Record-High 250,000 Illegal Immigrant Encounters Across US–Mexico Border in December 2022: CBP

'Our new border enforcement measures are working,' CBP official says

Illegal aliens seeking asylum line up to be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents at a gap in the border fence U.S.–Mexico near San Luis, Ariz., on Dec. 26, 2022. Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images

The number of illegal immigrant encounters across the U.S. southern border for December 2022 rose to a monthly record, with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reporting a figure that topped a quarter of a million.

The 251,487 encounters, according to CBP data, surpasses the previous record of 241,136 in May 2022; it’s also 7 percent higher than the month-earlier number of 234,896. The most recent tally also far surpasses December enforcement encounters in the prior two years: 179,253 in 2021, and 73,994 in 2020.