New Border Numbers Highlight a Major National Security Concern

Leah Barkoukis | January 23, 2023 2:45 PM

U.S. Customs and Border Protection's latest data, released in a Friday news dump, show an out-of-control immigration crisis, with migrant encounters at the border last month breaking records.

While the numbers are climbing — 717,660 encounters in just the first three months of Fiscal Year 2023 — so too is the national security threat.

According to the data, Border Patrol arrested 17 people on the terror watch list last month at the southern border, bringing the total to 38 for FY 2023, which began Oct. 1.

Comparing the data from previous years, the number is soaring on President Biden's watch.

This is now the tenth month in a row of more than 200,000 migrant encounters at the southern border. CBP sources tell FOX there were over 70,000 known gotaways at the border in December as well. @FoxNews
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) January 20, 2023

Terror watchlist arrests at the southern border are surging under President Biden.

FY’23: 38 (so far)
FY’22: 98
FY’21: 15
FY’20: 3
FY’19: 0
FY’18: 6
FY’17: 2

Per CBP sources, there have been approximately 1.2 million *known* gotaways since Biden took office. @FoxNews
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) January 22, 2023

It's important to keep in mind that there were also over 70,000 "gotaways" in December, according to CBP, and about 1.2 million since Biden took office. As Melugin emphasizes, these are the ones known about.