Open Border: Homeland Security Chief Admits Shocking Number of 'Got-Aways' Detected This Year

Whenever we cover President Biden's record-shattering border crisis, as we did just a few days ago, we often end up reminding readers that in addition to whatever the official statistics might be -- on encounters, on releases, etc. -- they don't include any of the 'got-aways." The number of undetected or unknown got-aways is impossible to know or accurately even estimate, but known got-aways are tracked and tallied. We're often told that this latter group accounts for tens of thousadns of illegal entries into the United States every single month.

At a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted under questioning that for a second consecutive year, known got-aways have surpassed 600,000:

🚨600,000+ known got-aways, in addition to the nearly 2.5 million encounters, in the fiscal year that just ended. Add in undetected got-aways, and we are WAY past *3 million* illegal border crossings in the last year alone. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Iowa. https://t.co/lSWGvOOfQJ
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 31, 2023

More than 3.1 million illegal crossings in the past year. More than two million illegal entries:

How many migrants have come into the US in the last year? Let's look at CBP data.

1) 900,000+ Border Patrol releases into US after apprehension for crossing illegally.
2) 600,000+ known gotaways.
3) 500,000+ paroled via CBP One App & CHNV parole program.

Total: Over 2 million.…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 31, 2023

And the math on got-aways: According to Customs and Border Patrol, there were just over 389,000 known got-aways in Biden's first year. In his second year, that number soared to more than 600,000. That stunning new record has now been matched or exceeded in Biden's third year. Add the numbers up, and that's at least 1.5 million, likely higher. Add in unknown got-aways (six figures?) and the number swells further. It's possible that close to two million illegal immigrants have simply entered the US without capture since Biden took office. For more perspective on the new annual got-aways figure, I mentioned on my radio show yesterday that it's roughly equivalent to the largest football stadium in the country being filled to capacity, six times over. Fox's Bill Melugin was thinking along the same lines:

DHS Secretary Mayorkas' testimony today that there were over 600,000 known gotaways at the border in FY'23 means a population size big enough to fill college football's four biggest stadiums - & still have 200k overflow - is known to have entered the country without apprehension. pic.twitter.com/a6timu4yyo
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 31, 2023

Beyond the sheer numbers, which are a disgraceful affront to our national sovereignty and the rule of law, there's an even more sinister concern here. Given the fact that more people on the FBI's terrorist watch list were apprehended at the border this past fiscal year than in the six previous years combined, there's an extremely high chance that some undetermined number of suspected terrorists entered the country among the legions of got-aways. Our government has no idea who they are, where they are, or how many of them there might be. This is a dangerous failure and a direct consequence of the insane border policies under Biden and Mayorkas. Asked directly about this, Mayorkas pivoted to a talking point, instead of an answer. The real, inescapable answer to this, in light of the facts and his evasion, is 'no:'