The border crisis created by President Joe Biden has set a range of disgraceful records for the number of illegal aliens encountered along the U.S.-Mexico border, the number of aliens released into the U.S. by abusing parole policies, and the number of "known gotaways" detected unlawfully crossing the border who are not apprehended.
The latter, notably, is a number that is tracked by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) but is not reported as part of the monthly number of illegal aliens encountered — either via apprehension trying to evade capture or after turning themselves over to authorities to claim asylum.
In the last week of March, according to a CBP source reported by Fox News Channel's Bill Melugin, the U.S.-Mexico border saw a seven-day average of 761 "known gotaways" each day. On March 31 alone, there were 919 such illegal aliens detected unlawfully entering the United States who did exactly what the term implies: they got away and are now somewhere in the United States.
NEW: 919 known gotaways recorded at the border yesterday, per CBP source.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 1, 2024
7 day average of known gotaways: 761 per day.
Reminder: Gotaways are not recorded in the official public border numbers reported each month. CBP tracks internally after seeing/detecting them.
This unofficially counted number of illegal immigrants is just one facet of Biden's border crisis — one that he and his administration, including impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, denied for years and still claim they're powerless to address — but it is an exceedingly dangerous one.
The violent crimes committed by illegal aliens who were apprehended before being released into the U.S. by the Biden administration are one thing, but the unknown identities, origins, and intentions of known gotaways should have every national security alarm bell and warning light going off.
Illegal aliens who turn themselves in to border agents are, clearly, not trying to evade detection. Yet after being processed they are overwhelmingly turned loose into the U.S. with a notice to appear for a hearing as many as six years in the future. Being caught under the Biden administration does not mean an illegal alien is going to get booted, so why would the known gotaways seek to evade apprehension?
Drug cartels, human traffickers, foreign criminals, and would-be terrorists are a few such types of illegal aliens who might want to evade law enforcement at the border. Federal officials have already, in the wake of Hamas terrorists' barbaric attack on Israel last October, warned border agents to be on the lookout for military-age males with ties to foreign terrorist organizations inspired by the massacre.
In a post on X, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) noted on Tuesday that the 919 known gotaways — "none of whom have been screened for criminal conduct or terrorism" — reportedly detected on March 31 are just some of the "new and growing threats" facing Americans with "each day that President Biden refuses to secure our border."
"[T]here's no telling how many more went completely undetected," McCaul reminded of the unknown gotaways that are never noticed by border authorities as they unlawfully breach the border.