The good news is that illegal border crossings from Mexico fell 14% in October. That is in comparison to illegal crossings last month.

The bad news is that the number of illegal immigrants apprehended is recorded as 240,988, the highest October ever recorded. The drop comes after three months of big increases.

NEW: CBP reports 240,988 migrant encounters at the southern border during the month of October, making it the highest October ever recorded.

CBP also reports 13 Border Patrol arrests of people on the FBI terror watchlist in October.

12 southern border
1 northern border

The…

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) November 14, 2023

Corporate media is reporting the drop in October as the headline, as though the records that continue to be set by the high number of illegal immigrants are not the real story. As this story is reported, there is still a huge caravan of wannabe asylum seekers marching through Mexico on their way to the U.S. southern border. The September numbers were the second-highest numbers ever recorded so you see the good news has to be looked at clear-eyed. Any reduction is welcomed by our overwhelmed border communities and the Border Patrol but let’s not bust out the champagne yet.

The resumption of deportation flights for Venezuelans is highlighted in the monthly report.

U.S. officials highlighted the resumption of deportation flights to Venezuela on Oct. 18, shortly after Venezuelans replaced Mexicans as the largest nationality appearing at the border. Customs and Border Protection said Venezuelans were stopped 65% fewer times in the second half of October compared with the second half of September, though that figure includes Venezuelans who made asylum appointments through a mobile app as well as those who crossed the border illegally.

CBP is working on combatting the spread of disinformation by transnational criminal organizations. A focus is on removing illegal immigrants who do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States.

CBP is processing all noncitizens under Title 8 immigration authorities, and placing noncitizens who cross the border unlawfully into Expedited Removal or Section 240 Removal Proceedings. Noncitizens who cross between the ports of entry or who present themselves at a port of entry without making a CBP One™ appointment and have traveled through another country without claiming asylum are subject to the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways rule. This rule presumes asylum ineligibility for those who fail to use lawful pathways, with certain exceptions.

Individuals and families without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. are subject to removal pursuant to CBP’s longstanding Title 8 authorities. These individuals and families are subject to a minimum five-year bar on reapplying for admission and potential criminal prosecution if they subsequently re-enter without authorization. Through coordination, planning, and execution that includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, since May 2023 and through October 31st, DHS removed or returned over 355,000 individuals, including more than 54,000 individual family members. DHS has removed or returned more individual family members in the last six months than in any previous full fiscal year.

The encounters of family unit individuals decreased by 14% and encounters of unaccompanied children decreased by 16% from September. Encounters with single adults decreased by 7%. As I said, any reduction is welcome. The number of illegal aliens who have crossed the border since Biden took office is reported to be about 8.4 million. He still has another year in office and there is no indication he will change course and use methods and policies that worked in the previous administration. Biden was handed a southern border with the lowest level of illegal immigration in years, and he ruined that without any alternative plans in place. He just let them come and then stay in the United States.

The Biden border crisis is killing Americans. Thousands of Americans are dying from a fentanyl epidemic that comes from the open southern border. China sends the precursor chemicals to Mexico where fentanyl is made and brought across the southern border by drug cartels. Will Biden bring up drug overdoses in his talks with Xi in San Francisco? Don’t hold your breath.

The caravan making its way to the U.S. border numbers in the 5,000 – 7,000 range, according to reports. There is no end to the Biden border crisis in sight, no matter how much of a happy face the administration and its cohorts in corporate media put on it.

The migrants are chanting Biden’s name as they march.

MUST WATCH – Crowd of military-aged men in a massive US-bound caravan chant "BIDEN! BIDEN! BIDEN!"

Muckraker filmed this in Huixtla, Mexico, on November 8th, 2023.

Massive report incoming. pic.twitter.com/j8E8oZEj53

— Muckraker.com (@realmuckraker) November 9, 2023