White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed on Monday because of the actions taken by President Joe Biden's administration, illegal immigration is down 90 percent.
Claim: "When it comes to illegal migration, you have seen it come down by more than 90%, and that’s because of the actions that this president has taken."
KJP: “When it comes to illegal migration, you have seen it come down by more than 90%, and that’s because of the actions that this president has taken.” pic.twitter.com/amp3rZi1kT
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 1, 2023
Rating: Mostly false, missing context.
The claim is simply false looking at the historical data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection from before Biden entered office to today. As Fox News National Correspondent Bill Melugin noted, there was a brief period of time earlier this year where illegal crossings from Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans dropped 90 percent after the rollout of the CBP One app. The app allows a certain number of slots for people to make appointments to legally cross at a port of entry. However, in recent weeks, there has been a significant surge in illegal crossings from those nationalities again ahead of Title 42 being removed on May 11.
The Brownsville Texas border right now… local reporter says this is the third straight day of this… I’m seeing their papers at the McAllen bus station.
— Todd Bensman (@BensmanTodd) April 25, 2023
Biden gov letting many of the Sunday ones into America, which would explain why these are here now. All of the tomorrows? pic.twitter.com/3dTadTNzcb
Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz tweeted on Monday his agents had encounter over 20,000 illegal immigrants within the past three days, a staggering number by current border crisis standards.
Past 72 Hours...
— Chief Raul Ortiz (@USBPChief) May 1, 2023
- 2 Agents Assaulted/Prosecution sought
- 22,220 Apprehensions
- 806 lbs. Methamphetamine
- 283 lbs. Marijuana
- 62 lbs. Cocaine
- 3 Firearms
- 5 Maritime Events
- 2 Sex Offenders
- 2 Tractor Trailer Events
- 1 Convicted Murderer
- 1 Gang Member
Great work! pic.twitter.com/IQxiB6uGVX
Even during that lull in Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Cubans illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, other people crossing remained historically high. In January and February, both months saw over 120,000 illegal entries that were encountered. March saw the number jump back up to almost 200,000 encounters due to migrants in Mexico being fed up with the slowness or lack of slots available in the CBP One app. So far this fiscal year, there have been over 1 million illegal immigrants encountered.