There is an old quote reportedly said by deceased Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.” It is uncertain if he ever said those words, but the sentiment has been repeatedly proven true — even when not dealing with fatalities.
For example, more than one million illegal alien encounters have been recorded since October 2022. The alarming numbers, unfortunately, have become commonplace under President Joe Biden. Still, Americans shouldn’t allow themselves to become so desensitized to the invasion at America’s border that the figures become a “statistic.”
According to data from Customs and Border Protection released on Friday, the total number of illegal alien encounters at the U.S. border for fiscal year 2023 — which began in October — was 1,008,217.
On Monday, Fox News reported that 328,454 of those illegal aliens were removed from the country via Title 42 — the pandemic-era public health policy that allows for expedited removal. The rest were allowed into the country. Then, there were at least 354,522 known “gotaways,” or illegal immigrants who escaped evasion altogether.
For comparison’s sake, border authorities experienced 839,819 “migrant encounters” at the border during this same time period in fiscal year 2022. In all of fiscal year 2021, there were just 1.7 million encounters, per Fox News.
Biden, for his part, has thrown window dressing on the crisis at hand. In January, he visited the border for the first time and, as the cover picture for this story shows, scored a photo opportunity in front of the very same wall he decried as racist.
Last week, his administration announced changes to the asylum processes that appeared to mirror former President Donald Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, but critics say don’t actually do anything to slow the migration.
Now, border agents are concerned that the springtime will show even higher numbers than typical. January and reported February numbers were actually lower than the previous year’s during that timeframe, but sources told Fox News that those month-to-month figures do not accurately show what’s happening.
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“Agents know leadership throughout the agency and the administration will celebrate two months of lower numbers instead of acknowledging the daunting task of being tasked at the border with yet another historical and preventable situation,” an agent told the media outlet.
Indeed, readers should be reminded of other quotes numbers, and figures. “There are three types of lies — lies, damn lies, and statistics,” Benjamin Disraeli once said. In that case, don’t fall for Biden’s “statistics” that claim the crisis at the border is improving.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.