Arizona State Rep. Debbie Lesko recently pointed out that the U.S. southern border has seen encounter increases of 25% for individuals with criminal convictions and 28% for known gang members from January 2023 to February 2023. Her tweet highlights similar reporting numbers from the U.S. Border Patrol, showing increases in the number of criminal noncitizens being apprehended at the southern border. Despite these reports showing increases in criminal and gang member encounters, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas refused to use the word "crisis" to describe the situation at the southern border in an interview with "60 Minutes."

In a recent segment on "60 Minutes," reporter Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed Mayorkas on the state of the southern border. When asked if he viewed what's happening at the border as a crisis, Mayorkas said that he viewed it as a "significant challenge" and added that a "Crisis speaks to me of a withdrawal from our mission."

Lesko recently tweeted out statistics showing how apprehensions along the southern border are increasing in specific categories.

"From January 2023 to February 2023, our southern border saw a nearly: -25% increase in arrests of individuals with criminal convictions, -28% increase in known gang members. This disturbing increase is a direct result of the Biden administration’s inaction," Lesko wrote in a March 29 Twitter post.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency defines “criminal noncitizens” as individuals who have been convicted of one or more crimes, whether in the United States or abroad, and prior to interdiction by the U.S. Border Patrol. It does not include convictions for conduct that is not deemed criminal by the United States. Arrests of criminal noncitizens are a subset of total apprehensions by U.S. Border Patrol.

Since 2017, the U.S. Border Patrol has shown a decrease and increase in arrests of criminal noncitizens. The arrest numbers and corresponding years are as follows: FY17 was 8,531, FY18 was 6,698, FY19 was 4,269, FY20 2,438, FY21 was 10,763, FY22 was 12,028 and so far for FY23 it is 3,833. Fiscal Year 2023 runs Oct. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30. From fiscal years 2017 to 2020, there was a steady decrease in the arrests of criminal noncitizens by the Border Patrol. In 2021, there was a near quadruple increase in the amount of arrests from the previous year. 2022 continued to see an increase in arrests as well.