The country’s besieged southern border saw a record 189,922 migrant encounters in February as authorities prepare for an expected spring surge, new data from Customs and Border Protection shows. .
This number exceeds February’s record of 166,010 cases recorded in 2022 and 156,000 cases set in the same month last year.
The tally includes Border Patrol arrests and encounters at official ports of entry, but does not include the estimated number of migrants who cross the southern border undetected.
So far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, 70 immigrants on the FBI’s terrorist watch list have attempted to enter the country illegally, including 11 in February.
Including the northern border, there were a total of 256,000 border encounters in February, an increase of about 13,000 from the previous month.
This number is still well below December’s record of 371,000 migrant encounters across the country.
Of the approximately 190,000 encounters at the southern border, approximately 140,000 were the result of Border Patrol arrests.
The remaining group consisted of migrants who voluntarily approached the intersection and sought asylum.
About 40,000 of them claimed status under the CBPOne app program, which allows immigrants to enter the country at pre-scheduled times.
Another Biden administration effort is easing the entry of illegal immigrants from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Nearly 400,000 immigrants from these countries have already entered the country, many of them in Florida.
