RNC Statement on May Border Encounters

204,561 illegal immigrants were apprehended attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in May

WASHINGTON – Today, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel released the following statement on the May border encounters:

“This is just another Biden-created disaster that shows no sign of stopping. Joe Biden’s failed border agenda has let millions of unvetted illegal immigrants into our country and allowed drug and human traffickers to thrive. Biden is the root cause of his record-breaking border crisis, and American families are left to pay the price."

Background:

• For the first time in history, monthly apprehensions at the southern border have surpassed 150,000 for 27 consecutive months.
  • Under the previous administration, monthly apprehensions never reached 150,000.
• May’s 200,000-plus encounters is a 337 percent increase from the average number of May apprehensions from 2017-2020.
  • 9,943 unaccompanied children were apprehended.
  • 108,234 illegal immigrants were apprehended from countries outside the Northern Triangle and Mexico, showing that Biden's crisis is global.
  • At least 125 people on the terror watchlist have been apprehended trying to enter the U.S. between ports of entry so far this fiscal year – breaking the all-time record of 98 set last year.
• 6.9 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since Biden took office.
  • This includes the nearly 5.5 million illegal immigrants that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has apprehended and the more than 1.4 million gotaways that have escaped past Border Patrol into the U.S.
  • Border officials say that the official number of gotaways vastly undercounts the illegal immigrants who make it into the U.S.