A record number of migrants crossed the U.S. southern border in December, according to a new report, topping the highest amount ever recorded as President Joe Biden continues to grapple with the crisis.
There were 300,000 encounters in the last month of 2023, U.S. Custom and Border Patrol sources told Fox News. Between Dec. 1 and December 31, more than 302,000 migrants were documented attempting to cross the U.S. southern border.
It is the highest total for a single month ever recorded in history and it marks the first time migrant encounters have reached over 300,000.
Immigration has entrenched itself into Biden’s domestic and foreign policy – his push for more funds for the Ukraine and Israel was stymied by Republicans desire for more border funding.
Migrants cross the Rio Bravo on their way to the United States
There were 300,000 encounters in the last month of 2023, U.S. Custom and Border Patrol sources told Fox News
Biden has asked Congress for $61 billion in aid to Ukraine, but Republicans are refusing to approve the assistance without an agreement with Democrats to tighten security along the U.S.-Mexico border. His request also includes $14 billion for Israel as it fights Hamas and $14 billion for U.S. border security.
Biden and his Democrats have offered major concessions on border security to try and get a deal in place, including raising the standards for asylum-seekers and expanding the president’s power to quickly remove migrants who cross the border.
But no deal has been made yet.
And immigration is a political hot potato for the president as he seeks a second term in office. Republicans – and even some Democrats – have criticized him for not doing enough to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.
Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, repeatedly hammers Biden for not doing enough to stop border crossings.
Last week, on the same day Biden left for a vacation on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, he sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to Mexico to meet with officials there about the crisis.
The two men met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Biden’s push came as the country was on track to see record numbers of migrants in December.
Earlier in the month, border officials warned the seven-day average was of more than 9,600.
In November, the figure sat at 6,800.
Thousands more were set to arrive in the coming days in the form of a massive migrant caravan making its way through Mexico to the southern border. Video and photos show the massive march with families carrying large crosses and their possessions as the trek to the US.
The border has been a political headache for Joe Biden for months
Members of the Mexican National Guard watch over migrants who have abandoned a caravan headed towards the United States, in the city of Mapastepec
The border has been a headache for Biden for months and his approval ratings continue to plummet with only 38 percent of voters saying they approve of his handling of immigration, compared with 46 percent in November.
Republicans took advantage of President Biden going on vacation to hammer him for heading to the Caribbean while the crisis grows.
Biden isn’t the first to face partisan criticism for taking a vacation with former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump all enduring scrutiny for time spent away from the capital.
And while Biden is on the U.S. Virgin Island, members of Congress are back home in their congressional districts, meaning Washington, D.C., is virtually empty of political types.
‘Joe Biden’s vacationing in the Virgin Islands while the southern border is in crisis,’ said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) earlier this week.
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) criticized Biden for being ‘on vacation AGAIN while our southern border is being invaded by illegal aliens.’
Republicans are gearing up for a fight.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in mid December, set himself on a collision course with Biden as he enacted sweeping powers to deal with the migrant crisis.
The laws will enable cops to arrest illegal migrants and allow judges to boot them back across the Mexico border. The Republican governor said it could slash the number of crossings by up to three quarters – but the Biden administration is bound to attack its constitutional legality.
U.S. Border Patrol agents assembled the migrants at a transit center in Eagle Pass, Texas. Authorities have been overwhelmed by the crush of border-crossers
A U.S. Border Patrol agent watches over more than 2,000 migrants at a field processing center on December 18, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. A surge as many as 12,000 immigrants per day crossing the U.S. southern border has overwhelmed U.S. immigration authorities – and established a new record
A migrant caravan is currently making its way through Southern Mexico bound for the US
It comes as 2,000 migrants are crossing the frontier everyday, with Texas bearing the brunt of the crisis. Biden has failed to confront the spiraling humanitarian disaster at the border and even received criticism from within Democratic ranks.
Opponents have called Abbott’s measure the most dramatic attempt by a state to police immigration since a 2010 Arizona law – denounced by critics as the ‘Show Me Your Papers’ bill – that was largely struck down by the US Supreme Court.
The law will likely face a quick legal challenge by the White House, which has pushed back on the Governor’s previous attempts to reduce the flow of migrants.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed three bills into law at a border wall construction site in Brownsville, Texas
More than 1,000 migrants wait in line to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico on Monday in Eagle Pass, Texas
Migrants wait to climb over concertina wire after they crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico, seen in September in Eagle Pass, Texas
The law, known as SB4, takes effect in March and allows any Texas law enforcement officer to arrest people who are suspected of entering the country illegally. Those who re-enter face penalties ranging from 180 days in jail to 20 years in prison.
