The Biden administration on Wednesday said that new border measures, which were expanded earlier this month, were already having an effect to help reduce the record migrant numbers encountered in December — a day after a lawsuit from 20 states claimed the program is unlawful.

The administration has expanded a humanitarian parole program first introduced for Venezuelans in October to include Cubans, Nicaraguans and Haitians. The program allows up to 30,000 migrants to fly in each month as long as they had not entered the U.S. or Mexico illegally, have a U.S. sponsor and pass background checks. It’s combined with an expansion of Title 42 expulsions to include those nationalities.

The moves were in response to a significant increase in encounters from those nations alongside a massive surge in migration that has dogged the Biden administration since taking office. In December, there were more than 251,000 migrant encounters, marking a new highest month that outpaced even the busiest month of FY 2022 — which overall saw a record 2.3 million encounters.

But in a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that since then, initial numbers for January show a 97% drop in encounters of those four nationalities — and January is on track to see the lowest number for border encounters since the start of the crisis in February 2021.

TEXAS LEADS 20 REPUBLICAN STATES IN SUING BIDEN ADMIN OVER MIGRANT PAROLE PROGRAM

The agency said that encounters from the four countries had dropped from an average of 3,367 a day in December to just 115 a day in January, and touted the numbers as proof that the measures were working.

The numbers were released a day after 20 Republican states sued the administration over the program, claiming it is unlawful.

"These expanded border enforcement measures are working," said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. "It is incomprehensible that some states who stand to benefit from these highly effective enforcement measures are seeking to block them and cause more irregular migration at our southern border." 

That lawsuit, filed by Texas and America First Legal in the Southern District of Texas, and joined by 19 additional states, argues that the program is illegal given the "exceptionally limited" parole power available to the federal government. The lawsuit focuses on the limits placed on parole by Congress that says the authority is to be used on a "case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit" — a standard that the states say the program fails to meet.

"The parole program established by the Department fails each of the law’s three limiting factors. It is not case-by-case, is not for urgent humanitarian reasons, and advances no significant public benefit. Instead, it amounts to the creation of a new visa program that allows hundreds of thousands of aliens to enter the United States who otherwise have no basis for doing so. This flouts, rather than follows, the clear limits imposed by Congress," the lawsuit reads.

OVER QUARTER OF A MILLION MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS IN DECEMBER ALONE 

The states say the program is also unlawful as it did not engage in the notice-and-comment rulemaking required by the Administrative Procedure Act, and that states "face substantial irreparable harms from the Department’s abuse of its parole authority, which allow potentially hundreds of thousands of additional aliens to enter each of their already overwhelmed territories."

WHITE HOUSE FIRES BACK AT GOP OVER CALL TO FUND TEXAS BORDER SECURITY EFFORTS

"Every state in America, especially border states like Texas, is being crushed by the impacts of illegal immigration," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The Biden open borders agenda has created a humanitarian crisis that is increasing crime and violence in our streets, overwhelming local communities, and worsening the opioid crisis. This unlawful amnesty program, which will invite hundreds of thousands of aliens into the U.S. every year, will only make this immigration crisis drastically worse."

But the administration has been pushing back against criticism of its handling of the southern border from Republicans in Congress and elsewhere -- including pointing to Republican lawmakers’ refusal to back a sweeping immigration bill and other requests for funding by the administration. 

President Biden on Friday accused Republicans of attempting to use immigration to score "political points" and that was echoed by an administration official on Wednesday who condemned the lawsuit against the parole program.

"This lawsuit once again shows that extremist elected officials don’t want real solutions; they would rather just keep using immigration to try to score political points. They keep claiming we need to secure the border, but then turn around and try block nearly every measure we take to do just that," the official said.

"They’ve blocked comprehensive immigration reform and funding for border security, and are now trying to block a program that has dramatically reduced the number of migrants attempting to enter the country illegally all while providing a safe, lawful, and orderly pathway for migration for people fleeing communism or economic collapse," the official said. "If these states succeed, their latest stunt will lead to more illegal immigration."

"No evidence of election fraud" LMFAO at these cunt gaslighting fux! They should all die.

Republican senators had a message for President Joe Biden while addressing the national debt and quickly approaching debt ceiling deadline during a Wednesday press conference: He "will negotiate."

"President Biden needs to know, absolutely he will negotiate, and it's better to start now," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told reporters, pushing back on the Biden administration's stance that the talks surrounding the debt ceiling are "not a negotiation."

Paul added that the greatest security threat to the nation is the debt and that no conservatives and no Republicans in the House of Representatives will vote to raise the debt ceiling "without significant budget reform."

MCCONNELL TOSSES DEBT CEILING HOT POTATO TO BIDEN, MCCARTHY: ‘THAT’S WHERE A SOLUTION LIES'

The growing U.S. national debt stands at $31.4 trillion while the federal government's annual budget is currently operating at $6.3 trillion, nearly $2 trillion more than what it spent annually prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the U.S. will need to raise the debt ceiling by June in order to avoid "irreparable harm to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans and global financial stability."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who spoke immediately before Paul, called Biden's position on the debt ceiling "unreasonable and ridiculous" and vowed that the Republican conferences in both houses of Congress will use every possible "lever point" to stop the massive spending contributing to the rising debt and historic inflation plaguing the nation.

FLASHBACK: BIDEN PRAISED DEBT CEILING TALKS AS VP, SAID IT WAS 'GREAT HONOR' TO NEGOTIATE WITH GOP

"We are at a moment in time, because the American people elected a Republican majority in the House, where we have an opportunity to stop the madness. And I believe it is incumbent on that Republican majority, and on the Republicans in the Senate, to use every lever point we have to stop the out-of-control spending that is driving inflation, that is punishing hard-working Americans across this country," Cruz said.

Cruz said the debt ceiling has historically been "the most effective lever point to force meaningful concessions" on budget and debt reform, and he called on members of the press to avoid reporting White House talking points that Republicans wanted to default on the national debt.

"Nobody standing here wants to default on the debt. Let me be absolutely clear and unequivocal: The United States of America should never, ever, ever default on its debt," he said.

HOUSE CONSERVATIVE LEADER RIPS MEDIA FOR ‘IRRATIONAL’ DEBT CEILING COVERAGE, VOWS ‘SERIOUS FISCAL REFORM’

"There is one principle person in this town that is talking about a default in the debt, and that is Joe Biden. Joe Biden wants to threaten a default in the debt. He wants to scare the markets, and frankly, he's counting on you all," he added.

Cruz went on to cite instances in which he said Republicans were able to force legislation to address the budget and debt, including the Budget Control Act of 2011, and he reiterated that it was not the position of Republicans that the debt ceiling would never be raised.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked earlier this month about debt ceiling negotiations and whether Biden is willing to "cut any spending" or would be willing to negotiate with Republicans who "want to cut spending as part of a debt limit deal."

"Look, as you’ve heard us say before, we will not be doing any negotiation over the debt ceiling," Jean-Pierre said.

"What we’re saying is that … this should be done without conditions," she added. "In the past … we have seen both Republicans and Democrats come together to deal with this issue. It is one of the basic items that Congress has to deal with, and it should be done without condition. So, there’s going to be no negotiation over it. This is something that must get done."

"It is not my position that we will never raise the debt ceiling — rather what the rules say is we will use the debt ceiling as leverage to force real and meaningful structural reforms to fix the underlying problem," Cruz said. "[It] doesn't have to be a total solution for everything, but it has to be real and meaningful progress."

Fox News' Peter Kasperowicz and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.