U.S. border agents encountered a record monthly number of illegal aliens on the southern border in December, News Nation reported Monday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 302,000 illegal immigrants at or between ports of entry during the last month of 2023, enough to fill Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor almost three times. The stadium, affectionally called “The Big House,” has a capacity of 107,601 and is the largest football stadium in America.
Border Patrol agents encountered more than 249,000 migrants between ports of entry in December, and an additional 52,000 at a port along the southern border, News Nation border correspondent Ali Bradley wrote Monday on X, citing CBP sources.
In November, Customs and Border Protection said, agents encountered 242,418 illegal aliens at the southern border.
The Tucson sector of Arizona, which covers 262 miles along the border, saw the largest number of encounters last month, at over 80,000.
CBP wasn’t expected to release the official December numbers until mid- to late January.
The new numbers on illegal aliens encountered at the southern border come while Congress is still working to agree on a border security bill. In May, the Republican-led House passed a bill, HR 2, but the Democrat-led Senate hasn’t taken it up.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., the new chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told The Daily Signal during a recent podcast interview that improving border security under President Joe Biden is among Republicans’ highest priorities in 2024.
“Of the many crises that this president and these Democrats have created that the country is suffering under now,” Good said, then listed the issues he sees: “our weakened military; our war on affordable, reliable energy; the climate, environmental extremism; the massive spending that’s bankrupting us and crushing us with record inflation; the assault on our education system.”
“There are so many issues that are just challenging, and in of themselves you could argue are existential crises,” Good said. “And perhaps, though, the border—to your question—may be the greatest issue, the greatest crises of all.”
Although Democrats in Congress and the White House call for more U.S. aid for Ukraine, Republicans have made it clear they won’t consider additional aid without legislation to address the record number of illegal aliens arriving at the southern border and being paroled into the U.S. under the Biden administration.
On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will lead a delegation of Republican lawmakers to the southern border, further highlighting the party’s prioritization of border security. About 60 GOP lawmakers are expected to join Johnson on the trip to Eagle Pass, Texas, including Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
In a letter to Biden before Christmas, Johnson urged the president to resume border wall construction, end parole programs that release illegal aliens into the U.S. interior, and reimplement the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy.
Thursday, while Biden was vacationing in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Johnson wrote on X: “President Biden needs to stop vacationing and take immediate steps to stop the flow of illegal immigration into our country. Our nation’s security and sovereignty depend upon it, and the American people demand it.”
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