(DailyVantage.com) – A new report from Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee shows that in August alone, there were nearly 159,000 encounters with illegal immigrants across the country. Of those, over 107,000 happened at the Southwest border, marking a 3% increase compared to July’s numbers for the same region.
Since President Biden and Vice President Harris took office, the rise in illegal immigration has been staggering. According to the Republicans, the total number of encounters has now surpassed 10.3 million. By comparison, during the Trump administration, from 2017 to 2020, the total was 3.1 million. What’s even more concerning is that this figure doesn’t include around 2 million “gotaways”—people who crossed the border but weren’t caught—since Fiscal Year 2021 began.
The report also points out that, since February 2023, monthly encounters at U.S. ports of entry have consistently stayed above 90,000. Since the start of 2023, over 1.3 million people considered inadmissible have been allowed into the U.S. through what the report calls “illegal” programs, such as the CBP One app and special parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. The Republicans claim these programs were created by President Biden and Vice President Harris, who is often referred to as the administration’s “border czar.”
Since these programs began, roughly 530,000 people from these countries have been granted parole. On top of that, since 2021, nearly 400 illegal immigrants on the terrorist watchlist have been caught trying to cross the borders.
In July, Vice President Harris tried to present herself as tough on immigration, even as her role in handling the border crisis drew harsh criticism. She defended her record, recalling her time as California’s attorney general, when she claimed to have fought gangs and cartels. However, groups like America First Legal argue that Harris didn’t do enough, even accusing her of blocking efforts to enforce federal immigration laws during her time in California’s government.
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