The Worst December At The Border In DHS History

Research

The Biden Administration Is Doing Nothing As Illegal Crossings Spike, Drug Smuggling Surges, And Crime Pours Across The Border

BIDEN’S BORDER CRISIS CONTINUES TO RAGE

In December, 178,840 illegal immigrants were apprehended attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, making this the highest total for December in DHS history.
- It’s a 142 percent increase over last December, and a 231 percent increase from the average number of December apprehensions during the Trump administration.
- 11,921 unaccompanied children were apprehended.
- 79,678 illegal immigrants were apprehended from countries outside the Northern Triangle – a new high for the Biden administration – showing that Biden’s crisis has gone global.
Nearly 2 million illegal immigrants have been caught attempting to cross the border since Biden took office.
- More illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border in the last three months than in all of FY 2020.
- The number of illegal crossings at the border has risen at a faster rate under Biden than at any time in recent history.
These numbers do not include the number of illegal immigrants that Border Patrol tracked but were unable to apprehend, known as “gotaways.”
- Border officials estimate that nearly 400,000 illegal immigrants have escaped into the U.S. without being caught under Biden.
Additionally, more than 47,700 illegal migrants have gone missing under Biden, failing to report to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being given a Notice to Report.
Biden has failed to release a report of ICE’s number of arrests and deportations for 2021, breaking a decade long precedent of releasing this report by the end of the calendar year.
Due to Biden’s dramatic surge in illegal immigrants crossing the border, immigration courts are facing a massive backlog of more than 1.5 million cases.
The situation at the border has been described as “ It’s not manageable. Border Patrol’s overwhelmed.”

CRIME AND DRUG SMUGGLING ARE ON THE RISE

Illicit drugs are flowing into the country at an alarming rate, with 461 pounds of deadly fentanyl and 11,118 pounds of methamphetamine seized at the southern border in December alone.
- The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently found a “direct link” between Mexican cartels and fentanyl-related overdose deaths.
- Fentanyl overdoses are now the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45, as well as the leading cause of death among teens in Pima County, Arizona.
In just the last month in Arizona, law enforcement seized more than 300,000 fentanyl pills – enough fentanyl to kill six million people.
As the number of illegal immigrants continue to reach historic levels, crime is surging thanks to Biden’s open border policies.
In recent weeks, four confirmed sex offenders – including a child predator who served 12 years for his crimes – were arrested attempting to cross into the U.S.
- CBP has recorded a massive increase in the number of sex offenders crossing into the U.S., with 75 convicted sex-related criminals caught crossing the border in just the last three months.
A suspected terrorist from Saudi Arabia was recently arrested after attempting to cross the southern border in Arizona – the fifth suspected terrorist since Biden took office.
A Border Patrol vehicle was damaged from gunfire after shots were fired at agents attempting to arrest an illegal immigrant crossing the border from Mexico.
The Biden administration has been flying illegal immigrants from the southern border all over the country, including New York and Florida, and is now flying illegal immigrants to Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
- Under the Biden administration, TSA recently announced it is now accepting warrants for arrest or warrants for deportation from illegal immigrants as identification to board a flight at a U.S. airport.

BIDEN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR A HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT THE BORDER

Despite Biden’s promise of a “fair and humane immigration system,” his open border policies aren’t compassionate, they are deadly.
Former ICE officials warn that human trafficking is on the rise due to the surging border crisis: “The fact that the administration has been doing catch and release like they have has increased the potential to get trafficking victims into the United States.”
Biden’s border camps have returned in Yuma, Arizona with thousands of illegal migrants crammed into inhumane conditions.
- Yuma President of the National Border Patrol Council Rafa Rivera said CDC “guidelines go out the window because we’re so overcrowded.”
- Some migrants have even been forced to sleep outside in near freezing conditions due to the overcrowding in CBP facilities.
“Cartels are abandoning migrants and leaving them in dangerous situations at an alarming rate,” with 25 illegal immigrants recently found in a locked, freezing trailer in Texas.
A 16-year-old human smuggler with four illegal immigrants in his car killed a grandmother in Arizona after driving through a red light at 105 miles per hour.
Illegal immigrants are now using Uber rides to travel to destinations inside the U.S. after crossing the border.

BIDEN’S OPEN BORDERS POLICIES CREATED THIS CRISIS

Biden’s failed policies created the crisis at the southern border.
- In Biden’s first 100 days in office he took more than 94 executive actions on immigration, including halting construction of the border wall and ending the Trump administration’s successful “Remain in Mexico” policy.
- Illegal immigrants are thanking Biden for his weak immigration policies, saying that they “didn’t even want to try” crossing the border when Trump was president.
Despite an overwhelmed immigration system, the Biden administration continues to double down on its open borders policies, essentially advertising that if you can get here, you can stay here.
- Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas: “Unlaw presence in the United States will alone not be a basis for an immigration enforcement action.”
Biden has not been to the border as president to see the crisis for himself, and other than a brief drive-by, there is still no record that Biden has ever visited the border.
Border Czar Kamala Harris has not had an event on immigration in the last five months and has held just 17 total events on the border – only two of which were open press.
57 percent of likely voters believe that Biden is doing too little to reduce illegal border crossings and illegal visa overstays in the U.S.
As border crossings are reaching historic highs, DHS announced a Climate Change Professional Program to promote climate change rather than address the true crisis at hand.

WHILE BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS DO NOTHING, REPUBLICANS ARE STEPPING UP TO SECURE THE BORDER

According to a recent Fox poll, 59 percent of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of the border, including 64 percent of independents.
- With Biden’s border crisis raging, voters trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle border security by a 16-point margin.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott established Operation Lone Star in March to help take control of the border following the Biden administration’s failure to act.
- Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard have apprehended more than 165,000 illegal immigrants since the state began this program.
- These Texas officials have also engaged in more than 1,000 car chases in this same period.
- In many areas Texas DPS is the often the only agency securing the border because “Border Patrol and the federal government out here, [are] completely overwhelmed.”
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey deployed the Department of Public Safety and National Guard to the border to assist Border Patrol with regaining control after Biden left CBP ill-equipped to handle the current surge.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dedicated $8 million to hold the Biden administration accountable for sending illegal immigrants to Florida by demanding restitution from any private entity that harbors illegal migrants.
Top Republicans in the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Michael McCloud (R-TX), sent a letter to ICE demanding information on why the agency has dramatically slowed its pace of arrests and deportations despite receiving the same amount of funding.