Abbott, who signed the law in front of a section of border fence in Brownsville, Texas, predicted the number of people crossing illegally into Texas would drop by ‘well over 50 percent, maybe 75 percent.’ He did not offer evidence for such an estimate.
Once in custody, illegal migrants could either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the US or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry.
Migrants who don’t leave could face arrest again under more serious felony charges.
Abbott accused the White House of doing ‘nothing to halt illegal immigration.’
‘Joe Biden’s deliberate inaction has decimated America,’ Abbott said.
‘The consequences of [the new law] are so extreme that the people being smuggled by the cartels, they will not want to be coming into the state of Texas,’ he said.
Abbott claimed 8 million people have crossed the border illegally since Biden, a Democrat, took office in January 2021.
Abbott defended the new law as constitutional, saying Texas had been left to ‘fend for itself.’
Typically, immigration policy and enforcement have been the responsibility of the federal government. But several southern governors have taken the matter into their own hands saying Biden has dropped the ball.
Abbott said the bill passed by the Republican-majority Texas state legislature last month was needed to ‘stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas.’
Abbott said the bill makes it a ‘criminal offense for illegal entry into Texas from a foreign nation.
‘For repeat offenders it creates the offense of illegal reentry with a potential prison sentence term of up to 20 years,’ he said.
The bill also ‘provides a mechanism to order an illegal immigrant to return to the foreign nation from which they entered,’ he said.
Migrant crossings have remained at roughly 2,000 per day within the Del Rio Sector with most of those being encountered Venezuelans, Hondurans and Colombians.
A surge as many as 12,000 immigrants per day crossing the U.S. southern border has overwhelmed U.S. immigration authorities in recent weeks
In this aerial view, Immigrants, many wearing mylar blankets supplied by the U.S. Border Patrol, try to stay warm after spending the night outside a processing center next to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday
Texas Republicans have increasingly challenged the U.S. government’s authority over immigration, saying President Joe Biden’s administration isn’t doing enough to control the 1,950-mile southern border.
The state has experimented with a range of measures to deter people who cross illegally under its Operation Lone Star, including deploying National Guard troops to the border, blocking migrants with deadly concertina wire and installing a floating barrier over a stretch of the Rio Grande.
Texas has bused more than 65,000 migrants to cities across America since August 2022 and recently installed razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande, which has snagged and injured some asylum-seekers.
A three-judge panel of 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month ruled that Texas must remove the floating barrier although Texas is seeking a review by the full court.
In the state’s most prominent action, it has bused 65,000 migrants to Democrat-controlled cities across America since August 2022 to alleviate the strain on its border cities and pressure Democrats.
Still, migrants have continued to cross.
Abbott signed into law sweeping new powers that allows police to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally and gives local judges authority to order them to leave the country
Local organizations in Brownsville held a rally before a news conference announcing the governor’s signing of three bills broadening border security policies in the state
A migrant who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to the U.S. works their way through and over concertina wire and box car barriers in Eagle Pass, Texas
Shortly after Abbott signed the new law, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said it would challenge the measure in court.
More than 20 congressional Democrats also signed a letter urging the U.S. Justice Department to sue to stop the law, known as Senate Bill 4.
‘SB 4 is dangerous for the people of Texas and interferes with the federal governments exclusive authority over immigration and foreign affairs,’ the letter read.
In this aerial view, Texas National Guard troops direct a group of more than 1,000 immigrants towards a U.S. Border Patrol processing center after the migrants crossed the Rio Grande
A line of immigrants is seen in Eagle Pass having crossed over from Mexico
Mexico’s government also has rebuked the measure. Under bilateral and international agreements, Mexico is required to accept deportations of its own citizens, but not those of other countries.
Under the Texas law, migrants ordered to leave would be sent to ports of entry along the border with Mexico, even if they are not Mexican citizens.
In September and October, Venezuelans were the largest nationality arrested illegally crossing the U.S. border.
During debate in the Texas House in November, GOP state Rep. David Spiller pushed back against concerns the law would be used as a dragnet to arrest immigrants statewide.
He said enforcement would mostly take place in border counties. But he also rebuffed several efforts by Democrats to narrow the law, including a proposed carve-out for police on college campuses.
Because the illegal entry charge is a misdemeanor, which has a statue of limitation of two years, Spiller has said the law will not be used to target immigrants who have long been settled in the U.S.
‘This is not, ‘Round up everyone who is here illegally and ship them back to Mexico,” he said during debate over the bill.
Opponents have accused Texas Republicans of using the law as a vehicle to force the Supreme Court’s new conservative majority to revisit its landmark 2012 Arizona decision.
At the time, Justice Anthony Kennedy said Arizona may have ‘understandable frustrations’ with immigrants who are in the country illegally but that it can’t pursue policies that ‘undermine federal law.’