(NewsNation) — On the southern border, agents are reporting some surprising numbers, seeing between 10,000 and 12,000 migrants crossing into the U.S. every single day for the last few weeks.

The number of encounters in December alone has passed 200,000, far more than last month. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is trying to change its message to slow the flow of migrants.

Customs and Border Patrol says it works around the clock to enforce immigration laws, even on Christmas. But the actions don’t seem to match the words.

Multiple posts on social media in English and Spanish are attempting to deter the number of people crossing without a credible asylum claim.

“There are consequences for migrants who enter the U.S. unlawfully by crossing the border between ports of entry. You may be returned to your home country if it is quickly determined you are not eligible for asylum,” one post read.

Although the posts are in both English and Spanish, a large percentage of people crossing into Arizona are from Africa and speak French or Fula.

While the agency works to get a handle on the steady flow of people crossing into the U.S., the message is getting back that they’re being released into the interior of the United States.

CBP sources confirmed to NewsNation that they are releasing more people with a notice to appear. In a single day last week, 9,000 people were booked out with a NTA and more than 8,000 another day.

Those numbers are much higher than usual, with a typical day averaging between 5,000 and 6,000 people released with a NTA. Some of those court dates are as far out as 2029.

The National Border Patrol Council said in a statement, “border agents are more than willing to sacrifice holidays to protect our fellow Americans, but what we are doing is not enforcing our laws, because of bad policy, our government is allowing cartels to control our border.”

Art Del Cueto, with the council, said no matter how much help the border patrol gets, cartels will keep controlling the border as long as people are being released.

“That’s I think the most frustrating thing, is that here we are trying to protect our nation’s borders, but realistically, it’s the cartels that are the ones managing where the groups are coming from,” he said.

The main goal of people is always to get to the United States and they want legal documents to transit through Mexico. A caravan of around 8,000 from Mexico has been making its way to the U.S. headed by immigration activists. But a caravan of thousands hasn’t made it to the southern border successfully since the big surge in 2019.