Immigration expert exposes truth behind misleading border figures.

Reported Immigration Numbers at the U.S. Southern Border Are Misleading, Says Former DHS Official

Recent reports suggesting a significant decrease in illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border in June are misleading, according to a former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official.

Border Patrol agents recorded approximately 100,000 apprehensions of illegal immigrants between ports of entry along the U.S. southern border in June, as reported by CBS News. While this number is lower than the 169,000 apprehensions in May, it does not accurately reflect the true situation.

Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, explains that this drop-off is primarily due to lenient parole policies that encourage immigrants to use ports of entry instead of crossing between them. Additionally, the reported numbers do not account for individuals who successfully evade border security and enter the U.S. interior without arrest.

“The reported numbers are deceitful. The number of illegal and inadmissible aliens coming into the country is still just as high, but the administration is using a shell game and sending people through ports of entry instead of between ports of entry, and then declaring that an improvement on the border,”

– Lora Ries, former acting deputy chief of staff at DHS

Ries further emphasizes that when considering nationwide encounters with Customs and Border Protection (CBP), including numbers at ports of entry, the overall figures have steadily risen.

It is important to note that the numbers reported by CBS News are preliminary and have not yet been officially released to the public. However, the available data on the DHS website shows a consistent increase in the number of immigrants processed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations, which handles migrant processing at ports of entry, throughout President Biden’s term.

The preliminary Border Patrol numbers reported by CBS News do not include immigrants who present themselves at ports of entry and are processed through the Office of Field Operations.

The Biden administration has highlighted the implementation of stricter immigration rules and parole programs that facilitate the entry of tens of thousands of immigrants from specific countries. These parole pathways are the main factors influencing the Biden administration’s revised approach to counting illegal immigration.

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The parole programs at ports of entry have been steadily accepting more immigrants, redirecting them away from attempting to cross between ports.

“They’ve been increasing the daily number of appointments CBP takes at the ports,” Ries explained. “They’re about to increase it again. When you consider the math of those programs and add them to the numbers of people crossing between the ports, you’re still looking at around 200,000 encounters per month, and that’s a number the administration simply doesn’t want to acknowledge.”

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