The number of illegal refugees encountered at the nation’s borders in February remained at the highest levels seen in national history, increasing somewhat to more than a quarter million people encountered.
U. S. Customs and Border Protection , information released Friday evening revealed , 256, 094 non- U. S. residents were encountered attempting to enter the United States next month, away from 242, 521 in January but downward from 370, 899 in December 2023.
The rise comes at a time when the Biden presidency is facing calling for vengeance from House Republicans infuriated over the three- year , border problems and dismissed Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is awaiting a Senate trial.
” We continue to experience major problems along our frontier which surpass the power of the emigration system”, said Senior Official Performing the Duties of CBP Commissioner Troy A. Miller in a speech.  ,” Despite the challenges we are facing along the southwest border, as well as the positive trends of increasing levels of trade and travel, CBP continues to surge enforcement to stop dangerous drugs from entering the country, our agents and officers interdicted 294 % more methamphetamine, 164 % more heroin, and 140 % more cocaine in February than January”.
Of the 256, 094 contacts, more than 142, 000 were arrested by Border Patrol agents for fraudulently crossing the border between the ports of entry.
More than 86, 000 refugees who improperly crossed the border were one people. More than 9, 000 were unsupervised babies, and 46, 000 arrived as part of a home.
The remaining 114, 000 refugees encountered were folks who lacked proper records to be admitted at a port of entry on the frontier, as well as refugees who were paroled into the region through initiatives that the Biden administration has created to deter immigrants from crossing illegally. Republicans have decried the parole- based programs as going around the law as Congress intended.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have struggled to deal with the situation at the border, particularly after failing to pass a bipartisan immigration deal in the Senate.
This week, lawmakers passed a “minibus” of six department funding bills, including one for the Department of Homeland Security that will keep the department funded through the end of September.
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A growing number of immigrants traversing , Mexico , to get into the U. S. are bypassing the Texas  , border , to cross into Arizona and California in the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott’s ( R- TX ) stepped- up enforcement.
In 2021, 69 % of illegal immigrant arrests across the southern border occurred in Texas.  , As Abbott stepped up security at the start of the Biden administration in 2021, arrests of illegal crossers began to fall and dropped to just 34 % in early 2024.
