Migrant crisis smashing new records amid fresh surge at southern border

The ongoing migrant crisis at the southern border is breaking new records, and multiple marks have been set since September, as the crisis deepens into its third year and Washington struggles to agree on solutions.

The latest record was smashed Tuesday with over 12,000 migrant encounters at the southern border.

It marked the highest total for a single day ever recorded. Over 10,200 of those were Border Patrol encounters of illegal immigrants coming between ports of entry.

The record is one of a number that have been broken in recent months. It was revealed in October that fiscal 2023 set a new record for migrant encounters at the southern border with 2.4 million migrant encounters, outpacing the record set in fiscal 2022.

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September, the last month of fiscal 2023, had sent its own record for monthly totals with over 260,000 encounters. The numbers dropped to over 240,000 in October, but that marked the highest October figure on record.

More recently, the Tucson Sector in Arizona broke records for weekly encounters when officials encountered over 17,500 migrants last week.

The records show that despite the efforts of the Biden administration, the crisis has continued to worsen, even after a lull after the expiration of the Title 42 public health order.

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The Biden administration has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis and has appealed to Congress for more funding and comprehensive immigration reform to fix what it says is a “broken” system.

A $14 billion emergency funding request includes money for shelter and services, more hiring of officials, transportation and resources for an expansion of expedited removal. The administration says it is pursuing a strategy of expanding “lawful pathways” while increasing consequences for illegal entry.

“We’ve presented proposals that address the situation, that provide real practical solutions and also do not do violence to our fundamental values,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on CNN Wednesday. “We are a country of refugees. We do have asylum laws. We do have refugee laws. We abide by our international obligations that are long-standing.”

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That funding request, however, has stalled in Congress as Republicans have demanded stricter limits on asylum and a reduced use of humanitarian parole, an executive authority the administration has used to release tens of thousands of migrants into the U.S. each month.

Democrats have balked at that demand, some saying it would only be acceptable if it was combined with a mass amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the U.S.

President Biden this week said he was prepared to accept “significant compromises” on border policy to finish a deal for emergency spending, which would also include funding for Israel and Ukraine.

“I am willing to make significant compromises on the border. We need to fix the broken border system,” he said.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.