Biden’s Border, by Chris Farrell

Fiscal year-end figures provided this month by the Department of Homeland Security show that 2021 was the record year for all-time high apprehensions on the southern border. Federal agents apprehended 1,659,206 illegal immigrants at the southwest border in 2021, breaking the previous high of 1,643,679 in 2000. Pictured: U.S. Border Patrol agents watch as illegal immigrants cross the Rio Grande river from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas on September 23, 2021. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

One does not see reporting in the American news media nowadays about the “Biden Caravans,” thousands of immigrants making their way north to the border region of the United States. News media reports on the number of illegal immigrants apprehended at the border are also few and far between. The deficit in reporting and public attention does not, however, mean that the border crisis has abated. In fact, the crisis has deepened on all fronts: it is a humanitarian disaster compounded by rampant criminality and grave national security threats.

The “mother of all caravans” (also known as the “march for liberty, dignity and peace“) is on the way from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala, to the United States. By the time you read this, they may already have arrived. More than 4,000 illegal immigrants are estimated to be in the caravan. Spanish-language reporting (that includes video) on the caravan claims that the group consists mainly of Haitians and Central Americans. Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, is quoted in a Mexican news story as saying that the government will act with prudence and caution in accordance with human rights laws, although he adds that migrants are being fooled because they will not be allowed to enter the United States.

Fiscal year-end figures provided this month by the Department of Homeland Security show that 2021 was the record year for all-time high apprehensions on the southern border. Federal agents apprehended 1,659,206 illegal immigrants at the southwest border in 2021, breaking the previous high of 1,643,679 in 2000. Illegal “got-aways” – migrants who crossed the border without turning themselves in for processing — is estimated by law enforcement at an additional 250,000 for the year. “On average, noted one report, 1,600 migrants escape capture each day.”

The Department of Homeland Security defines “apprehension” as: “The arrest of a removable alien by the Department of Homeland Security. Each apprehension of the same alien in a fiscal year is counted separately.” Under the Biden administration, the vast majority of apprehended illegal aliens are processed for identification purposes and then released into the interior of the United States on the condition that the alien promises to appear at an immigration hearing sometime in the future. The date and location of the hearing is not set at the time of release. Border communities have struggled to keep up with the number of released aliens, as have transportation service providers such as bus companies and small regional airports.