Published October 30,2023
border Patrol agents in the five Texas-based Border Patrol sectors apprehended more than 2.6 million migrants during the past two fiscal years. The number of migrants apprehended during this period exceeds the city of Houston’s population by more than 300,000 people.
Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio, Big Bend, and El Paso Sectors apprehended 1,216,501 migrants during the recently ended Fiscal Year 23. One year earlier, agents in these Texas-based border sectors apprehended 1,395,690 migrants.
This brings the total number of migrants apprehended to 2,612,191 during the past two fiscal years, according to the CBP Nationwide Encounters Report. This exceeds the population of the city of Houston (2,302,878) by more than 309,000 people — slightly less than the city of Corpus Christi.
RELATED: Record number of illegal immigrants from India are crossing US border
Published October 30,2023
An unprecedented number of Indian immigrants are entering the US via its southern border, new federal statistics have revealed – with 42,000 intercepted in the past year alone. The number, unveiled last month by US Customs and Border Protection, is more than double the amount from the same period the year prior – when crossings by Indians were already at a record high. What’s more, an additional 1,600 have crossed from the northern border amid the rising phenomenon – four times the amount of the past three years combined.
Nearly all turn themselves in to Border Patrol – who then process them as asylum-seekers due to recent unrest surrounding India ‘s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Since 2007, the total number of annual illegal border crossings from India only exceeded 5,000 four times. A litany of other factors, political and socioeconomic included, has since spurred the sizable jump – which has also been bolstered by records from other demographics. CBP’s total encounters along the border this past year were more than 2million, meaning migrants from India represented just under 2 percent of that sample set. The total, pertaining to the fiscal year starting last October, includes roughly 210,000 apprehensions this past month alone – the highest recorded in all of 2023. The record monthly figure brought the total number of migrant encounters for fiscal year – for the fist time ever in history – to 2.48 million, up from 2.38 million in 2022.
At the time, the 2.38millon had been a world record, but has since been bested as asylum-seekers like Sikh supporter Arshdeep Singh continue to enter the country. Singh, a 23-year-old from Punjab who spoke to The Wall Street Journal Sunday about his journey to the States, spent 40 days this summer migrating to the US. Rather than being arrested while evading capture, he turned himself in to ask for asylum – a request he was granted before arriving in SoCal’s Fresno. He recalled to the paper how was threatened by men he believed were affiliated with India’s ruling, Hindu-centered party, before his father made arrangements for him to leave – adding onto the current humanitarian crisis at the border. But ‘the path here turned out to be just as dangerous as it had been for me to stay in Punjab,’ the young man said – before describing the roundabout way he made it into the country.
RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: 100 Syrians, 50 Iranians Cross Biden’s Open Border in October, Says Source
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 14: President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden walk off stage after the President delivered remarks at the 2023 Human Rights Campaign National Dinner at the Washington Convention Center on October, 14, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Published October 29,2023
EAGLE PASS, Texas — According to a source within CBP, the influx of Special Interest Migrants across the U.S./Mexico border continues early in the NEW fiscal year as nearly 100 Syrian and 50 Iranian nationals have been apprehended by the Border Patrol since the beginning of October. The source says the influx of Syrian and Iranian Special Interest Migrants is concerning, considering the turmoil unfolding in the Middle East.
The Syrian and Iranian migrants were apprehended in multiple sectors across the southwest border during October. The latest arrest of an Iranian national by the Border Patrol occurred near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Saturday. The Iranian national was discovered within a single group of more than 300 that crossed into the small border city. A debrief of the Iranian migrant is pending as of press time, according to the source.
The source says the continued encounter of Syrian and Iranian nationals is more concerning considering the recent U.S. air strikes against Iran-linked sites in Syria in response to drone and missile attacks on U.S. military bases in the region. According to the source, the arrivals of Special Interest Migrants at the southwest border are appearing with little to no advance intelligence warning.
“We are receiving no advance warning of the arrival of Special Interest Migrants from the region with any specificity,” the source explained. “We are left to sort through the grab-bag of migrants in small and large groups to figure out who is in the group and why they are coming.”
Eleven Special Interest Migrants from Middle Eastern countries were apprehended in just one sector of the border patrol in one week alone.
RELATED: Texas Legislature Passes 2 Bills Criminalizing Illegal Migrant Entry into State
Published October 29,2023
The Texas Legislature passed two separate bills criminalizing the illegal entry of migrants into the state. The bill passed by the House also criminalizes the unlawful presence of a foreign national in Texas. Neither bill has passed both chambers.
The Texas House of Representatives passed House Bill 4 early Thursday morning by a vote of 84-60. The bill creates a criminal offense of “illegal entry into or illegal presence in this state by a person who is an alien.”
The bill, if passed by the Texas Senate and signed by Governor Greg Abbott would make the act of attempting to enter the state from a foreign country at a place other than a legal port of entry a Class B misdemeanor. The offense would be punishable by up to six months in jail. A subsequent offense would be classified as a State Jail Felony.
The bill provides a law enforcement officer with an alternative to arrest. The officer may transport the migrant to a port of entry and order the migrant to “return to the foreign nation.” Failure to comply with the officer’s order would constitute a separate offense. This offense is classified as a 2nd Degree Felony.
House Bill 4 will be passed on to the Texas Senate for consideration.
