U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents encountered five times more illegal migrants crossing the southern border last month than it did during the same month last year as the crisis continues.
Despite recent Biden administration efforts to curtail border crossings, numbers released on Friday by CBP show these efforts are not working.
“In June 2021, CBP encountered 188,829 persons attempting entry along the Southwest Border,” the agency announced in a media release.
According to Fox News, the number of people encountered by border patrol agents was comparably low during the same month last year at 33,049.
The five-fold increase in border crossings shows that efforts by Vice President Kamala Harris to dissuade potential migrants from making the journey failed.
Last month, while in Guatemala, Harris advised people in Central America, “Do not come.”
“I want to be clear to folks in this region who are thinking about making that dangerous trek to the United States-Mexico border: Do not come. Do not come.”
— VP Kamala Harris during news conference with Guatemalan president Alejandro Giammattei pic.twitter.com/dYNwu7STbS
— The Recount (@therecount) June 7, 2021
But they are coming, and in great numbers amid horrifying conditions.
“We are in the hottest part of the summer, and we are seeing a high number of distress calls to CBP from migrants abandoned in treacherous terrain by smugglers with no regard for human life,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said in a statement.
“Although CBP does everything it can to locate and rescue individuals who are lost or distressed, the bottom line is this: the terrain along the border is extreme, the summer heat is severe, and the miles of desert migrants must hike after crossing the border in many areas are unforgiving.”
CBP said some of those encountered last month were counted twice, as once they were sent away, they simply turned around and came back.
“The large number of expulsions during the pandemic has contributed to a larger-than-usual number of migrants making multiple border crossing attempts, which means that total encounters somewhat overstate the number of unique individuals arriving at the border,” the agency said.
“Thirty-four percent of encounters in June 2021 were individuals who had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months, compared to an average one-year re-encounter rate of 14 percent for Fiscal Years 2014-2019,” CBP said. “The number of unique new encounters in June 2021 was 123,838.”
Some illegal border crossers are so determined to get into the U.S. that the number of unique people encountered by CBP is actually smaller than it was at the same time two years ago, per the agency.
According to Fox, the number of encounters between law enforcement officers and illegal crossers has already surpassed one million with still several months to go in the fiscal year. A great deal of those encountered were families.
“Single adults continue to make up the majority of these encounters; however, the number of single adults declined three percent from May to June. Last month, CBP expelled 104,907 individuals under Title 42. CBP continues to expel single adults and family units that are encountered pursuant to CDC guidance under Title 42 authority,” the agency noted.
CBP stated that officers have also had to conduct 9,500 migrant rescues this fiscal year, which is an 81 percent increase in rescues of stranded or distressed migrants from fiscal year 2020.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
