February Border Numbers Give Away Administration’s Game
Hiding its border crisis by funneling migrants through ports of entry, including interior airports
By Andrew R. Arthur on March 20, 2023
On March 15, CBP released its border numbers for the month of February. Border Patrol’s Southwest border apprehensions last month were roughly unchanged since January, with just short of 129,000 migrants again caught entering illegally, but average daily apprehensions have spiked. In its February “Operational Update”, CBP took an unwarranted victory lap — unwarranted because when you drill down into them, the stats are giving away the truth of the administration’s game. Likely worse, however, that update reveals that Biden’s DHS either misrepresented its reasons for ending “Remain in Mexico” or doesn’t really care that much about the safety of migrants on the other side of the line.
February’s Apprehension Numbers. In the 28 days of February, agents at the Southwest border apprehended 128,877 illegal migrants, 26 fewer than they had in the 31 preceding days the month before. On average, however, agents caught more than 4,600 illicit entrants daily in February, compared to 4,158 on an average day in January — a more than 9 percent increase.
To put all those numbers into context, that’s more Southwest border apprehensions for the month of February than in any fiscal year between FY 2002 and FY 2021. To be fair to the Biden administration, it’s also more than 20,000 apprehensions fewer than in February 2022, but given that apprehensions hit all-time highs last fiscal year, it’s not much to write home about.
https://cis.org/Arthur/February-Border-Numbers-Give-Away-Administrations-Game
