By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)
In the first six months of fiscal year 2024, more than 1.7 million aliens entered the United States illegally, the highest number for this period in U.S. history.
There were 1,733,496 illegal immigrants in the first six months of this fiscal year, more than 185,000 more than the 1,547,866 illegal immigrants in the first six months of fiscal year 2023.
The latest data shows that in March, a total of 246,432 illegal entries were reported across the country, of which 189,372 were only through the southwest border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
Last month, CBP also used the CBP One mobile app to process 44,000 aliens arriving at ports of entry. According to CBP data, from January 2023 to the end of March 2024, more than 547,000 foreigners have used the app to successfully make appointments at ports of entry.
Through a new program established by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, 404,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans will be paroled from January 5, 2023 to March 2024 and were released to the United States, including 86,000 Cubans, 168,000 Haitians, 77,000 Nicaraguans and 102,000 Venezuelans, who CBP claimed were “vetted and granted travel authorization.”
Mayorkas has been sued by more than 20 state attorneys general over the app and parole program. House Republicans have argued that the app and the parole program are illegal and cited them in their impeachment charges against him.
As was the case in March and every month, the majority of foreigners entering the country illegally were single adults.
According to CBP data, more than 1 million single adults (1,040,553 people) entered the United States illegally in the first six months of fiscal year 2024. Their total number exceeds the single populations of Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and is nearly as large as the population of Delaware.
In March, CBP agents seized 16% more fentanyl and 19.6% more heroin than in February.
In the first six months of fiscal year 2024, CBP agents seized 10,026 pounds of fentanyl.
Two milligrams of fentanyl (equivalent to the weight of a mosquito) is considered a fatal dose. One pound of fentanyl, or 453,592 mg, is enough to kill 226,796 people.
In the current fiscal year that ended April 4, CBP agents seized enough fentanyl to kill more than 2.2 billion people.
This comes after CBP Tucson Sector agents seized record amounts, most recently enough to kill nearly 4 billion people, Center Square report.
While the southwest border has received much attention, illegal crossings have surged along the northern border, where the highest number of terrorists have been apprehended. In the first six months of fiscal year 2024, 91,408 illegal border crossers were apprehended, the highest number in U.S. history.
In fiscal year 2021, only 27,180 illegal border crossers were apprehended at the northern border. This number increased significantly to 109,535 in fiscal year 2022 and to 189,402 in fiscal year 2023.
Nationally, if numbers continue on the same trajectory, illegal entry and fentanyl seizures in fiscal year 2024 are expected to exceed all previous fiscal year records. CBP’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30.
Under the Biden administration, arrests of illegal border crossers are breaking records each year. In fiscal year 2021, a record 1.9 million illegal border crossers were apprehended, the highest number in U.S. history at the time. This number does not include those who evade capture, known as fugitives.
This record was broken in fiscal year 2022, with a new record of more than 2.7 million people, and again in fiscal year 2023, with more than 3.2 million people (excluding escapees).
According to reports, since fiscal year 2021, a record 11 million aliens have entered the United States illegally, including 2 million fugitives, and the central square has report.
Co-organized with permission from Center Square.
