Border officials encountered upwards of 14,000 illegal migrants at the southern border between Saturday and Friday, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sources.
Leading the encounters was the Tucson, Arizona, sector, with more than 2,000 apprehensions of illegal immigrants, per reporting from Fox News’ Bill Melugin.
And that’s on top of more than 1,000 gotaways on Saturday.
A group of migrants walk to a van as hundreds of migrants gather along the border Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Lukeville, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The figures have followed a trend since President Biden took office, whereby illegal border crossings dip around January and February, then tick back up in March, before exploding in the spring.
“If no action is taken – buckle up for the rest of the year, if the last 3 years are any indication,” Melugin tweeted. “Especially if migrants feel they need to get in before Biden is potentially voted out of office.”
The figures come as the border has become central to the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden and the presumed GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, both made dueling trips to the Texas border on Thursday.
Biden visited Brownsville, Texas and an area of the Rio Grande Valley where illegal crossings have dropped sharply.
Trump, meanwhile, visited Eagle Pass, an area that has become a flashpoint between Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over the latter’s handling of illegal immigration.
Asylum seekers cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States on September 30, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
Biden began his administration by making good on his campaign promise to roll back his predecessor’s immigration policies. He issued more than 90 executive actions on the border. But with the election looming, and under pressure from Republicans and even some Democrats, Biden has shifted course, pressing for asylum restrictions.
Still, Biden has stopped short of issuing any meaningful executive action on the border, saying the matter would best be left resolved by legislation.
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Biden embraced a sweeping bipartisan measure that was ultimately blocked by Senate Republicans over its tying of border security to wartime aid for Ukraine.