The federal fiscal year 2023 is only three months old, but the U.S. Border Patrol has reported that agents across the five Texas border sectors have already apprehended more than 266,000 illegal migrants in October and November alone.
Last October and November saw more than 185,000 migrants apprehended as single adults. That number marks a 44% increase over the same period a year earlier. Almost 62,000 of the apprehensions involved families, and more than 19,000 were unaccompanied minor children.
In October & November 2022, there were more border encounters in Texas sectors (~266K) than there were in all of FY2020, ~244K. The border is overwhelmed. The political stunts aren't helping. #txlege https://t.co/Fv2GaQ9dzJhttps://t.co/qK8ICKy2md https://t.co/BaWZHtn01e
— Robert Showah (@robertisnthere) December 25, 2022
Almost 107,000 of those encountered were in the El Paso sector. That marks an increase of 260% over the same period in the fiscal year 2022. El Paso Sector Chief Agent Peter Jaquez said that the estimated number of apprehensions in the sector for December is at least 50,000 more.
While the El Paso sector sees the most illegal crossings in Texas, the other Lone Star State sectors are also seeing surging numbers of migrant apprehensions. For example, the Del Rio sector saw its number of apprehensions for October and November jump by 55% compared to the same period a year earlier. That sector’s total for the first two months of the fiscal year 2023 totaled almost 90,500 illegal migrants.
With domestic birth rates in the U.S. remaining stagnant, a recent report indicated that virtually all of America’s population growth in 2022 could be attributed to immigration. Most of the increase due to immigration was accounted for by illegal entries.
In addition, the Border Patrol’s data shows a staggering 600% spike in illegal “special interest” migrants crossing the border in the fiscal year 2022. That classification indicates apprehended migrants flagged as “potential national security risks.” There were more than 25,600 illegal migrants in that category.
The total number of illegal border crossings documented in the fiscal year 2022 was more than 2.76 million. With the level of control Mexican drug cartels exert over the southern border region, there is no accurate way of knowing how many of those millions of illegal immigrants have connections to organized crime.
As Gov. Greg Abbott (R) implements enhanced state-based border controls, Texans hope that the border crisis can be mitigated as much as possible until the next presidential election in 2024.
