In a shocking revelation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Tuesday announced that it apprehended nearly 250,000 migrants entering the United States in April alone.
Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) discussed the news Tuesday night.
“[We had] 234,000 apprehensions, but don’t forget, we probably had 70-80,000 got-aways as well,” he said on NewsMax. “So, you had probably well over 300,000 – maybe as high as 350,000 people illegally entering our country last month.”
Biggs also discussed the baby formula shortage in the United States, and specifically the reports that pallets of baby formula were sent to the border during the shortage.
“All in all, [I] guarantee it every time, [the Biden] administration will favor somebody who’s not from this country – somebody who is even here illegally – over those who are in this country. That’s where we’ve come to with the Biden administration. And if we don’t bring the border under control soon, I don’t know how we ever get it back, because, by the way, this administration under Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas has basically said they want amnesty for everybody that comes in.”
CBP said that because many people were expelled under Title 42, many immediately tried to re-enter the country, inflating the number of encounters a bit.
“Since many people expelled into Mexico under Title 42 try to re-enter the U.S., Title 42 has contributed to a higher-than-usual number of migrants making multiple border crossing attempts, which means that total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border,” CBP said, despite the record-breaking month.
Title 42 is a rule put in place by former President Donald J. Trump’s administration allowing officials to deny entry to migrants due to the COVID-19 pandemic. President Joe Biden has canceled that rule, and it is set to expire on May 23.
The total number of migrants who CBP encountered crossing into the United States in April was about 234,000.
“Of the 234,088 total encounters, 28 percent involved individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 15 percent for FY 2014-2019,” said CBP.
The law enforcement agency also noted that 71 percent of those crossing the border were single adults.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Andy Biggs” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
