Migrant encounters at the southern border set a new record last month with more than 240,000 people encountered, officials announced Tuesday.
Border authorities encountered 240,988 migrants at the border last month, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), making it the highest October on record.
In October last year, authorities encountered 231,529 migrants, more than 9,000 fewer people than this year.
In October 2021, they encountered 164,837 migrants, and in October 2020, there were only 71,929 encounters.
Last month’s number marks a drop from September, which saw the highest monthly total of encounters ever at 269,735 encounters.
Overall, there have been a record 2.4 million migrant encounters at the southern border since last October.
Border Patrol agents also arrested 13 people on the terror watchlist in October.
The higher numbers of border encounters with migrants claiming asylum in the U.S. has resulted in a crisis up north as migrants head into the interior of the country.
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Cities like New York City and Chicago are scrambling to metabolize the thousands of migrants who have shown up since last year.
In New York City, more than 130,000 migrants have arrived since last year, many of whom are still being housed on the city’s dime, causing homeless shelters to reach their limits and forcing the city to open new facilities.
Mayor Eric Adams said over the summer that the migrant crisis could cost New York City $12 billion over three years.
Chicago has been scrambling to respond to an illegal migrant crisis before the cold winter months arrive. The country’s third-largest city has experienced an influx of more than 18,500 migrants recently, many from Venezuela.
Chicago is working to build massive winterized camps for newly arrived migrants, many of whom slept on the floors of police stations or airports for months. The city has already spent at least $250 million on the issue so far.
The migrant crisis plaguing the border and major cities could end up costing taxpayers up to $451 billion, according to a report from House Republicans released this week.
For all migrants who have entered the U.S. since 2021, the cost of government housing and care could end up being as high as $451 billion a year, the report notes, citing numbers from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a think tank that describes its vision as “pro-immigrant, low-immigration.”
There are currently between 16.8 million and 29 million illegal migrants living in the country, the report says, citing numbers from FAIR and Yale University.
About 3.8 million of those migrants have entered the country under the Biden administration, the data indicates.