‘Gotaways’ Are Flooding into the United States

As President Joe Biden’s open border crisis continues, and border residents report 24/7 “destruction and fear,” the numbers of illegal border crossers continue to rise. 

Since January of 2021, there have been over 2.9 million illegal aliens apprehended at the border. Now including June’s numbers, there have been over 1.7 million total encounters at the southern border in the federal fiscal year 2022, with 21,333 criminal migrants encountered and 56 terrorist wachlist members caught.      

On Monday, Fox News Reporter Bill Melugin announced, “Per DHS sources, there have been over 500,000 known gotaways at the border since FY’22 began on 10/1, far eclipsing the 389,155 gotaways Secretary Mayorkas reported in all of FY’21.” 

A “gotaway” is someone seen on a camera or in a bailout/pursuit but never apprehended. These people evade Border Patrol and escape into the United States. Since October, there has been an average of 1,850 gotaways entering the U.S.each day—as many as the population of any small Texas town.     

“Approximately 900,000 gotaways [have entered the United States] since FY’21 began, bigger than the population of San Francisco,” continued Melugin.

In less than two years, enough people to fill San Francisco have slipped past border security and disappeared into the U.S. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said, “The staggering increase in illegals crossing our border that we know nothing about is a serious threat to our communities. Biden’s open borders policies are taking their toll, and with increases like this, it’s clear things are only getting worse.”

Juliana Berg

Juliana is a summer fellow for Texas Scorecard. She is studying political science and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. She enjoys learning about the philosophies that shape America.