(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) The Biden administration produced another record high for illegal immigration encounters last month, leaving at least one embattled Texas sheriff reduced to begging for additional support as hordes of illegals continued to overrun his county.
December marked a milestone for porous borders, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection logged 251,487 encounters with illegal aliens, the highest number ever recorded in U.S. history, reported Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin.
The December record marked the tenth consecutive month that illegal immigrant encounters topped 200,000, and that’s not counting known got-aways who eluded authorities.
There were more than 70,000 got-away cases at the border in December, adding to the “approximately 1.2 million known gotaways at the southern border since President Biden took office,” Melugin reported. “The last several months have been around 70,000 per month, per CBP sources. And those are only the *known* gotaways.”
In response to the steady surge of illegals, at least 42 counties in Texas have officially declared an invasion or expressed support for Texas declaring an invasion at the southern border, and more are in the process of doing the same, reported The Center Square.
The influx of illegal aliens forced the sheriff of Kinney County, Texas, to request help from other law enforcement across the state and country, writing that, “The safety and security of our county has been constantly under threat since early 2021 by those who have no desire to seek asylum through lawful means.”
TX: Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe sends letter to sheriffs in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas asking for help at the border.
“I am requesting any aide that your county may be able to provide in this border crisis, whether it be manpower, equipment, or operators…” pic.twitter.com/cO33y82Cdo
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) January 20, 2023
“Our homes are being broken into in the middle of the night,” Sheriff Brad Coe wrote of the illegals that have flowed into his county. “The local school district has been forced to erect military barricades around campus to protect students from smugglers evading law enforcement. Walking outside on our own property after dark is no longer safe.
“The residents of Kinney County no longer enjoy the comfort and safety of their own home,” he wrote. “Words cannot adequately describe the conditions on the ground and the daily threats we have been forced to contend with.”
Those threats extend beyond Kinney County and the southern border, according to the latest CBP report.
NEW: CBP reports Border Patrol arrested 17 people on the terror watchlist who crossed the southern border illegally in December.
There have now been 38 terror watchlist arrests at the southern border since FY’23 began on October 1st.
There were 98 in all of FY’22.
FY’17-FY’21: 26— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) January 21, 2023
House Republicans have responded to the border crisis by introducing legislation that would immediately reverse some the Biden regime’s more egregious immigration policies.
The Biden admin may not want a secure border, but Republicans have an opportunity to come together & force its hand. The Border Safety and Security act will end the “pull” policies encouraging migration & restore law to our lawless border. Thank you @chiproytx & @MayraFlores2022! https://t.co/QNeo6Vur4W
— Rep. Barry Moore (@RepBarryMoore) January 20, 2023
“We will never solve this border crisis if Congress is not willing to step in and fix the policies causing it,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Mayra Flores wrote in an op-ed for Fox News. “The Border Safety and Security Act is the single best policy we would put forward to do that today.”