Border Patrol agents apprehended more than 790,000 migrants in the five months that followed President Joe Biden’s changes in border policy. This represents an increase of more than 500 percent over the same period the previous year.
During President Biden’s roughly first five months in office, February 1 to June 30, Border Patrol agents apprehended 791,571 migrants who illegally crossed the border from Mexico. The June Southwest Border Land Encounters Report released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday reveals the massive increase in apprehensions when compared to the same period one year earlier when agents apprehended only 129,077 migrants.
During the enter Fiscal Year 2020, agents apprehended only 400,651 migrants who illegally crossed the border. Biden’s first five months nearly doubles the total for the previous year’s apprehensions.
During a briefing on Saturday with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd asked the media to look more closely at the dramatic change in apprehension numbers since the changes in border policies put in place by President Biden.
“We’ve got to stop talking about fiscal year,” Judd stated. “If we continue to talk about the fiscal year we’re going to add three and a half months of the Trump administration into that, and we know that those numbers were much lower than the [current]administration.”
“This calendar year is going to exceed any other calendar year in the history of the Border Patrol,” the Border Patrol union president said. “We’ve got to stop talking about the three and a half months where the numbers were low under the Trump administration, compare apples to apples and if we do that, we’ve never seen anything like the explosion in the illegal immigration like we have under the Biden administration.”
During Calendar Year 2020, Border Patrol agents apprehended 508,053 migrants. In Calendar Year 2021, that number increased in just six months to 866,884 apprehensions.
When President Biden took office in January, he immediately ended many of the policies of the Trump administration that ended catch and release and reduced the number of migrant illegal border crossing apprehensions to record lows. After ending the Remain in Mexico, Migrant Protection Protocols, and migration flow agreements with Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries–then modifying Title 42 Coronavirus protocols by stopping the return to Mexico of migrant children and many migrant families, the apprehension trend skyrocketed to record levels.
“The truth of the matter is, is it is not humane to not properly enforce the laws,” Brandon Judd told the two governors and the media on Saturday. “It is inhumane, what we are currently seeing on the border, it is inhumane that liberal policies are inviting individuals to put themselves in the hands of these dangerous cartels, it is inhumane that liberal policies are allowing the smuggling.
Judd closed by saying “If you ask me, Do I want more agents or do I want policy, I will tell you, every single time, policy is what will stop illegal immigration.”
“When you get rid of sanctuary cities, when you re-institute policies, such as ‘Remain in Mexico,’ when you get rid of that magnet that is catch and release — illegal immigration drops to all-time lows,” the Border Patrol union president concluded.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.