Border Arrests Top 2 Million for First Time Ever

Customs and Border Protection recorded 203,597 migrant encounters at the U.S.–Mexico border in August alone, bringing the total number of encounters for the fiscal year to more than 2 million for the first time ever, the agency announced on Monday.

Of those encounters, 157,921 were unique encounters, CBP said. The others involved illegal immigrants who had multiple encounters and had been expelled or deported.

The number is an increase from the 199,976 encounters in July. August 2021 saw 209,840 total migrant encounters.

The latest figures represent a 329 percent increase from the average number of August apprehensions during the Trump administration, according to the Republican National Committee.

“Failing communist regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba are driving a new wave of migration across the Western Hemisphere, including the recent increase in encounters at the southwest U.S. border,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in a statement.