Politics

1.7 million ‘gotaways’ have sneaked into US under Biden, more than in previous decade combined: Border data

By
Social Links for Olivia Land
Published May 16, 2024
Updated May 16, 2024, 5:13 p.m. ET

More than 1.7 million migrant “getaways” have illegally sneaked over the southern border without being apprehended during the Biden administration, according to newly revealed Border Patrol data.

The huge number of gotaways — defined as those who have been spotted by agents or via video cameras but not caught — is higher than the 1.4 million recorded in the entire decade from 2010 to 2020, according to the shocking statistics, obtained by Fox News.

The number of gotaways more than doubled in the Border Patrol financial year 2021, which runs from Oct 1 to September 30, when 387,398 gotaways were counted, compared to 136,808 in 2020.

Statistics from the United States Border Patrol showing the number of gotaways they have recorded since 2010

However, that number was quickly dwarfed and almost doubled again to 606,131 in the 2022 financial year.

The in 2023 a new record was set with an eye-watering 670,674 migrants known to have crossed the border illegally without being apprehended according to the figures, obtained by FOX through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Since the start of the 2024 financial year in October, there have been over 175,000 gotaways and 1.3 million migrants apprehended by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), sources told Fox News.

The troubling increase in un-encountered new arrivals contradicts Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s previous claim Biden had “done more than anybody” to secure the border.

“That [encountered] number is a large number, but what’s keeping me up at night is the 140,000 known gotaways,” Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens told CBS News in March, referring to the 2024 count at that time.

A migrant caught on camera illegally crossing the Northern border
Twitter / @USBPChiefSWB
President Biden is planning to take an executive action that would allow him to shut down the US border once migrant crossings reach 4,000 per day, a source close to the White House told The Post.
President Biden is planning to take executive action that would allow him to shut down the US border once migrant crossings reach 4,000 per day, a source close to the White House told The Post. Shutterstock
Thousands of migrants were caught by Border Patrol crossing the Rio Grande in Texas, in December 2023 Go Nakamura for NY Post

“If a person is willing to put themselves into harm’s way crossing through very remote, very dangerous conditions to evade capture, you have to ask yourself why. What makes them willing to take that risk?” Owens previously told a House Committee last year.

“That’s of concern to me. What’s also of concern to me is I don’t know who that individual is. I don’t know where they came from.

“I don’t know what their intention is. I don’t know what they brought with them. That unknown represents a risk, a threat. It’s of great concern to anybody that wears this uniform,” he added.

Part of the increased count of gotaways is due to there being more cameras and monitoring of the border areas in order to spot people, Owens pointed out.

Texas National Guard pushed back a large group of almost 60 migrants who crossed the border illegally and breached the concertina wire barriers set up along the US side of the Rio Grande river. The migrants had made it to the actual border wall but were forced back across the razor wire defenses by soldiers telling them to enter the US at a legal point of entry to claim asylum, pointing to the Zaragoza bridge above them.
Biden, 81, last month declined to say whether he would take executive action to address the border crisis, as a record number of migrants have entered the US every year since he took office. James Breeden for NY Post

“We have gotten more detection capability, we have…more on the way, we’ve got the additional processing coordinators, we are in a better situation than we were in years past,” Owens said in the March interview.

The staggering gotaway data emerged a day after The Post broke the story that Biden was planning an executive action which would allow him to shut down the US-Mexico border once the number of migrant crossings hit 4,000 per day.

The terms of the order would match a provision in the bipartisan bill that failed to pass the Senate in February, which gave the president authority to expel migrants when daily crossings hit the same number.

Texas officials beefed up security at the border in El Paso by deploying additional National Guard troops, State Troopers, and other law enforcement after migrants waiting in this area stormed the border fence yesterday.
The US Border Patrol currently has more than 10,000 migrants in custody nationwide, according to internal Customs and Border Protection data exclusively obtained by The Post. James Breeden for NY Post
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters following a Republican policy meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 8, 2024.
“Apparently it’s time to give the commander-in-chief kudos on his handling of a crisis that still lets nearly 5,000 people cross our border illegally in a day,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said wryly in a floor speech. AP
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference following a Senate Democrat party policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Building on May 08, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is also heavily considering resurrecting the border legislation, which had failed to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold by 11 votes. Getty Images

The border has long been seeing more than 4,000 migrants crossing per day, with a daily average of 6,000 recorded daily in April, according to the CBP.

If 4,000 people apprehended at the border are allowed into the country, that is still up to 1.4 million people per year. A further 522,000 are also legally allowed into the US through the CBP One parole program.

Those numbers do not include the additional gotaways.

“Joe Biden’s failed Far Left open border policies have turned every community into a border community, jeopardized our national security, and destroyed countless American lives,” the House GOP conference said in a scathing press release Thursday.

“House Republicans know that border security is national security, and we will continue to fight to secure our borders by re-implementing President Trump’s successful policies,” they insisted.