Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas revealed on Tuesday that 600,000 migrants evaded apprehension this year alone as they illegally crossed the border into the U.S.

Additionally, Mayorkas did not have information readily available on whether the 169 terror watch list members who illegally crossed the southern border were in jail or deported.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) asked President Joe Biden’s DHS head during a hearing Tuesday the recorded number of illegal border crossers who were able to evade his agents in the last year. He also asked about the status of terror watch list individuals.

‘I believe that number is over 600,000,’ Mayorkas told senators Tuesday at a hearing on threats to the American home front.

‘The phenomenon of got-aways has been a challenge for the Department of Homeland Security for decades,’ he added. ‘In fact, it is a powerful example of a broken immigration system.’

The latest figures are on top of the nearly 2.5 million migrants who were detected and apprehended in Fiscal Year 2023, which ended in September, according to figures from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that there were 600,000 recorded gotaways crossing the southern border in Fiscal Year 2023

The number of illegal gotaways has spikes in recent years since President Joe Biden took office – along with the number of migrants apprehended also rising exponentially 

The figures this year were on par with Fiscal Year 2022, where a DHS document reported more than 600,000 gotaways from October 2021 through September 2022 and the year prior 389,155.

But the latest figures are a massive increase from years prior when policies were controlled by Donald Trump’s Republican administration. In fiscal year 2019, only 150,000 gotaways were reported.

Since January, 1.75 million migrants were apprehended by CBP at the southern border. There was a massive spike over the summer and into the fall in those seeking entry by claiming asylum.

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September saw a years-long record-high number of monthly crossings with CBP apprehending 269,735 migrants trying to illegally cross into the U.S. at the southern border.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing on Tuesday with Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid on current threats to the U.S.

One threat Republicans are particularly concerned with are the unprecedented number of migrants illegally crossing the southern border since Biden took office.

While those apprehended have massively increased, so has the number of those evading apprehension and only being reported later by other forms of detection, like cameras.

The U.S. saw a massive spike in illegal border crossings in September as numbers increased over the summer. On top of the gotaways, 2.5 million migrants were apprehended illegally crossing the southern border in Fiscal Year 2023

Mayorkas testified Tuesday alongside FBI Director Christopher Wray (center) and Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Office Christine Abizaid (right) for a hearing on threats to the home front 

Sen. Marshall wanted to know about migrants on the terror watch list that were apprehended at the southern border – but Mayorkas didn’t have figures for him at the hearing on Tuesday.

‘Let’s talk about the 169 individuals encountered on the terror watch list between the ports of entry in Fiscal Year 2023,’ Marshall said to Mayorkas. ‘How many were deported, how many are jailed, how many are still in the country?’

Mayorkas, however, said he would look at the terrorist screening dataset and provide the Kansas Republican with the appropriate figures.

Since Biden took office, 1.7 million gotaways were detected avoiding apprehension.