Federal law enforcement arrested a record-high number of non-U.S. citizens at the border over the past year who were convicted criminals.

More than 15,000 non-U.S. citizens with criminal convictions were caught at the border attempting to sneak into the United States, primarily from Mexico, in the government’s fiscal 2023, which ended in September. The uptick in arrests comes as the Biden administration grapples with historically high illegal immigration levels.

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Newly released U.S. Customs and Border Protection data revealed that Border Patrol agents arrested 15,267 people in fiscal 2023 who had been convicted in court of carrying out a crime in the United States or another country. Most likely, most were convicted in the U.S. based on lack of access to international criminal databases beyond terror watch lists and most wanted lists.

Criminal noncitizen encounters were up from 12,028 in 2022, according to government data. CBP only posts seven years of data online, and arrests each year have ranged from 2,438 to 12,028.

While illegally entering the country is a federal crime, the criminals arrested this past year had previously committed and been convicted of a different crime, such as armed robbery, drug distribution, or murder. Traffic tickets and lesser infractions, such as shoplifting or disorderly conduct, are not considered to be criminal offenses in this dataset.

The uptick comes as Washington is grappling with how to boost border security and clamp down on soaring levels of criminals slipping across the border. Republicans leery of spending more money on the war in Ukraine want to tie additional aid to funding border security in the U.S., though there is disagreement with the White House on the approach.

"The Biden administration is asking for more money to process illegal immigrants faster — more planes and more buses to send more illegal immigrants to New York City and Washington, D.C., and Chicago and every city in America," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Tuesday. "When you ask Border Patrol agents, 'How do you fix this?' They say, 'Look, we don’t need more money. We need policy. And here’s the policy we need: When we catch someone, follow the law and deport them, and if you do that, the numbers plummet."

Of the total 2 million illegal immigrant arrests in 2023, less than 1%, approximately 0.0075%, were convicted criminals.

Border Patrol agents also caught 988 criminals who had outstanding warrants.

At the ports of entry, where pedestrians and vehicle passengers presented for admission, CBP officers intercepted 20,166 immigrants who were convicted criminals in the same time period.

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The difference between port of entry and Border Patrol arrests is that immigrants at ports did not attempt to avoid law enforcement.

Ports of entry arrests ranged from 6,500 to 17,000 each year since 2017.