How many people entered the U.S. illegally in fiscal year 2022? More than 2.76 million, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB). That’s roughly equivalent to the population of Chicago.

That number does not include the legal immigrants that CBP inspected, nor does it include the millions of individuals that CBP interacts with each day associated with legal trade and travel. Between 2014 and 2018 the highest number of illegal aliens arrested crossing the southwest border in a single year was 569,237.

Does this all time, historic, record-breaking number of 2,766,582 illegal aliens surprise you? It shouldn’t.

While campaigning in Iowa in 2019, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden told the world that he thought the U.S could easily assimilate two million or more new immigrants. He also told the world that if elected president, he would relax border security and create a more welcoming environment. Biden and his surrogates insisted that they would create a safer and more humane border. Biden administration officials continue to assert that their plans are working, and the border is secure. So, should President Biden and his administration be commended for keeping their promises, or are they lying to America and putting you and your family at increased risk?

While President Biden is not on the ballot this Nov. 8, his policies are.

As you cast your vote in this midterm election, I encourage you to consider a few things. The 2,766,582 encounters in fiscal year 2022 is an astronomically high number but, if that accounted for every attempted illegal entry into the U.S. then I would agree that the border is secure.

Unfortunately, that is not reality. Moreover, the Biden administration knows it. But instead of sharing that knowledge with America, they hide it from you. Skeptical? Then why did they wait until nearly midnight on a Friday to release end-of-the-year border related statistics that are simple facts?

To cast an informed vote, you must know the rest of the story. You must understand that the criminal cartels in Mexico control who crosses the U.S. border from Mexico. The cartels charge people to cross the border, but more importantly, they use them to strategically distract and overwhelm Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement along the border to create controllable gaps in border security so they can enter the U.S. uninhibited.

This allows them to smuggle in narcotics, contraband or illegal aliens who are willing to pay extra to avoid encounters with law enforcement. U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) officially documented nearly 600,000 got-a-ways in FY22. That means that USBP detected their illegal entry but could not respond fast enough to prevent them from getting away, into the U.S.

The rest of the story also includes more than the official numbers that CBP reports. Consider law enforcement operations in Texas for example. Under Operation Lone Star (OLS), Texas deploys personnel to patrol sections of border that Border Patrol left unattended because they are overwhelmed processing the aliens that the cartels shuttle across the border. Every interdiction made under OLS would have been another got-away if Texas had not stepped up and filled the gap. In Arizona, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department has documented thousands of got-a- ways, including drug smugglers who eluded apprehension, which CBP does not include in their official count.

The rest of the story also includes the fact that hundreds of miles of previously patrolled international border now go completely unmonitored every day. When the Biden administration suspended all wall system construction, they also suspended the installation of a highly sophisticated intrusion detection system along the southwest border. This left the USBP blind in these areas, so we have no idea who or what crosses the border.

If you can’t see them, you can’t count them. Right?

A casual observer can quickly see that the situation along our international borders does not meet any definition of secure. The Biden Administration claims that they are creating a safer more humane border yet their polices have resulted in the most border crossing deaths ever documented by USBP: 856. This does not include deceased individuals recovered by local law enforcement. Drug overdose and fentanyl poisoning deaths across America have increased dramatically while overall narcotics seizures at the border have decreased. My experience leads me to believe that more narcotics are entering the U.S. between the ports of entry undetected as a direct result of fewer patrols.

Allowing this much damage to border security this fast cannot be by accident. This is intentional.

The next Congress must be intentional about securing our borders and act immediately to counter these deadly policies. If we cannot control who and what enters our national home, then we have no security. Please keep that in mind when you cast your vote.