Data: US Customs and Border Protection say border apprehensions down in 2024
In the last year, border apprehensions dropped by 40% in the El Paso Sector, which includes West Texas and New Mexico, according to a report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The decline is due in large part to President Joe Biden invoking action to bar migrants who cross the Southern Border unlawfully from receiving asylum, and further temporarily suspending and limiting the entry of certain noncitizens Sep. 27.
The El Paso Sector totaled 427,471 encounters in the fiscal year by September 2023, compared to 256,102 through September this year — a 40.1% decrease in number of encounters year over year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). The majority of apprehensions in the Sector took place in New Mexico at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, according to CBP Public Information Officer Landon Hutchens.
The El Paso Sector had the second-highest number of apprehensions along the Southwest border in 2024, with 12,507 people arriving, behind San Diego, with 13,309.
"For reference, the Las Cruces shelter served 3,555 asylum seekers from July 2024 to October 2024," Border Servant Corps (BSC) Data Manager Ben Neville said. "This was a significant decrease from the same stretch of months in 2023 where BSC served 23,632 asylum seekers in New Mexico."
BSC is a nonprofit that supports migrants released from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and has operated the Port Reception Site for migrants entering the U.S. through the CBP One app, which helps migrants retain work authorization and file asylum claims. Individuals and families at BSC receive assistance in meeting their basic needs like food, hygiene, general wellness items, travel arrangements, as well as transportation to "continue their journey to their next destination," according to the organization's website.
BSC's Las Cruces shelter was receiving 50 to 200 asylum seekers daily via CBP buses before the Biden administration's June border policy that limited asylum. Since mid-July 2024, it had not received a single asylum seeker directly via CBP buses.
Since June 5, DHS tripled the percentage of noncitizens processed for expedited removal, and the number of individuals released by Border Patrol pending immigration court proceedings was down 80%, according to a statement from CBP.
"CBP, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), continue to expeditiously process, remove, and strengthen consequences for individuals who cross the nation’s borders irregularly," read a statement from CBP.
There was a significant decrease in unlawful border crossings — including more than a 55% decrease in encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border — since the June 5 Presidential Proclamation on Securing the Border and accompanying Interim Final Rule, which went into effect Sept. 30, according to CBP.
The total number of apprehensions in September 2024 was 53,858, a 75% decrease from 2023. In the El Paso sector, there were 38,148 encounters in September last year, as opposed to 12,507 this year (a 67.2% decrease), the report from CBP read.
“During Fiscal Year 2024, CBP significantly increased its enforcement efforts and realized a substantial decrease in Southwest Border encounters,” said CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy A. Miller.
“CBP continued to identify and respond to new threats posed by the transnational criminal organizations profiting from the exploitation of vulnerable people, taking unprecedented measures to dismantle and disrupt these operations. We have surged our enforcement efforts to further crack down on the smuggling of illicit opioids, including fentanyl, and implementing new measures to disrupt the supply chain of deadly narcotics,” said Miller.
Of all encounters across the Southwest border — which includes San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, Big Bend, Del Rio, Laredo and Rio Grand Valley Sectors — the majority were single adults, with a total of 875,241 so far this year. Following are Individuals in a Family Unit (FMUA) with 555,578 encounters and minors with 99,704, according to CBP data.
"BSC saw its shelter change from a predominately family shelter to one serving more adult single males," Neville said. "Prior to the June 5 Presidential Proclamation, Border Servant Corps served close to 40-45% children (under the age of 18) monthly, with women outpacing men by a couple of percentages. Now, BSC is serving close to 58% single adults, that are mostly men."
Apprehension data includes U.S. Border Patrol Title 8 Apprehensions (temporary detainment of individuals unlawfully trying to enter the U.S.), Office of Field Operations Title 8 Inadmissibles (those seeking to procure a visa, other documentation or admission into the United States by fraud) and Title 42 Expulsions (COVID-19 asylum restrictions), which expired May 11, 2023.