In a statement on the Friday night before Christmas, US border authorities reported a record number of migrant encounters in November as officials worry about the impacts of the impending Title 42 expiration.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the agency saw 233,740 encounters along the southwest border, an increase of 1% since October. At least 16% of the migrants found had at least one previous encounter in the past year, the agency said.
Nearly 67,000 of those found were processed for removal under Title 42.
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Migrants wait to board a US government bus after crossing the border from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas on Monday. Border authorities reported 233,740 encounters with migrants along the southwest border in November.
(AP Photo/Christian Chavez, file)
“People from Mexico and northern Central America accounted for just 30% of unique encounters in November, a significant drop from the 53% they accounted for a year ago, as more migrants arrive from a variety of other countries, including Cuba and Nicaragua,” he said. Acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller.
CBP sources told Fox News there were at least 73,000 migrants who were not apprehended by authorities in November alone. Those figures are not reflected in the figures released Friday.
Large numbers of migrants fleeing communist regimes have contributed to the surge in migrants attempting to cross the border, CBP said.
“Venezuelans, who previously made up part of that increase, continue to arrive in much smaller numbers as a result of the immigration control process that includes expulsions to Mexico and legal pathways,” the agency said. “Venezuelans have dropped from about 1,100 a day the week before that process was announced, to about 100 a day consistently throughout November.”
The growing number of migrants comes as officials continue to worry about the impacts on the border if Title 42 expires. The Trump-era public health order was used to justify turning away millions of migrants during the pandemic.
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The policy was due to end Wednesday, but the US Supreme Court delayed that order and is hearing last-minute arguments from the Biden administration that wants to end the policy and 19 Republican-led states that want to keep it.
