Decrying the “open border” policies of the Biden administration has been a constant theme for Republicans during the last three years. Little changed in 2023 with the influx of illegal immigrants continuing strong as Border Patrol encountered roughly more people at the southern border than the population of the entire state of New Mexico.
According to official statistics from Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol had 2,240,056 encounters with foreign nationals from all other the world at the southern border in 2023. This includes official recorded encounters by CBP from January to November, and reported numbers for December.
Below is a breakdown of southern border encounters in 2023, according to CBP statistics.
| Month | Total Encounters |
| January | 157,358 |
| February | 156,630 |
| March | 193,249 |
| April | 211,992 |
| May | 206,690 |
| June | 144,556 |
| July | 183,479 |
| August | 232,963 |
| September | 269,735 |
| October | 240,986 |
| November | 242,418 |
