Despite the Biden administration's recent efforts to tout a drop in border crossings as evidence of the effectiveness of its enforcement efforts in the wake of Title 42's expiration, new figures released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) tell quite another story, as Fox News reports.

The contradictory data revelations came in a report published last week in the Washington Post and shine a harsh spotlight on the spurious claims the White House has attempted to make on the topic.

Numbers don't lie

According to the Post, data from CPB indicates that 177,000 arrests occurred between southern ports of entry during the month of August.

That number represents an increase from the 132,652 arrests notched in July and 99,538 in June, with family units being the largest demographic group among those stopped.

Given that port of entry encounters were estimated at roughly 50,000, the total number of encounters in August would total approximately 230,000 a substantial boost from July's 183,000 and June's 144,000.

In terms of a year-over-year comparison, this August saw nearly 30,000 more encounters than the same time in 2022.

White House spin

According to the Biden administration, however, the policies implemented after the Title 42 public health order that permitted rapid expulsion of migrants was allowed to expire have resulted in a drop in encounters.

Among the initiatives to which White House officials have pointed are those related to granting parole into the country and an asylum rule intended to restrict claims lodged by certain categories of migrants.

As such, despite continued congressional alarm – from both sides of the aisle – about the seemingly unfettered influx of migrants, White House press secretary declared last week, as the New York Post noted, “The president has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anyone else. He really has.”

Jean-Pierre then pointed a finger of blame at Republicans for failing to fix a “broken immigration system,” saying, “What they choose to do is play politics, but the president has put a plan that is...indeed stopping, slowing down the flow of unlawful migration. And that is because of the work that this president continues to do without – without the help of Republicans.”

Incredulity abounds

As the Post explains, however, nearly 7 million migrant encounters have occurred since Biden took office, and in light of the aforementioned CPB numbers for August, pundits and media observers did not respond particularly kindly to Jean-Pierre's assertions about the president's diligence on the subject.

The Post's own Miranda Devine took to X (formerly known as Twitter) in response to the press secretary's declaration and wrote, “OMG. This one wins the Gaslight Award of 2023.”

Conservative commentator Guy Benson also weighed in, saying of Jean-Pierre, “Same woman says Biden is so energetic and busy that she struggles to keep up with him, so this sort of brazen gaslighting is kinda her schtick.”

Pundit Stephen Miller concurred, saying, “Every journalist under the sun knows this isn't true. They have no idea how to handle this and cover for her or this admin on this,” and he also pointed out that “right now in Blue States they are screaming about migration emergencies,” a fact that is almost certainly not lost on the millions of voters Jean-Pierre appears to believe she can hoodwink with her fictious hyperbole.