President Joe Biden is making good on campaign promises to provide “a roadmap to citizenship” for nearly 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Since taking office, he has passed a number of executive orders (EOs) to undo the immigration policies of the Trump administration.

Through these actions, President Biden appears intent on reshaping our immigration system in ways that incentivize illegal entry, undermine immigration enforcement, and weaken border security.

Given that the flow of migrants to our Southern Border seeking illegal entry is ticking up, it seems that people from other nations are taking note. But is anyone else paying attention?

According to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, border apprehensions are on the rise and have reached levels that we have not seen since the summer of 2019. Apprehensions fell throughout the fall of 2019 and into the spring of 2020, but that trend has reversed since last summer with a significant uptick in the fall.

Take a look at these numbers:

  • 216,701 – Year-to-date border apprehensions for the fiscal year 2021 (October 2020 – December 2020).
  • 47% – Year-to-date apprehensions are nearly half of the 488,000 apprehensions in all of FY 2020.
  • 188,277 – Adults apprehended at the border year-to-date for FY 2021. 
  • 87% – Adults comprise the lion share of people coming to our border now compared to FY 2019 when they most were family units. 
  • 14,415 – Unaccompanied minors apprehended at the border so far in FY 2021. Children and minors without an adult are the second leading demographic coming to our border. 
  • 81% – Increase in border apprehensions in December 2020 compared to December 2019.

Migration flows depend on different factors from the economic, political, and environmental conditions in sending countries to policy changes in receiving countries. The weather also plays a role in the formation of caravans; we see fewer people making the traverse north during the winter months.

However, we are in the midst of winter months, and migrant flows including caravans of thousands of men, women, and children are still making their way to our border. Many believe they will fare better given the change in the presidency.

Border patrol agents also report a notable increase in attempts to illegally transport individuals across our Southern Border in sealed cargo trailers, moving trailers, and even livestock trailers.

So far, few news outlets are covering the border as they did in 2019 when border apprehensions spiked to over 100,000 monthly. 

We will keep monitoring these numbers to assess how the Biden administration’s policies impact illegal immigration. However, we know that the impact of encouraging illegal immigration will be to hurt American workers and undermine our immigration system.