns from its holiday break, one item on their to-do list looms the largest: securing the border. A bipartisan group of senators are continuing to negotiate a deal that combines border enhancements with aid to Ukraine and Israel. The situation at our southern border is a disaster for everyone involved, and here are Five Facts on the scope of the problem.
- Nearly 2.5 million people were caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2023, the most on record.
In fiscal year 2023 – the 12-month period that ended in September 2023 – U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 2,475,000 migrant encounters at the southwestern border. That’s nearly 7,000 people per day trying to cross our border illegally. This was the most encounters ever recorded, and it’s only getting worse: the previous record was set in 2022, and the record before that was set in… 2021.
- Illegal immigration is on track to get even worse in 2024.
In December, migrant encounters reached an all-time high of 302,000 in just one month. Just three months into the current fiscal year, CBP has caught over 785,000 people trying to cross the border. That’s 60,000 more than at this point last year, and 3.5 times more people than at this point in 2021.
- 26,700 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the southern border last year.
International global cartels are increasingly including fentanyl – an opioid that is 50 times as potent as heroin – in their drugs. It’s a chief reason why opioids now annually kill more Americans than guns and car crashes combined. It only takes a small amount of fentanyl to kill someone, and many victims don’t even know they’re taking it.
- There are currently over one million pending asylum claims in immigration courts.
There are only 682 immigration judges to hear those cases, which is why many migrants have to wait years before their requests are heard. To qualify for asylum under U.S. law, a migrant must have a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” Most asylum seekers are released into the U.S. while they await their court hearing, and more than half of them are found to have no business claiming asylum in the first place.
- The latest bipartisan proposal in Congress would change the definition of asylum.
Details are scant, but both sides reportedly agree on raising the standards to claim asylum and hiring more judges to hear the cases faster. But there is still disagreement on topics like deporting people who are currently here illegally, making people wait outside the U.S. until their asylum request is granted, and other enforcement measures.
