More than a million undocumented migrants crossed border since October

Encounters with undocumented migrants at the southern border have surpassed the one million mark since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2023, which began Oct. 1,  2022, Rio Grande Valley Sector Chief Gloria Chavez said on Monday.

Customs and Border Protections (CBP) announced last month that the entire agency reached the one million mark. However, Chavez’s number refers specifically to those migrants encountered entering between ports of entry. 

Overnight, #USBP hit 1M encounters!
Of that number, RGV accounts for a total of +125k migrants.
Agents intercepted:
- 13 Smuggling cases
- 6 Narcotic events
- +1,300 Apprehensions
- 3 Firearms seized
- 1 Sex offender
- 1 MS-13 Apprehended pic.twitter.com/SmACVPeqSI

— Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez (@USBPChiefRGV) March 20, 2023

The number of undocumented migrants encountered at the border is on pace to break the records established for the previous entire fiscal year. In comparison, Border Patrol agents only encountered 400,000 migrants in Fiscal Year 2020, before the number increased to 1.6 million in Fiscal Year 2021 and 2.2 million in Fiscal Year 2022. 

Last month, Border Patrol agents encountered 154,998 undocumented migrants, down from the 166,010 encountered in the same month last year and lower than the 156,770 encountered in January 2023.

However, the number remains significantly higher than the 101,099 migrants encountered in February 2021 and the 36,687 encountered in 2020. 

The new figures come as Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told lawmakers at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week that the Department of Homeland Security does not have operational control of the U.S.-Mexico border.  

“The migration flow represents challenges, and in some areas, a crisis,” Ortiz said. “We had over 20,000 people show up in one place in a short period of time.”