Silver State Times

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently released their operational statistics for the month of July. In light of the number of arrests at the southern border during the agency’s fiscal year so far, analysts have expressed concern about surpassing the two million mark for the first time. Illicit drug seizures such as fentanyl, have also dramatically increased during fiscal year 2022 to date. U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada has been known to be inconsistent with her stance on border security.

Thus far in Fiscal Year 2022, which runs October 01, 2021 through September 30, U.S. Border Patrol agents have made about 1,822,160 arrests at the southern border, according to the most recent data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The current border arrest number already beats the record set last fiscal year, which was 1.66 million apprehensions in the year ending September 2021. With roughly two months left in the agency’s fiscal year, analysts predict full-year arrests will break the two-million mark for the first time ever, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Border Patrol agents have made about 1.82 million arrests at the southern border in the government’s fiscal year that began in October, the second year under the Biden administration that arrests hit an all-time record," the Wall Street Journal wrote in an Aug. 15 Twitter post.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has a history of flip-flopping on border security, according to the Review Journal. In April, she was part of a growing list of Democrats who are up for re-election this fall and spoke out against Biden's decision to end the Title 42 border immigration policy. However, when given the chance to join Republicans in calling for a vote to extend Title 42, she refused. In 2020, Cortez Masto sponsored legislation to defund border wall construction at the southern border and in 2021, she was one of the leading Senate voices demanding amnesty for the nation’s 11 to 22 million illegal aliens through a budget reconciliation package.

As an advocate for "immigration reform," Sen. Cortez Masto introduced the Advanced Border Coordination Act in June–legislation she believes will strengthen border security by improving law enforcement communication and coordination at the southern border, according to a press release.

In total, there were 199,976 encounters along the southwest land border in July, representing a 4% decrease compared to June, according to a CBP July 2022 operational monthly update.

According to CBP nationwide total encounter data for FY22TD through July, fentanyl seizures have already increased 203% when compared to the previous fiscal year.

CBP operational data from January shows that since Biden entered office in January 2021, Border Patrol agents have made over 3.3 million arrests at the southern border.