The stats on illegal migrant encounters at the border in March are in, and Joe Biden has racked up another record: 221,303, a 32 percent increase over February and a 24 percent rise over March 2021. Since the fiscal year began in October, over 1.1 million illegals have been apprehended while crossing the border from Mexico, the fastest pace in decades. On top of the numbers actually encountered, there are always an indeterminate, often under-estimated number of “got aways,” who get past the understaffed Border Patrol. The government guesses that there were over 62,000 of those in March, and more than 300,000 since October.
About half of March’s total of encountered were said to have been returned under Title 42 protocols–the protocols set to expire May 23. There are no legal repercussions for sneaking into the U.S. as many times as you like, so many migrants just keep trying until they either get away scot free or else get admitted under increasingly lax government enforcement. For that reason, the number of March encounters (221,303) is greater than the number of unique individuals encountered (159,900).
As for the approximately one half of migrants not returned under Title 42, they were treated in various ways, each way of which involved letting them in under some form of humanitarian parole or refugee or asylum claim. (A total of 5,071 Ukrainians crossed the border illegally last month. They were all admitted, under the newly announced official Temporary Protected Status for Ukrainians.)
With Title 42 set to expire in May, no one is expecting the numbers to go down anytime soon. They are, in fact, likely to skyrocket, and the only measures being taken by Washington are intended not to prevent their entry, but to expedite it.
So it goes.
For more, see Breitbart.