Customs and Border Protection Friday stated that it saw a “substantial rise” in seizures of fentanyl at the southern border in Jan, as well as confirming that there were 153.941 migrant encounters in January.
CBP’s monthly operational updates confirmed Fox News’ Wednesday reporting that there had been 153941 encounters in what is usually a slow month of border crossers. This number is almost double that of the 78.414 migrants encounters in January 2021 and more than four times the 36.585 encountered in Jan 2020.
73% of those who were encountered last month were single adults. 51% of all migrants were expelled through Title 42 public health protections, which were put in place by Trump and extended to a certain extent by the Biden administration. Sixty-two percent of single adults were expelled by Title 42, and 26% of families were returned.
In January, 48,945 lbs drugs were seized at the south border. This is down from the 59,793 pounds a year ago. Fentanyl seizures increased, with 839 lbs being seized in January, as compared to 682 and 139 in FY 2021.
Fentanyl is an opioid used for pain relief. It’s between 50-100 times more powerful than morphine. CBP seized 10,586 lbs of the deadly drug at its southern border in Fiscal Year 2021. This can prove fatal if taken in small quantities. This is an increase from the 4,558 lbs seized in FY 2020, and the 2,633 pound seized during FY 2019. Agents have so far seized 3,289 pounds in FY 2022.
CBP stated that border numbers and drug seizures had decreased by 14% and 1% respectively, while fentanyl seizures increased 57% compared to December.
“CBP’s January Monthly Operations Update shows that migratory flows declined in January. CBP personnel encountered 14 percent less individuals at the Southwest border than December. In a statement, Chris Magnus, CBP Commissioner, stated that most encounters in January were single adults. The majority of those expelled under Title 42.”
“Overall, illegal narcotic seizures declined, but there was a significant increase in fentanyl interdictions.” He stated that CBP is taking important steps to increase our ability to interdict illegal narcotics, and keep dangerous drugs off the streets.
CBP will continue to be concerned about the number of migrants crossing the border. This is due to January being a slow month for migrants crossings, and FY 2022 seeing more than FY 2021.
There were 296,720 migrant encounters between October 2020 and January FY2021. Between October 2020 and January FY 2021, there were 672,848 migrant encounters.
