US Customs and Border Protection issued March apprehensions and inadmisibles numbers today.

Border Patrol apprehended 168,195 persons at the southwest border in the month of March. This was slightly less than preliminary figures reported by the Washington Post last week. Notwithstanding, this is still the highest since March 2001, the first year of the Bush administration, when Border Patrol recorded 170,580 southwest border apprehensions.

At the current pace, apprehensions for calendar year 2021 could be forecast at 1.2 million, following the precedents of 2005 and 2006. The comparison may prove apt. Then as now, the stock market was hot and real estate prices were heading well into bubble territory. We have contended that black markets, like other markets, are demand-driven. Migrants look to jump the border when they know jobs are waiting for them. A hot US economy -- particularly one with work discouraged by fear of the coronavirus and generous unemployment benefits and stimulus payments -- may prove an irresistible draw for Mexican and Central American migrants looking to fill the gap in a tight US labor market.

As a result, barring a major modification of Biden administration policy, we might expect a level of illegal immigration this year not seen since the Great Recession. The situation is fairly described as a border crisis and a rolling policy disaster.

There are better ways to handle the situation.

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Inadmissibles have also begun to creep up. As the pandemic begins to pass and vaccines become more widely available, inadmissibles -- those who present themselves for legal entry at official crossing points but lack appropriate documentation -- are likely to begin to return more typical levels.