By Julia Ainsley -
NBC News
US border agents encountered 234,088 migrants at the border with Mexico in the month of April, topping March's 22-year high of just over 221,000, according to a court document filed Monday.
April marks the fourth time in the Biden Administration that monthly border encounters exceed 200,000.
Each undocumented migrant who presents himself to authorities at legal ports of entry or attempts to cross illegally and is caught is counted as one encounter.
The May numbers are so far consistent with those seen in April.
According to internal Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News, last week CBP encountered an average of just over 7,400 migrants a day.
If that trend continues for 30 days, CBP would have a monthly encounter rate of just under 230,000.
A US Border Patrol agent instructs immigrant families as they prepare to board transport to a processing center after crossing the border into Mexico, in La Joya, Texas, on August 13, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images
The April figure will likely increase pressure from Republicans and some Democrats on the Biden Administration to uphold an anti-Covid public health measure known as Title 42 that has prevented more than 1.7 million immigrants from staying in the US to seek asylum.
Those who oppose lifting the order say doing so could overwhelm an already strained system responsible for processing immigrants, adjudicating their applications and, in some cases, deporting them to their home countries.
In April, 96,908 of the more than 234,000 migrants were expelled back to Mexico under Title 42.
We will have to wait to find out what will happen to Title 42. Border agents and states fight to keep it
May 13, 202202:11
The percentage of migrants subject to Title 42 has decreased since the order's inception in March 2020, in part due to Mexico's refusal to accept migrants of certain nationalities, and in part because Mexico stops receiving returned migrants when their Shelters along the border reach full capacity.
Department of Homeland Security officials estimate that more than 170,000 migrants who have been subject to Title 42 are waiting in camps in northern Mexico, hoping to enter the US when the order is lifted on May 23, and others may be motivated to leave their home countries and attempt to emigrate.
Judges in Texas and Louisiana may issue orders in the coming days that would, at least temporarily, keep Title 42 in effect.