October Sees Record-Breaking Illegal Immigrant Encounters, 12 on Terror Watchlist Apprehended

As seen from an aerial view a U.S. Border Patrol agent supervises immigrants walking into the United States after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico on Sept. 30, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. The agent had cut coils of razor wire to let them pass through for processing. John Moore/Getty Images

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported the highest number of illegal immigrant encounters for any October on record, with 240,988 encounters at the southern border.

The October report showed that total encounters along the southwest border saw an 11 percent decrease from September 2023, which still stands as the record high.

The agency also reported that 13 of the arrests it made during the month were of people on the FBI terror watchlist. Twelve arrests occurred at the southern border and one at the border with Canada.

The report indicated that since September, the number of encounters with family unit members and unaccompanied minors has dropped by 14 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

Furthermore, interactions with solitary adults experienced a decline of 7 percent.

CBP said there was a drop in Venezuelans apprehended at the border and pointed to the overall drop in encounters over September as a positive for the agency.

“In conjunction with our resumption of removal flights to Venezuela consistent with delivering consequences for those who cross the border unlawfully, CBP saw a 65 percent decrease in southwest border encounters of Venezuelans in the second half of October,” CBP Senior Official Troy A. Miller said in a press release sent to The Epoch Times.

CBP documented an all-time high of more than 260,000 unauthorized immigrant crossings at the southern border in September.

The unprecedented monthly total is the highest reported by the agency, according to statements made by officials to Fox News at the time. December 2022, when CBP reported 252,320 migratory encounters along the southern border, was the second-highest month on record.

It is anticipated that the fiscal year (FY) total for 2023 will exceed 2.4 million, surpassing 2022’s record of 2.3 million, once the figures are finalized.

The nation has been inundated with an unprecedented influx of unauthorized immigrants via the border since 2021.

Arrests for unauthorized border crossings reached 188,778 in October for all nationalities, down from 218,763 in September.

Of the 240,988 total contacts with migrants in October, 188,778 were illegal crossings, and more than 44,000 were paroled into the United States at ports of entry through the Biden administration’s use of the CBP One App, which the government has called a “lawful pathway.”

Arrests had more than doubled in the preceding three months as migrants and smugglers adapted to new asylum rules implemented in May of this year.

Chinese arrests at the border increased to 4,247, with 99 percent of them in the San Diego area, as a growing number fly to Ecuador and make their way to the U.S. border amid a deteriorating domestic economy.

Republicans have pointed the finger at President Joe Biden’s policies for contributing to the chaos at the border.

President Biden reversed course after taking scores of immigration-related executive actions in his first 100 days in office, including halting construction of the border wall.

In the press release, CBP leadership called on Congress to support the president, urging Congress to approve President Biden’s supplemental budget request for $13.6 billion in border-related spending.

“The president’s supplemental budget request is critical to funding the frontline and would provide much-needed personnel, resources, and technology to go after transnational criminal organizations, enhance border security—including the enforcement of consequences for those who break the law—and support state and local partners, all to keep Americans safe,” Mr. Miller said.

CBP agents have apprehended more than seven million people since President Biden took office, and his political standing is taking a hit as a result of the border situation, according to recent polling data.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post survey indicated more than 70 percent of Americans disapprove of how the president is handling immigration and the U.S.—Mexico border.