You're on the right track with your thoughts, but your reading of the article is a little skewed.
When they say 'felons', they really do mean felons and they're not talking about the 'felony' of trying to reenter the US.
When the article says 'as of July 15', that is the period from the beginning of the fiscal year - 1 October '03 - until 7/15.
OK, I see a bit. I read "as of" and interpreted it to mean "since". I understand that error.
It still seems to me as if our compassionate dimwit is saying that the BP attaches the title "felon" to repeat crossers in an attempt to discount the seriousness of the label, then quotes BP stats describing over 8000 of these people. Eight thousand doesn't seem like a neglegible figure, even with my better undestanding of the time frame.