More than 371,000 illegal immigrants were encountered entering the U.S. in December, Homeland Security reported on Friday, delivering a final devastating report card just days before Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas will face an impeachment vote in a House committee.
The department also reported another 19 terrorism suspects detected trying to cross the southern border, bringing the total to 49 for the last three months.
Border Patrol agents recorded nearly 250,000 illegal immigrants breaching the southern border, and another 52,249 unauthorized migrants showed up demanding entry at border crossings from Mexico.
Most of the remainder came through legal crossings from Canada or flew into airports — many were under a legally iffy immigration “parole” program Mr. Mayorkas created to welcome migrants from countries like Venezuela and Cuba.
Mr. Mayorkas had promised those parole programs would take pressure off the Border Patrol, but the numbers at the southern border have gotten worse. December easily shattered previous records.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, who is leading the impeachment effort, said the numbers will bolster the argument against Mr. Mayorkas.
“Secretary Mayorkas has outdone himself yet again,” the Tennessee Republican said. “This staggering number of encounters at our borders only happens by design and a willful refusal to comply with the laws passed by Congress.”
The border numbers are usually released around the middle of each month, so the delay to almost the end of the month was stark.
Though December was the worst on record, it’s the latest in a string of record-shattering months. Each time, Mr. Mayorkas has responded with another reset in policy, tinkering at the edges, and each time the numbers dip, then quickly rebound.
Mr. Mayorkas’s latest reset came at the end of December when he and other senior officials rushed to Mexico to plead with that country to do more to stop the flow of people. Mexico did step up, and in the first weeks of January, numbers dropped dramatically — though they are again ticking up in the last two weeks.
Troy Miller, who has served as the head of Customs and Border Protection during most of the Biden chaos, insisted he’s doing what he can to control the border, but blamed others — Congress and smuggling cartels — for his agency’s struggles.
“CBP continues to use all available resources to ensure the safety and security of our agents and officers and the migrants who are often misled and victimized by the transnational criminal organizations,” he said.
Mr. Miller also said his agency needs “additional support” from Congress.
President Biden has requested a funding cut for CBP in every budget he’s submitted, and Congress has provided more money than the administration wanted.
The 371,036 migrants detected in December is nearly four times the rate in December 2020, the last full month under President Trump.
Also, under the four years of Mr. Trump the Border Patrol detected a total of 15 migrants on the terrorist screening database. During President Biden’s three years, that figure is 331, and there have been at least a dozen individual months where the figure matched Mr. Trump’s four-year total.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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