2022 in review: How Biden’s border woes went from bad to worse

It was a bad year in 2021 at the U.S. southern border with more than 2 million migrant encounters and a political crisis that engulfed much of the administration’s first year in office. 

In 2022, that crisis only escalated.

A massive surge in migration hit the southern border just as President Biden was taking office and didn’t let up. Numbers dropped slightly throughout the winter but were still significantly higher compared to the previous year, bringing enormous political pressure on the administration that reportedly enraged Biden.

In January, the border registered 154,874 migrant encounters, compared to just 78,414 in January 2021. And it set a trend for months to come. All but two months of 2022 (July and August) would outpace 2021’s already historically high numbers.