Failure at the Border: 5.5 Million Illegal Immigrants Have Crossed Into the U.S. on Biden's Watch

Late on a Friday night in mid-October, the Biden administration quietly released illegal immigration data for fiscal year 2022 (FY 2022). Using those official FY 2022 border numbers to take a deeper look at how Biden & Co. are handling the immigration crisis, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) issued a statement on what they found. And it was shocking.

“In typical fashion, the Biden administration attempted to conceal the reality of a historic crisis they created by releasing final FY 2022 border numbers late on a Friday evening, hoping in vain that no one would notice on the eve of consequential midterm elections. After digging through them, we can see why,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR and internationally recognized immigration policy expert.

FAIR found “some 2.7 million migrants—those who illegally entered or were otherwise inadmissible at a port of entry—were encountered at our borders in FY 2022.” Those additional 2.7 million bring the total number of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States just since President Biden took office “to a whopping 5.5 million.” According to Stein, the “record-breaking numbers are a direct consequence of open-borders policies implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and the person who appointed him, President Joe Biden.”

Stein, who advocates for “policies that will prevent and deter illegal immigration, and ensure sustainable immigration levels,” appeared on a recent segment of Tucker Carlson Tonight where he explained how Biden’s lax immigration policies are undermining the safety and sovereignty of America.

ICYMI: Dan Stein – "This is counterfeit immigration undermining all the limitations in immigration law Congress has carefully crafted over many decades." pic.twitter.com/Y5Knp3lcjI

— FAIR (@FAIRImmigration) November 1, 2022

“Joe Biden has turned his back on the American people and our borders,” Stein told Carlson. “He has a DHS Secretary who not only lies but believes he can improvise and make up immigration law by using the parole power — which Congress has said is very limited — to turn around and let in millions and millions of people under parole, which is a fraud on the American people” because it falsely gives the expectation that if illegal immigrants make an unsuccessful asylum claim, “maybe they’ll be removed back to their home country.” That’s a total lie, of course, and only serves as a magnet to draw more migrants to our border.

“Biden has never been to the border,” Stein said. “Harris has never actually looked at the situation at the border.” Stein believes Mayorkas has “turned his back on his own Border Patrol,” which makes it impossible for him to “conduct operations as Secretary of Homeland Security when he doesn’t have the respect of anyone working in immigration enforcement.”

Inferring the positive results of the upcoming midterm election, Stein believed “the American people are going to be looking very closely at what Republicans do. Parole has to be shut down.” While Congress has tried to stop the immigration abuse, “when you have a president of the United States who will not carry out his fundamental functions under the Constitution to defend our borders, it’s no different than failing to defend the United States from military invasion.” For years, what Stein called “counterfeit immigration” has been “undermining all the limitations in immigration law Congress has carefully crafted over many decades.”

Carlson, like many Americans, wondered, “[If] we have 5.5 million people coming over the border, why haven’t the governors of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas sent the National Guard to seal the border?” Seems reasonable, right? Not according to Stein, who asserted total border chaos is exactly what the immigration organizations want, and “unless you have state and federal cooperation, the situation will only deteriorate.” So what can be done to fix immigration now?

From the FAIR analysis:

FAIR Border Snapshot for FY 2022

Some 2.7 million migrants—those who illegally entered or were otherwise inadmissible at a port of entry—were encountered at our borders in FY 2022.

2.2 million of them were apprehended along the southwest border, setting a new record and eclipsing all four years of the Trump administration combined.

Since President Biden took office, around 5.5 million illegal aliens have crossed our borders—a crisis of epic proportions.

FAIR’s figure contains the 4.4 million nationwide total reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) – which includes around 3.9 million at our southwest border – as well as approximately 1.1 million “gotaways” who have entered the country undetected per agency sources.

Based on publicly available CBP data, court filings, and “gotaways,” FAIR estimates that 2.4 million were either released by federal authorities or entered the country’s interior undetected.

Border Patrol agents encountered 98 known or suspected terrorists in FY 2022. In FY 2021, that number was 15. In FY 2020, it was three and in FY 2019, zero.

This number only includes known or suspected terrorists who were apprehended, not those embedded in the 1.1 million who evaded law enforcement while entering the country and eventually disappeared into American communities.

Migrant deaths at the southwest border totaled 856 in FY 2022—the deadliest year on record.

The amount of fentanyl seized in the last month of the fiscal year is equivalent of more than 414 million lethal doses—bringing the FY 2022 lethal dose total well into the billions.

More fentanyl has crossed the border in the last two months under President Biden than in all of FY 2019 under President Trump’s leadership.

FAIR’s statement determined that “this deliberate sabotage of our nation’s immigration laws demands that the president remove Mayorkas from his position immediately.” Barring removal, which seems unlikely given that Biden rarely does what he should, Mayorkas should heed the calls to resign. “Otherwise, the impeachment of his disgraced cabinet member is sure to be one of the first orders of business in the next Congress,” Stein told Carlson.

For Our VIP Members: Five Biden Officials Likely to ‘Resign’ After the Midterms

One thing is certain: The problems at our border will not improve until we have a DHS leader “who believes in borders — and secure ones at that” not “someone who is bent on compounding” the problems. “President Biden needs to clean house at DHS, and, if he is not prepared to do it, Congress needs to clean it for him, beginning with the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas,” concluded Stein’s statement.

And as Carlson said, allowing this illegal immigration to occur “is such an act of hostility toward the United States,” it has to stop. Seriously, if you did your job this poorly, would you still be employed tomorrow? Absolutely not. This begs the question of why Mayorkas still has a job. Why does Joe Biden & Co., for that matter? Come Nov. 8, vote to make sure Congress does something about it.