Witnesses at the US-Mexico border report a spike in migrant encounters in February

NEW DELHI: According to the most current Customs and Border Patrol statistics, 1,89,922 attempts were made to cross the border in February, setting a record for interactions with migrants on the southern border of the United States.

The number surpasses the previous records for February, which were 1,56,000 in the same month the previous year and 1,66,010 in 2022.
It does not provide an estimate of the number of migrants who enter the southern border covertly, but it does contain Border Patrol concerns and encounters at official ports of entry.

Seventy migrants on the FBI terror watchlist have tried to enter the country illegally so far this fiscal year, which started on October 1. The New York Post reported that eleven of them did so in February.
In February, there were 2,56,000 border encounters when the Northern Border is taken into account, representing an almost 13,000 rise over January.
Approximately 1,40,000 of the roughly 1,90,000 encounters along the southern border were related to Border Patrol arrests.
The number was still far lower than the record-breaking 3,71,000 national migrant encounters in December.
In a different initiative, the Biden Administration is making it easier for illegal immigrants from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to enter the US.
Many of the over 4,00,000 migrants from those nations who have already entered the US are destined for Florida.