Migrant crossings at points of entry reach new levels

Encounters at points of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border between federal agents and immigrants illegally entering the U.S. exceeded those that took place between ports of entry for the first time in history last month, according to new data.

Encounters reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protections’ (CBP) Office of Field Operations totaled 47,500 in November while encounters reported by U.S. Border Patrol totaled 46,660, the numbers — shared exclusively with NewsNation — show.

Although November’s 94,210 encounters along the southern border dropped from October by nearly 12,000, where they took place demonstrates a shift in how migrants are entering the country, according to a former CBP agent.

Immigration officials reported 106,344 encounters in October with 56,530 of those encounters taking place in between designated ports of entry. The Office of Field Operations reported 49,814 encounters at ports of entry, according to the Department of Homeland Security data.

President-elect Trump and his "border czar" Tom Homan have pledged to tighten security at the southern border once Trump takes office in January. They have promised a mass deportation mission that will first target immigrants with criminal records who have previously been ordered to leave the country.

Homan told NewsNation this week that there is "no other option" but to begin the mass deportation effort.

"If it doesn’t happen, we’re sending out messages to the entire world; you can cross the border legally, which is a crime," he said. "You can be released into the United States, either go to court or not show up in court and get an order removal, and we’re not going to remove you. The whole world is going to come to this country."

This week, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) released figures stating that illegal immigration has cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $151 billion.

Yet, with President Biden still in office for about another six weeks, immigration officials are expecting a surge of traffic at the border as immigrants looking to enter the country hope to do so before Trump takes office.

Chris Clem, the retired Border Patrol chief of the Yuma, Ariz, sector, told NewsNation that the record number of immigrants entering the country at ports of entry in November can be connected to migrants using the CBP One app.

The mobile app, which was introduced in 2020, allows immigrants to pre-register for immigration hearings before they reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump and Homan have told NewsNation exclusively that they plan to do away with the app once the president-elect takes office as a means of closing access to the country.

In October, CBP announced it would increase access to the CBP app. Before then, only those immigrants in northern Mexico or central Mexico schedule immigration appointments. However, since the change, non-Mexican citizens have been able to access to app in southern Mexico.

Officials said that while immigration hearings are scheduled randomly, preference is provided to those who have been registered on the mobile app the longest.

According to federal data, an estimated 1,600 people a day are using the CBP One app to cross the southern border at designated points of entry. Clem says that the continued surge of immigrants entering the country illegally is proof that Biden is out of touch with Americans who want a more secure border.

“The American people were tired of non-citizens getting in this country and getting a free ride,” Clem told NewsNation.

By creating the CBP One app, the Biden administration believed giving immigrants a legal pathway to entry would eliminate problems along the border, Clem said. The Biden administration has touted reduced numbers of immigrants entering the U.S. since July when Biden issued an executive order regarding border security.

In October, CBP officials announced that illegal border crossings fell by more than 70 percent from October 2023, when the agency reported 188,749 border crossings.

However, Clem maintains that the CBP One app allows entry to immigrants who would otherwise be inadmissible.

He said that CBP is currently devoting 200 hours of manpower each month to process immigrants who are paroled through the CBP One app. Clem also noted that officers are being reassigned from duties such as drug enforcement efforts to curb the entry of fentanyl into the country to process immigrants using the app to gain entry.

NewsNation reached out to CBP officials for comment about the designation of manpower on Thursday but did not immediately receive a response.

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