The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) has reportedly recorded more than half a million migrant encounters along the southern border in the first 74 days of the 2023 fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1.
On Tuesday, Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins tweeted, “BREAKING: CBP Sources tell FOX News just 74 days into FY23: more than half a million migrant encounters. FYTD23: 505,137 total migrant encounters SWB – averaging just over 6800/day. Of those, 162,547 have been Title 42 expelled. In El Paso alone, 2,416 last 24 hours @FoxNews.”
The more than half a million migrant encounters in just over two months comes after the U.S. saw a record number of border apprehensions in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30. According to CBP data, agents recorded 2,378,944 apprehensions, expulsions and “inadmissibles” in the 2022 fiscal year.
“Inadmissables” refers to individuals at ports of entry who are seeking lawful admission into the United States but are determined to be inadmissible, individuals presenting themselves to seek humanitarian protection under our laws, and individuals who withdraw an application for admission and return to their countries of origin within a short timeframe.
The CBP has compiled data for October of this year, indicating 230,678 border encounters in just the first month of the 2023 fiscal year.
Earlier this week, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin shared footage in which a caravan reportedly comprised of more than 1,000 migrants crossed the Rio Grande into El Paso, Texas.
Along with rising numbers of migrant encounters, U.S. border authorities have been injured and killed in recent weeks.
In one Oct. 31 encounter in El Paso, a group of migrants attempting to illegally cross the border reportedly assaulted one Border Patrol agent with a flagpole and hit another with a rock.
A Border Patrol agent died in an all-terrain vehicle crash while chasing a group of suspected illegal migrants in the early morning hours last week. CBP has since identified the deceased as Border Patrol Agent Raul H. Gonzalez Jr.
