As the Biden-Harris administration’s four-year term winds down, more than six million migrants have flooded into just five southwest Border Patrol sectors. One and a half million migrant crossings were recorded in the remaining four Border Patrol sectors along the southwest border.
The record-breaking migrant crossings taxed local resources beyond the breaking point and made the United States-Mexico Border the deadliest land border crossing in the world.
Grave of an unidentified migrant in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
Breitbart Texas posted in these border regions throughout the four-year Biden-Harris term. It witnessed firsthand the chaos border residents in Texas, Arizona, and California endured during the record-shattering period. Of the top five border sectors, three are based in Texas. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), more than 4 million migrants crossed into the state of Texas in four years in the Rio Grande Valley, Del Rio, and El Paso Sectors of the U.S. Border Patrol.
The remaining more than two million illegal migrant crossings occurred in the Tucson and San Diego Border Patrol Sectors. Aside from an increase in border deaths, the demographic of migrants encountered by the Border Patrol during the Biden-Harris border crisis included more than 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children sent across the border by their parents or other family members. In addition, hundreds of criminal migrants, migrants listed on the Terrorist Screening Database, and those considered Special Interest Aliens were arrested within the top five border regions.
In one estimate by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, during busy periods, nearly 85% of migrant crossings into the United States were released to pursue asylum. In reverse order, the top five regions are as follows:
#5 San Diego:
Migrants Apprehended near Jacumba, California. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
More than 873,000 migrants crossed illegally into the city and remote regions to the east. Breitbart Texas visited the region in May 2024 when the sector led the nation in migrant apprehensions. During fiscal year 2024, ending in September, 324,260 migrants entered the sector. Breitbart Texas visited the sector’s busiest crossing points in Jacumba, California, and the downtown San Diego area trolley station, where hundreds of migrants, many of whom were from Special Interest Countries, were released to travel farther into the United States.
#4 El Paso:
Migrants camp on streets of El Paso, Texas. (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
At the height of the migrant crisis during the Biden-Harris administration’s term, more than 1,185,000 migrants rushed into the city. The rapid pace at which the migrant entries occurred overwhelmed the ability of government officials to cope with the humanitarian crisis. As reported by Breitbart Texas, Border Patrol facilities were quickly overwhelmed, and non-government migrant shelters were forced to deny refuge to migrants, turning many away to live on city streets during heightened crossing periods.
#3 Tucson:
Migrants Cross Border from Mexico into Tucson Sector (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
More than 1,250,000 migrants found their way across a border wall and into several towns in the Tucson Border Patrol sector. According to CBP, 435,567 crossed into the desert sector in Fiscal Year 2024, ending in September. At one point, border crossings forced the closure of the Lukeville, Arizona Port of Entry so Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations Inspectors could assist the Border Patrol in accepting the hundreds of migrants surrendering daily. Most of the migrants apprehended in the region were from non-Spanish speaking countries around the globe, including some considered as Special Interest Countries by the FBI.
#2 Del Rio:
Thousands of Mostly Haitian Migrants Make Landfall in Del Rio, Texas (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
Two small border cities within this sector were forced to cope with 1,377,556 migrant incursions during the four fiscal years of the Biden-Harris term. Del Rio and Eagle Pass are cities of less than 40,000 residents and rely on one hospital each to meet the needs of these residents. During peak illegal migrant crossing periods, hospitals in each city were routinely overwhelmed, providing care to those migrants suffering from illness and injury in the small towns. In Del Rio, more than 30,000 mostly Haitian migrants crossed into the city in 2021. Breitbart, Texas, visited the area and observed as migrants set up a makeshift shanty town consisting of crude shelters, including tents, cardboard structures, and brush and cane huts.
Despite promises by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that most of the Haitian migrants would be removed to their home country, the department later revealed most Haitian and Venezuelan migrants in the camp were ultimately released. In Eagle Pass, a mere sixty miles north of Del Rio, during one busy period of migrant crossings, nearly 5,000 mostly Venezuelan migrants flooded into the city daily. As Breitbart Texas watched on, the spectacle of the large migrant group crossings drew the attention of Space X CEO Elon Musk who visited the small border city in September of 2023.
#1 Rio Grande Valley Texas
Large Migrant Group Surrenders in Roma, Texas (Randy Clark/Breitbart Texas)
Leading the top five border regions suffering through the worst of the Biden-Harris border crisis is the Texas Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector, where 1,490,637 migrants crossed into the United States during the last four fiscal years. As reported by Breitbart Texas, early on during the migrant crisis, local hotels in the Rio Grande Valley were used as COVID-19 quarantine centers for migrants released by Customs and Border Protection.
The large migrant group crossings were mainly split between Mission, La Jolla, Roma, and Brownsville, Texas. Despite the more significant presence of medical facilities and the larger population of the region, the number of migrants crossing into the area during peak crossing periods also overwhelmed local non-government facilities, forcing the city of McAllen to close a local park to provide shelter during the crisis.
Breitbart Texas posted in each of the impacted cities on multiple occasions and observed the streets of one city cordoned off due to the high number of crossings. In Brownsville, a defunct city golf course was the scene of thousands of crossings per week.
The Biden-Harris border crisis stands as the only period in Border Patrol history that migrant apprehensions for each of the four fiscal years have exceeded any historical number of apprehensions recorded. The number of crossings during the period does not include known migrant got-aways or the hundreds of thousands of migrants allowed into the United States under several asylum and parole programs enacted by the administration without authorization from Congress.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
