Migrant encounters increased again at the southern border in December: court docs

Migrant encounters at the southern border increased again in December from the prior month, according to data provided to a federal court by the Biden administration -- the latest sign that the crisis at the border is likely to continue into 2022.

According to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data provided in the Jan 14 filing, there were 178,840 migrant encounters in December, up from 173,620 in November. That in turn was an increase from the 164,753 apprehensions in October.

Those numbers are drastically higher than the previous year, when there were 72,113 encounters in November and 73,994 in December.

CBP has not yet officially released its monthly operational update, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.